Students talk about experiences studying abroad while Black

Photo courtesy of Adelia Pope

By Kiera McLaughlin ’26

Global Editor

Studying abroad is a daunting experience, but with over 40% of Mount Holyoke students taking part, underclassmen can easily find resources at the McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives or talk to their peers to hear personal stories. 

On Feb. 25, these opportunities converged at a discussion hosted by the McCulloch Center and CET Academic Programs, featuring six students speaking about their experiences in a panel called “Studying Abroad While Black.” 

Throughout the talk, each student was asked a series of questions from the guest moderator Sean McGlynn, CET’s Institutional Relations Manager for the Northeast. Questions referenced the panelists’ academic, social life and safety while abroad, and as well as integrating into new communities as a Black person in a different country. 

CET is one of the study abroad programs partnered with the McCulloch Center, with programs in Jordan, China, Taiwan, Czech Republic, Italy and Brazil. Two of the panelists participated in the CET Brazil program, while others studied abroad in the Netherlands, Australia, South Africa and France.

McGlynn explained at the beginning that CET programs based in Latin America are popular with many Black students, as they have courses focused on racial studies and social justice. The program also provides diversity, equity and inclusion scholarships and identity resources such as blogs and alumni discussions.

When asked about their experiences with safety abroad, the students all agreed their programs and cities were generally safe. They recommended students practice common sense and be aware of their surroundings.

Jasmine Greene ’25 said that while abroad, “I found a queer community, which is always more accepting no matter where you go, which made me feel more safe.” 

When discussing their experiences as Black students in a new country, their responses varied on where they were located in the world. 

Kayla Nelson ’25 shared that during her time in Australia, she would think, “Oh wow, I’m the only Black person in this room.”

“It was different being the only one there, and I felt like I had to represent my identity [by] myself because there was no one else there like me,” Nelson continued.

Nelson said that she made friends, and, eventually, she was able to think about her time abroad differently. “It just took some time,” she said. 

Some of the other students had a different experience. Sarah Bell ’25 said, “Being a Black person in Brazil, you’re the majority … I feel like there is a lot of pro-Blackness.”

According to Travel Noire, a digital media company covering content about the African Diaspora, Brazil had the largest Black population outside of Africa. About 55% of the population identify as Black or mixed African descent. 

“In general, it’s a very beautiful experience to go to Brazil as a Black person,” Bell said.

Ruth Poku ’26 was in the same program in Brazil, and shared that the majority of the program cohort was made up of Black students. 

She did note her experience was different as a dark-skinned Black woman. She reflected that there are “not a lot of dark skinned people,” and she was catcalled in the white, middle class neighborhood where they lived. 

“Not different than what I experience in America,” Poku said. 

Opening up about these negative experiences did not counteract the support the panelists expressed for underclassmen to go abroad during their time at Mount Holyoke College. 

In an interview with Mount Holyoke News, Sarahjeen Paul ’25 said she decided to participate in the event because “I just really want more Black people to go abroad and have fun, and have this experience because it was so life changing. It’s really valuable to spend a semester or year somewhere different, and somewhere as beautiful as South Africa, too.” 

Paul recommended all students going abroad to be financially responsible and push themselves. “Budget your money, please! Please, please, please! And prioritize having experiences, not everything you do has to cost money … but also it’s important to get out there,” Paul said. 

Nelson shared a similar sentiment in an interview with Mount Holyoke News. “Don’t let the difficulties you might face, wherever you’re going, stop you from going. Go wherever you want to go, do what you want to do … Just plan ahead, and just know what you’re getting into, but don’t let that discourage you,” Nelson said.

Karishma Ramkarran ’27 contributed fact-checking.

Dr. Jessica DiCarlo presents Annual Geography Lecture on Global China

BY OLIVIA RUSSO ’25

STAFF WRITER

On Thursday, Feb. 13, the Mount Holyoke College community welcomed University of Utah Professor Jessica DiCarlo in presenting the College’s Annual Geography Lecture.

Motivated by several years of work in the non-governmental organization and education sectors of Tibet and China, DiCarlo’s research is focused on infrastructure, China’s global integration and socio-environmental issues, according to her website. As a human geographer, she has situated her research at the intersection of development studies, political ecology and Global China studies, with an emphasis on connecting ground-level cases observed from local communities to overarching global processes through ethnographic fieldwork. 

At the beginning of her lecture, entitled “From the Ground to the Global: Conceptualizing Global China and How it is Transforming Development,” DiCarlo introduced a critical approach to thinking about the concept of Global China. Global China often encompasses different connotations and perceptions, which are sometimes contradictory but seemingly always dynamic and in flux. She emphasized the importance of analyzing the term’s historical roots: while the mention and usage of the term “Global China” sharply increased post-2013, the exact phrasing began to circulate in the 1970s. The discussion at that time primarily focused on whether China could become a global power and on Global China as a phenomenon happening to China rather than something China was doing to the rest of the world. However, it gradually transitioned to indicate China’s integration into global markets and its active shaping of global systems. 

Using a genealogical approach, DiCarlo presented “six paths” of Global China: “other,” “integration,” “status,” “bridge,” “threat” and “alternative.” She notes that each path builds on particular lineages and understanding of both “China” and “global,” and while they are interlinked, tensions also exist within and between paths. For example, while “other” treats China as an external or alien force, and traces Western fear and anxiety about a rising China, “bridge” understands China as connections between people, cultures and ideas. While “status” frames China’s global rise as evidence of shifting power hierarchies, “threat” portrays China’s global footprint as a challenge to the existing order. Such conceptions of Global China have important implications for developmental thinking, as well as security measures, policies, development projects and more.

