I’m planning on studying abroad for a semester at some point during undergrad. I wanted to research health inequalities and structural racism, and wanted to know a good place where I could get the most research. I already live in the US so that country is not an option.
I think that you should seriously consider taking a semester or a summer in Africa. It will give you a very different view of the world.
Where in Africa? There are so many countries to choose from lol.
“Where in Africa?”
I do not know. I just thought that with your interests you might want to see a part of the world that is very different. It might take some effort to find an appropriate location.
You are putting the cart before the horse.
Structural racism and health inequalities travel hand in hand, and there are plenty of places in the world where you can find them*
To do actual primary research takes more background than you currently have. Aside from learning research methodologies, and deciding which you will use, and doing the literature review to find out what relevant work has already been done (there is a lot of extant work in this area), you will need a location where you can get access to the information or informants you need. For an undergrad that almost always comes through the university. So your university and your advisor are where you start: who do they have relationships with? Your language skills are also relevant: are you limited to English speaking countries?
*also, if you don’t think you can find structural racism and health inequalities anywhere in the US you haven’t been paying attention
Where you go abroad usually is tied with where your university has program arrangements. Start with your study abroad office.
Do you think that studying in South Africa could further your interests ?
The point is that I definitely would find structural racism and health inequalities in the US. As a black woman I definitely understand that. However, the whole point of study abroad is to leave my home country.
For a living abroad experience (v doing primary research), ofc talk to your study abroad office, but my suggestion would be to look for the program that gives you the deepest ‘in-country’ experience- especially if you can live in a family home and go to regular classes (not classes made for study abroad students). Do you have another language that would let you do that, or can you get close enough to make it work?
If not, obviously English language countries are what you are looking for. Depending on the country, ‘institutionalized racism’ might be less obvious to you. For example, in Ireland there is ‘institutionalized racism’- but it’s not based on color (there is random color-based racism, but it’s not institutionalized, it’s cultural: what is known as the ‘Travelling Community’.
Many colleges offer English-language courses for students studying abroad. Have you considered China for study abroad? There are inequalities based on your residence–rural workers who come into the cities for work face structural divides in terms of accessing schooling for their children (or they leave children at home virtual orphans or cared for by aging parents), healthcare, housing, the ability to get compensation if they’re harmed, nearly all aspects of life. So these are ethnically Chinese people (Han) being discriminated against by other ethnically Chinese people (Han) based on official residence.
Japan has structural issues based on whether you’re perceived as Japanese or not. In some areas, people who are ethnically Korean but have lived in Japan for generations face discrimination. Ethnically Japanese workers who went to Brazil and then return to Japan are not considered Japanese enough by some people. The visa system for health workers from the Philippines (and elsewhere) ensures that those people cannot emigrate despite years of work and Japan’s negative population growth rates. Mixed-race children born in Japan are often not allowed in, say, the hot-springs bathing houses.
Perhaps it would be interesting to compare inter-racial biases compared with intra-racial biases and the health results … ? Just one idea. Cross-cultural comparisons are often interesting regardless of the topic.