Global citizenship, tourism and consumerism: A narrative enquiry into the global consumer-citizen spectrum in students’ study tour experiences

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) increasingly embed international activities in their curricula as a way to stimulate global citizenship education (GCE). Nonetheless, there is much debate on the definition and impact of these activities for the development of students as reflective practitioners. Inspired by Roman’s discursive framework, this article examines three dominant conceptions of global citizenship experienced by students during study tours to Surinam. By means of a narrative analysis of 33 diaries collected during three study tours we have categorized students’ lived experiences along a global citizen-consumer spectrum. Our findings show that students’ accounts are mainly centred on notions of consumerism, including multiple colonialist and orientalist stances, while few are concerned with personal reflections related to global citizenship. Concluding, we argue that study tours are no guarantee of enhanced global citizenship; thus, much debate is still needed to determine the significance of study tours in fostering GCE.