In contrast to the implications of Global China on an international scale, these paths simultaneously unfold in a different manner on a local scale. DiCarlo presented several projects indicative of this dissonance that she studied through fieldwork in Laos: the Laos-China Railway, Laos-China Economic Corridor and the Boten Special Economic Zone. These projects were part of the Belt and Road Initiative, a massive global infrastructure development strategy adopted by China. She described that, on a larger scale, these projects have extravagant launch parties, dominate the land as massive structures, are showcased in headlines and supposedly represent economic development and modernity. However, the fanfare that surrounds these global infrastructure projects often obscures the local, everyday experiences of people actually on the ground.

For example, DiCarlo found that in the Boten Special Economic Zone, workers were tasked with long, tedious labor that was ultimately intended to market a certain vision of prosperity, fanfare and money in the zone. Once the guests left, the whole city shut down. Another example she presented was the Laos-China Railway, which physically dominated the landscape and presented many issues for people on the ground. DiCarlo highlighted that people on the ground often don’t talk about the BRI or understand the project as a Chinese initiative despite being affected by issues such as farmland loss, deforestation or being displaced from their homes. She described that local residents were more concerned with land appropriation and lack of compensation for the displaced. Thus, while the BRI may seem to be everywhere, it’s not always visible to those most affected by it.

In general, DiCarlo argues that such development projects display the need to pay attention to “politics of sight,” pertaining to how the projects themselves as well as people are seen, and “downstream effects and flows,” or how power flows downstream from China and encounters obstacles along the way. Infrastructure projects exist on a spectrum of visibility, and visible projects, such as gleaming highways or giant ports, often hide or distract from less visible issues, like labor disputes and environmental damage.

Karishma Ramkarran ’27 contributed fact-checking.

Letters to MoHome: Trump’s desire for Greenland while living in Denmark

BY EMMA QUIRK ’26

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Hello from Copenhagen! 

I’ve been living in Denmark for the past month (and a half). There is so much to say about my experience studying abroad so far, but, for now, I just want to share what it’s been like to be here while Donald Trump is claiming he wants to buy Greenland. 

While this has mostly been taken as a joke by Americans, the Danes take this threat quite seriously. It has also brought up larger conversations about the status of Greenland as part of the Danish kingdom. Trump and Greenland are mentioned in news headlines and overheard in bars, coffee shops and bakeries. I’ve had conversations about this situation with my visiting host family and in the majority of my classes. 

In my course, “Postcolonial Europe: Narratives, Nationalism and Race,” we’ve specifically delved into the history of Greenland and Denmark, and the current conversations surrounding their relationship, as well as Trump. 

Denmark’s colonization of Greenland began with Christian missionaries in 1721. The overarching attitude in Denmark was one of superiority, based on racist and imperial beliefs. Like other Indigenous Peoples, the Inuit in Greenland were both scorned as being underdeveloped as well as idealized for their connection to, as the Danes saw it, traditional ways of life. Greenland remained an official colony of Denmark until 1954, when it became recognized as an autonomous state. Greenland was and still is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. 

Trump’s recent offer to buy Greenland wasn’t the first time the United States has shown an interest. There have been discussions within the United States government at various points, including a private offer after World War Ⅱ. Trump himself also talked about buying the island during his first term as president.

The official response from Denmark has been to say that Greenland is not for sale. King Frederik updated the royal coat of arms to have a larger polar bear, representing Greenland, and a larger ram, representing the Faroe Islands, apparently in response to Trump’s comments. Additionally, a satirical petition was started for Denmark to buy California. This petition has amassed over 244,000 signatures as of Feb. 13. 

The official response from Greenland has been to affirm that they are not interested in being purchased. In a statement, Prime Minister Múte Egede said “Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.” 

Tensions are not only high in Denmark because of Trump but because of the current relationship between Denmark and Greenland. Many Greenlanders want independence, and Egede has been working toward this. With a successful referendum, Greenland can be its own nation. Greenland will be having a parliamentary election in April, and Danes are watching to see what will happen. 

The Inuit of Greenland have been pushing for freedom and trying to rewrite the colonial narrative that Denmark has created. One way that this is being done is through art. With my Postcolonial Europe class, we’ve had the opportunity to explore some of this art. 

We visited Nordatlantens Brygge — which translates to North Atlantic House — which is a cultural center in Copenhagen, to see the exhibit The Arctic Exotic. The exhibit is the work of Ivínguak’ Stork Høegh, a Greenlandic contemporary collage artist. Her collages push back against exoticizing narratives of the Arctic and Greenland. 

Additionally, we had a guest lecture with Emile Hertling Péronard, a Greenlandic film producer, director and writer. He discussed the role of Danish film in curating stereotypical narratives about Greenland. Péronard works on films that represent Greenland and Greenlanders from their perspectives. He is a producer for the Greenlandic production company Ánorâk Film and one of the founders of Polarama Greenland, Greenland’s first production service company. 

Ignoring colonial histories disregards the current material effects of colonialism for both the colonizers and the colonized. Art like Høegh’s collages and Péronard’s films both presents history and presents Greenlandic culture from another perspective. 

Karishma Ramkarran ’27 contributed fact-checking.