Investigating Shame and Gender while Studying Abroad: Experiences in Selected Cultural Contact Zones

The chapter contributes to intercultural research on shame and gender in selected cultural contact zones (CCZs). It explores the perspectives of students studying in a study abroad programme (Semester at Sea, SAS), visiting selected countries. The research methodology is qualitative and phenomenological in nature. Alltogether 422 international students between 18 and 23 years participated in this study. They described their critical intercultural experiences in selected CCZs. Findings show that students experienced various intercultural challenges, particularly in Morocco, Portugal and Spain which led to shame. Further, the shameful experiences were related to gender. Shameful situations were experienced in the following domains: 1. inappropriate behaviour (eight incidents); 2. gendered lifestyles (five incidents); 3. begging (three incidents); 4. intercultural misunderstanding (three incidents); 5. surprise about shamelessness (two incidents); and 6. scamming (one incident). It is concluded that culture-specific intercultural trainings and diversity management trainings could prepare students for their visits abroad and help them gaining practical skills to transform shame experiences into growth-orientated learning processes.