Att lära av ”den Andra”?

Abstract

Learning from “The Other”? Transformative learning in Swedish high school students’ narratives from an educational trip to Kenya. The study explores transformative learning in a group of Swedish high school students’ shared narratives about an educational trip to Kenya. The understanding of transformative learning is inspired by a discourse analytical approach, which emphasizes the use of discursive frameworks and repertoires for making sense of experiences. The analysis shows that the participants express a desire to learn from ‘the Other’, which is associated with a critical examination of their own ways of thinking. Moreover, the image of ‘the other’ is complex. On the one hand, it is constructed as a generalized image of the exotic other and reproduces notions of ‘the noble savage’. On the other hand, the image of ‘the other’ is also framed by a liberal discourse of individualism and tolerance. Finally, the narratives also entail constructions of similarity, which indicates a more radical renegotiation of previous discursive frames and blurs the borders between us and them.

Keywords

• educational travel
• the other
• transformative learning
• discourse analysis