CEA CAPA Education Abroad
2027 Woolf Symposium

Keywords in Education Abroad Storytelling: Deconstructing the Language of the Field

Words are not simply tools; they shape the very worlds we inhabit. - Raymond Williams

Language is never neutral. It either liberates or oppresses. - Paulo Freire

The limits of my language mean the limits of my world. - Ludwig Wittgenstein

Announcing the 2027 Wold Symposium - Call for Proposals

In March 2026, Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad and CEA CAPA Education Abroad co-hosted Woolf Symposium in Nashville, Tennessee, USA on the topic of keywords. Scholars, practitioners, and scholar-practitioners of education abroad came together in record numbers to discuss commonly used words in our field and proposed new ways of interpreting them or better words to replace them in our lexicon. The conversation was rich, lively, and left us wanting more.

In March 2027, Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad - our field's only open-access, peer-reviewed academic journal, published by The Forum - and CEA CAPA will once again convene innovative and critical thinkers in the field of education abroad to discuss still other keywords as we gather in New York City to deepen engagement between scholars and practitioners in the field and create spaces for critical reflection and examination of the theoretical, ethical, and philosophical underpinnings of our work.

The 2027 Woolf Symposium is timed to coincide with The Forum on Education Abroad's Annual Conference. If you would also like to participate in that event, see their Call for Proposals for additional information and presenting opportunities, or if you would simply like to participate as an attendee only.

Rationale

Over the decades, international education has developed a lexicon of terms that has shaped its rhetoric, practice, and pedagogy. They have become so embedded in our field's rhetoric that their meanings are often taken for granted. Some have shifted, lost resonance, or become unexamined orthodoxies. Still others may no longer speak adequately to contemporary realities.

In 2026, scholar-practitioners at all career stages interrogated the words safety, global citizenship, equity, diversity, inclusion, re-entry and reintegration, and more. Participants in the symposium were invited to consider: Are they still relevant, or do they obscure as much as they reveal about our practices, our students, and our world? Are we saying what we really mean? What might we say instead?

Words matter a great deal, and there are many more to explore. Internationalization. Decolonization. Access. Transformation. Through words, knowledge and understanding grows. That is why once again in 2027, we will focus on the language of the field, welcoming still other terms and new insights to the conversation.

We invite colleagues to revisit and critically interrogate the keywords of education abroad. Our aim is to deconstruct, historicize, and reconsider these terms that continue to shape how we describe, practice, and justify international education today, and to reimagine the language through which we understand and communicate the value and purpose of our field.

• How do these words continue to frame our field?
• What assumptions, histories, or ideologies are embedded in these terms?
• Which keywords still serve our field, and if so, how? How are they interconnected? Which feel exhausted or misleading?
• What alternative vocabularies might better capture our realities? If the words we use shape the field, what kind of future do we want our keywords to imagine into being?

Possible Keywords for Exploration

• Authenticity: Programs and students often seek “authentic” experiences - but what does authenticity mean in a world of global sameness, tourism, and constructed cultural performances?
• Community and Belonging: Whose communities are invoked in program design and implementation (students, locals, institutions?) and whose are silenced? How inclusive are they in practice?
• Culture: Is the assumption that students encounter “different cultures” abroad based on outdated or inaccurate notions of nations as coherent cultural units?
• Global Citizenship: Global' in what sense and for whom? 'Citizenship' in what ways/at what levels? 'Global citizenship' for what cultural, political, economic, epistemic, and/or environmental purposes?
• Immersion: Often taken to mean “deep cultural experience,” yet in practice this can be shallow, selective, or framed through privilege. What does immersion mean in a digitally connected, globally mobile world?
• Reciprocity: The term implies equity and balance but is often applied to models that suffer from historical power and resource imbalances. How do we expose and interrogate myths of reciprocity that conceal core inequities?
• Sustainability: Increasingly invoked by programs and organizations but often focused on institutional branding rather than meaningful action towards ecological or social justice. How useful is this terminology and how might ecolinguistics and ecopedagogy challenge this shallow usage?
• Transformation: How has this much-repeated promise been measured, defined, or challenged, and what power dynamics shape claims of students' “life-changing” experiences?

We also welcome additional suggestions of keywords that demand rethinking, whether emerging from program practice or policy, pedagogy, host community perspectives, or student experiences.

Format

Selected Symposium presenters will be invited to give short presentations (maximum 15 minutes) that introduce a keyword for reconsideration, sparking group discussion and reflection. Contributions may be conceptual/theoretical, historical, or practice-based reflections.

Submission Process

Please submit a short proposal (250 words) identifying the keyword you wish to interrogate and outlining your approach. Contributions may take the form of brief scholarly essays, case studies, commentaries, or interdisciplinary reflections.

Participants in the 2026 and 2027 Woolf Symposia will be invited to present full-length chapters or other creative formats for consideration for publication in CEA CAPA's Occasional Publication No. 13 - Keywords (scheduled for a late 2027 release). Call for submissions forthcoming.

Submit your proposal using this form before the October 2, 2026 deadline

Key Dates and Deadlines

• 3 September 2026 - Call for Proposals announced, registration opens
• 2 October 2026 - Deadline to propose a keyword
• Mid-November 2026 - Presenters notified of acceptance
• 4 December 2026 - Early registration rate deadline
• 9 March 2027 - Symposium held in New York, NY, USA in conjunction with The Forum on Education Abroad's 2027 Annual Conference

The 2027 Woolf Symposium Organizing Committee is:

• Dr. Anthony Gristwood, Senior Editor, CEA CAPA Occasional Publications Series, Principal Lecturer & Faculty Chair, London, and Chair, Global Faculty Advisory Council, CEA CAPA Education Abroad
• Dr. Elaine Meyer-Lee, Provost, Goucher College & Editor, Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad
• Dr. Louis Berends, Associate Provost, CEA CAPA Education Abroad
• Dr. Amelia J. Dietrich, Executive Director, Knowledge Mobilization & Research, The Forum on Education Abroad & Managing Editor, Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad
• Dr. Martha Johnson, Chief Academic Officer and Provost, CEA CAPA Education Abroad
• Courtney Kroll, Editorial Assistant, Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad