Background:
"Coming Home" developed as one part of a larger ethnography of diversity project at George Mason, organized by the university’s Diversity Research Group.
Project rationale:
Foreign and immigrant students are recognized as a vital part of the diversity that makes George Mason a recognized international university. However, the many native-born George Mason students who have returned from life overseas have received less attention. This project is designed to explore the experiences of such “returnees” and how their education and life at George Mason are affected by having been overseas.
The project is based on open-ended interviews that explore the returnee experience in its personal, social, and educational aspects. In particular, the project examines the ways in which returnees provide the Mason community with additional perspectives on the world and how the Mason community can, in turn, provide returnees with a better outlet for their new insights.