A Study Abroad Program in Tanzania: The Evolution of Social Justice Action Work

This article focuses on the evolution of our study abroad program to Tanzania, including the integration of three liberal arts disciplines and the foundational core that links together the three areas: social justice activism. More specifically, we explore the overall challenge of dismantling “us versus them” thinking and the interactive learning moments that allow this process to transpire. We narrate how what we learned on our 2008 and our 2010 trips led to our model of social justice action work, which we enacted on our 2012 trip. Our approach to social justice action work integrates experiential learning with Dan Butin’s concept of “justice learning,” or education that interrupts and complicates binary thinking. Our three-fold model encompasses teaching moments where instructors create the academic framework to facilitate change in our students, where students observe grass-roots organizations performing “traditional” social justice action work, and where on-site activities generate interactive experiential moments in which perceptions can be changed.