First City, Anti-City: Cain, Heterotopia, and Study Abroad

Abstract

A discussion of the city’s relation to study abroad provides an opportunity to insert a theoretical element into the pedagogy of the profession. This article presents an essay that first introduces the Foucauldian concepts of “genealogy” and “heterotopia” to the idea of the “city,” and in turn applies the same terms to the place of the city in the study abroad experience. Then, turning from Michel Foucault as “philosopher of space” to Paul Virilio, “philosopher of time,” the article demonstrates the interplay between Foucault’s heterotopia and Virilio’s “anti-city,” showing how study abroad in the contemporary, globalized city requires distinct programmatic changes to the (s)pace of education abroad.