ABSTRACT
Like the faculty whose voices have not been granted respect in the American academy, the students who have pursued study abroad also remain devalued. Those in the higher education community swayed by the prevailing episteme have frequently expressed their suspicions about the competence and purpose of program participants and their downright disdain for the programs they pursue. Again by adapting Foucault’s method of genealogical inquiry to listen to the voices and look at the practices of these very students who have participated in modern study abroad programs, it is possible to illuminate the beliefs of these students—including and especially the women upon whose experiences and reputation so much of the devaluing episteme has been built. These participants believe that study abroad offers them a unique opportunity, not always available domestically, for high-quality academic study and professional preparation. This alternative discourse emerges from participants who also reveal themselves to have been and remain today willing, when required, to take risks and undergo hardships to be educated overseas.
