Full Description
How do middle-class Americans become aware of distant social problems and act against them? US colleges, congregations, and seminaries increasingly promote immersion travel as a way to bridge global distance, produce empathy, and increase global awareness. But does it? Drawing from a mixed methods study of a progressive, religious immersion travel organization at the US-Mexico border, Empathy Beyond US Borders provides a broad sociological context for the rise of immersion travel as a form of transnational civic engagement. Gary J. Adler, Jr follows alongside immersion travelers as they meet undocumented immigrants, walk desert trails, and witness deportations. His close observations combine with interviews and surveys to evaluate the potential of this civic action, while developing theory about culture, empathy, and progressive religion in transnational civic life. This timely book describes the moralization of travel, the organizational challenges of transnational engagement, and the difficulty of feeling transformed but not knowing how to help.
Contents
1. From distance to concern; Part I. Organizational Roots and Dilemmas: 2. At the border between education and action; 3. The problems of finding truth through travel; Part II. Activities, Emotions, and Empathy: 4. What immersion travelers feel all day; 5. Why it's better to walk than talk; Part III. Patterns of Experience and Transformation: 6. Guided unsettledness: how groups safely shape travel; 7. What changes and why?; 8. The possibilities and problems of immersion travel; Methodological appendix; Bibliography; Index.
