Although global southern hosts often argue against the salvationist ISL model, this approach remains dominant. This text poses a reciprocal model that challenges the 'helping imperative' by putting the global southern partners at the centre of the ISL experience.

Despite the existence of a robust literature reviewed throughout this text which critiques salvationist models of international Service Learning (ISL), including literature that advocates deeply reciprocal relationships between global northern sending organizations and global southern host organizations, neocolonial models of ISL remain the dominant practice. The authors pose an ISL model that puts north/south reciprocity at the entre of ISL planning and implementation – based on their research and engagement in multiple ISL experiences and, importantly, from the input of representatives of global southern host organizations at a south-south gathering (encuentro). This constitutes a rupture with the current model that views the host village as an extension of a group leader’s classroom; rather, it makes the host community a space for difficult learning based on what hosts want their visitors to take home. The interruptions of ISL travel represented by COVID constituted an opportunity to consider alternative models; despite the awareness of environmental impacts of travel, it is likely that ISL trips will resume. It is, therefore, increasingly important that the ISL experience becomes a means of generating solidarity rather than the reinforcement of neocolonial “helping imperatives” associated with the traditional model.

Are there better ways to address community challenges than expending funds on international service-learning?In attempting to wed learning and service, are we are exploiting the “other” for new, or recycled, aims?As these questions attest, of all types of service-learning, international service-learning (ISL) most starkly illuminates the tensions between the liberatory and oppressive potentials of practice.This book explores the ramifications of realizing a new age of service-learning that pushes beyond single episodic course-based projects to rebalance student learning and community outcome priorities, and provides insight into what it looks like in its execution. In describing eleven international programs designed to achieve reciprocal, sustained relationships in which learning is co-created, the contributors reveal their struggles to change the balance of power relationships and move to a more transformative practice. Common themes are the developmental nature of this work; the recognition that it takes multiple attempts, often over years, for an individual or an institution to get this work even nearly right; that resolving the challenges of unequal resources, power, and privilege can never be completely erased; and that attention has to be given to the micro-level details.What emerge are seven guiding principles that define the nature of partnerships in liberatory practice, and that apply to all forms of service learning. They must be: strategic--linked to the mission and expertise of the institution; long-term; multifaceted--allowing both partners to play a multiplicity of roles; developmental in building capacities; contextualized in historic and cultural understanding; fully reciprocal; and create the potential for community-driven change.In addressing the problematic nature of ISL, and of service-learning in general, this book interrogates whether its experiences create the necessary conditions for the formation of individual values, convictions, and action; and whether their pivotal teaching and learning moments are indeed replicable and transferable across individual, institutional and even cultural contexts. Its conclusions and insights will be of intense interest to administrators and practitioners alike.

Disrupting assumptions and commonsensical ideologies of "service," Service Learning as a Political Act in Education presents a clear and systematic analysis that unveils the rampant contradictions within the service learning field. By providing a careful, critical bicultural examination of the field, this book questions the relentless insertion of service learning programs into working-class, bicultural communities. Through a decolonizing lens, this book offers a radical political confrontation of service learning ideologies and practices.

International service learning (ISL) programs are growing more popular with students looking to advance their skills and knowledge to become global citizens. While the benefits of these programs among students are well documented, little is known about the implications they have on host communities themselves. This volume explores the impact of ISL programs on members of host communities (e.g. host families and local partner NGOs) who are increasingly influenced by the presence of international students in their lives. Drawing upon post-colonial, feminist and other critical and decolonizing theories, it examines the complicated power relations between North American ISL students and host communities in East and West Africa, the Caribbean and Central America. It stresses the importance of developing trusting relations between ISL students, faculty and individuals in the host communities to create mutually engaging learning experiences.

A comprehensive guide to service-learning for social justice written by an international panel of experts The Wiley International Handbook of Service-Learning for Social Justice offers a review of recent trends in social justice that have been, until recently, marginalized in the field of service-learning. The authors offer a guide for establishing and nurturing social justice in a variety of service-learning programs, and show that incorporating the principles of social justice in service-learning can empower communities to resist and disrupt oppressive power structures, and work for solidarity with host and partner communities. With contributions from an international panel of experts, the Handbook contains a critique of the field’s roots in charity; a review of the problematization of Whitenormativity, paired with the bolstering of diverse voices and perspectives; and information on the embrace of emotional elements including tension, ambiguity, and discomfort. This important resource: Considers the role of the community in service-learning and other community‑engaged models of education and practice Explores the necessity of disruption and dissonance in service-learning Discusses a number of targeted issues that often arise in service-learning contexts Offers a practical guide to establishing and nurturing social justice at the heart of an international service-learning program Written for advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, scholars, and educators, The Wiley International Handbook of Service-Learning for Social Justice highlights social justice as a conflict‑ridden struggle against inequality, xenophobia, and oppression, and offers practical suggestions for incorporating service-learning programs in various arenas.

International service learning (ISL) programs are growing more popular with students looking to advance their skills and knowledge to become global citizens. While the benefits of these programs among students are well documented, little is known about the implications they have on host communities themselves. This volume explores the impact of ISL programs on members of host communities (e.g. host families and local partner NGOs) who are increasingly influenced by the presence of international students in their lives. Drawing upon post-colonial, feminist and other critical and decolonizing theories, it examines the complicated power relations between North American ISL students and host communities in East and West Africa, the Caribbean and Central America. It stresses the importance of developing trusting relations between ISL students, faculty and individuals in the host communities to create mutually engaging learning experiences.