عنوان

'Low Valleys and High Mountains':

Number

TLpq2514666482

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

'Low Valleys and High Mountains':

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Royer, Christine Nicole

Title Proper by Another Author

The Spiritual Experiences of Christian Students Who Choose to Study Abroad in the Middle East

Subsequent Statement of Responsibility

Broido, Ellen

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Bowling Green State University

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2020

Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item

177

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

M.A.

Body granting the degree

Bowling Green State University

Text preceding or following the note

2020

Text of Note

This phenomenological study examined the spiritual experiences of Christian students who completed a semester abroad through the Middle East Studies Program (MESP) while it was based in Cairo, Egypt. The theoretical frameworks that shaped my research and guided my analysis were Milton Bennett's (1993) theory of intercultural development and James Fowler's (1981) model of faith development. I approached this study as a social constructionist and an interpretivist, and conducted two-stage semi-structured interviews with three MESP alumni. Two key themes emerged from my work. First, interactions with the host community through peer dialogues, homestays, service-learning, and regional travel led my participants to place an increased emphasis on the overarching similarities present in the human experience, a movement towards ethnorelativism in keeping with Bennett's (1993) Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity. Additionally, all of my participants identified spiritual struggles that took place during their semester on MESP, and described using spiritual coping mechanisms to support difficult interactions with cultural difference. However, although my participants experienced a movement towards ecumenism and interfaith inclusivism as the result of their study abroad experience, the use of faith-based meaning making strategies did not always result in faith development according to Fowler's (1981) theory of faith development. The findings of this thesis will benefit in-country faculty and staff members as well as campus-based study abroad practitioners and student affairs professionals, who will be better equipped to promote intercultural and spiritual development during a study abroad program and to support the continued developmental needs of study abroad alumni.

Education

Educational administration

Educational psychology

Higher education

Middle Eastern studies

Multicultural education

Broido, Ellen

Royer, Christine Nicole

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y