Frequently cited among the benefits of service-learning is the potential enhancement of students' ability to critically reflect upon their experiences. It is often questioned as to how critical this reflection process is in practice, noting that service-learning often leaves students' assumptions regarding privilege and equity unexamined. Employing the concept of “defamiliarization” as the subjective process by which students gain the ability to “break with the taken-for-granted and set the familiar aside” (Greene, 1995, p.3), this study explores if, and how, college students came to critically examine their assumptions about self and society during the course of their involvement in an international service-learning program. Findings indicated that students were attentive to the perspectives of local community members whom they came to care for and that this contributed to their raising critical questions concerning issues of privilege and inequity. Implications for the design of critically oriented service-learning programs are discussed.
AcostaM. (1995). Journal writing in service-learning: Lessons from a mentoring project. Michigan Journal of Service-learning, 2, 141–149.
2.
AlcoffL. (1995). The problem of speaking for others. In RoofJ.WiegmanR. (Eds.), Who can speak? Authority and critical identity (pp. 97–119). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
3.
BanksJ. (1996). Transformative knowledge, curriculum reform and action. In BanksJ. (Ed.), Multicultural education: Transformative knowledge and action (pp. 335–348). New York: Teachers College Press.
4.
BernardR. (2002). Research methods in anthropology: Qualitative and quantitative methods (3rd ed.). Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira Press.
5.
Boyle-BaiseM. (1998). Community based service-learning for multicultural teacher education: An exploratory study with pre-service teachers. Equity & Excellence in Education, 31(2), 52–60.
6.
Boyle-BaiseM.SleeterC. (2000). Community based service-learning for multicultural teacher education. Educational Foundations, 14(2), 33–50.
7.
BrookfieldS. (1995). Becoming a critically reflective teacher. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
8.
BrunnerD. (1994). Inquiry and reflection: Framing narrative practice in education. Albany, NY: State University of New York.
9.
BuchenI. (1995). Service-learning and curriculum transfusion. NASSP Bulletin, 79(567), 66–70.
10.
ConradD.HedinD. (1982). Executive summary of the final report of the experiential education evaluative project. St. Paul, MN: University of Minnesota.
11.
CruzN. (1990). A challenge to the notion of service. In KendallJ. C. & Associates (Eds.), Combining service and learning—A resource book for community and public service (pp. 321–323). Raleigh, NC: National Society for Internships and Experiential Education.
12.
DarleyJ.GrossP. (1983). A hypothesis-confirming bias in labeling effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44(1), 20–33.
13.
EricksonJ.O'ConnorS. (2000). Service-learning: Does it promote or reduce prejudice? In O'GradyC. (Ed.), Integrating service-learning and multicultural education in colleges and universities (pp. 59–70). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum & Associates.
14.
FreireP. (1970). Education for critical consciousness. New York: Continuum.
15.
FreireP.MacedoD. (1996). A dialogue: Culture, language, and race. In LeistynaP.WoodrumA.SherblomS. (Eds.), Breaking free: The transformative power of critical pedagogy (pp. 199–228). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Educational Review.
16.
GirouxH. (1988). Border pedagogy in the age of postmodernism. Journal of Education, 170(3), 162–181.
17.
GreeneM. (1995). Releasing the imagination. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
18.
HardingS. (1993). Rethinking standpoint epistemology: What is “strong objectivity?” In AlcoffL.PotterE. (Eds.), Feminist epistemologies (pp. 49–82). New York: Routledge.
19.
IllychI. (1990). To hell with good intentions. In KendallJ. C. and Associates (Eds.), Combining service and learning—A resource book for community and public service (pp. 314–320). Raleigh, NC: National Society for Internships and Experiential Education.
20.
KransJ.RourkeS. (1994). Learning through travel. Journal of Experiential Education, 17(3), 20–28.
21.
KerdemanD. (1998). Hermeneutics and education: Understanding, control, and agency. Educational Theory, 48(2), 241–266.
22.
LaschC. (1984). The minimal self. New York: W.W. Norton.
23.
LeistynaP.WoodrumA. (1996). Context and culture: What is critical pedagogy? In LeistynaP.WoodrumA.SherblomS. (Eds.), Breaking free: The transformative power of critical pedagogy (pp. 1–8). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Educational Review.
24.
LevineK. (1988). The forgotten half: Pathways to success for America's youth and young families. New York: William T. Grant Foundation.
25.
McPhersonK. (1989). Enriching service through learning. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: Project Service Leadership.
26.
NewmannF. (1996). Authentic achievement: Restructuring schools for intellectual quality. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
27.
NoddingN. (1992). The challenge to care in the schools: An alternative approach to education. New York: Teachers College Press.
28.
O'GradyC. (2000). Integrating service-learning and multicultural education in colleges and universities. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum & Associates.
29.
RosenbergerC. (2000). Beyond empathy: Developing critical consciousness through service-learning. In O'GradyC. (Ed.), Integrating service-learning and multicultural education in colleges and universities (pp. 23–45). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
30.
StraussA.CorbinJ. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
31.
TooleJ.TooleP. (1995). Reflection as a tool for turning service experiences into learning experiences. In KinsleyC.McPhersonK. (Eds.), Enriching the curriculum through service-learning (pp. 99–114). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
32.
WadeR. (1997). Community service-learning: A guide to including service in the public school curriculum. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
