Witnesses to inhumanity on shifting terrain: Embracing an ethic of discomfort for optimal learning in an international field course

Abstract

This paper examines the written reflections of 30 Canadian undergraduate students who participated in an international field course focusing on migration and human rights in Mexico. It endeavors to understand how the students reconciled their thoughts and feelings about trauma and oppression in an intercultural setting. Borrowing Foucault’s ‘ethic of discomfort’, which emphasizes the proactive and transformative potential of discomfort in education, the paper extends existing scholarship in teaching and learning around study abroad and social justice by focusing on ethically complex situations in the field. The findings reveal that while preparation for unprecedented and unforeseeable scenarios during an international field course was challenging for faculty, exposing students to the realities of migration ultimately facilitated learning.