Individuation, vitalism and space in the overseas study tour

Study abroad programs at university are supported as a means to expand university operations beyond the study walls of the institution, and to help students become aware of and cope with the demands of an increasingly interconnected and globalised world. This paper questions the assumptions that underlie the tendencies in contemporary study abroad programs, whose ethos it is argued, at the same time misunderstands and underestimates the potential effects of the study abroad practice. Using a theoretical framework derived from the French philosophy of science of Gilbert Simondon, Gaston Bachelard and Georges Canguilhem, this paper puts to work fully elaborated and contextualised concepts, which look to change and expand one’s notion of the learning possible due to study abroad programs, beyond experiential change. Simondon’s individuation questions the ways in which particular student agencies and learning characteristics are constructed in study abroad tours, Bachelard’s concept of space questions the reality of precise coordinates and concrete analyses of the study abroad tour itinerary, and Canguilhem’s vitalism puts under pressure ‘the life’ of the tour learnings and effects. This paper will be furnished with empirical evidence taken from a recent overseas tour involving Australian students performing teaching practicums in schools in Penang, Malaysia.