Decolonial Experimentations in International Service Learning Research and Practice: Learnings from Mayan Indigenous Host Communities

Abstract

Global South and Indigenous communities often represent the contexts of international service learning (ISL) programs. However, rarely are the effects of historical colonization and the potential colonizing impact of Global North visitors being investigated. Central to this article is our story as Global North and settler-Canadian researchers who are learning to experiment with decolonization as a theoretical framework for ISL research. We offer an account of the development of an encuentro (symposium); a culminating event for a four-year study, in which Guatemalan and Nicaraguan host community members share of their experiences as Indigenous hosts. The findings reveal challenges in future ISL research in such contexts and offer ideas about how institutions and organizations may develop ISL in ways that honor community visions of reciprocity. has been a growing field of study. As with much research, ours had mixed beginnings. Because of opportunity and curiosity, we have travelled ; because of a belief in social justice and a responsibility to live well in the world, we were drawn to ISL; and because of growing awareness of our position as settler-colonists and the impact of colonization on Indigenous peoples in the Americas, we began to question our previously held worldviews. What began as a conventional research project, examining the impact of ISL experiences on secondary school students, validating opportunities to travel and connect with the Other, morphed into a realization that we were the Other in these contexts.