This paper explores the study abroad classroom as a site of discursive production about the non-western world by western educational tourism practitioners, using the American program Semester at Sea as a case study. Through a frame analysis of fieldnotes gathered on Semester at Sea’s curricular practices, the study concludes that the program both reinforces and resists colonialist ways of seeing the world through its representations of destination cultures, inside and outside of the formal classroom. It ultimately argues that educational tourism programs like study abroad must be more reflective about the ways they frame destinations for participants, if they wish to truly live up to their noble missions of promoting cross-cultural understanding, respect, and harmony.
