An Unexpected Education: Saudi Women Learning Activism and Entrepreneurship Through Graduate Studies Abroad (Joining in-person)
This paper explores early findings from an in-progress research study focused on the experiences of female graduate students from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at U.S. higher education institutions. A number of Saudi women are reporting that their graduate educational experience in the U.S. has stimulated their interest and desire to pursue entrepreneurial endeavors and/or civic activism in their home country. This finding appears to be common among the majority of participants in the study regardless of their academic discipline and personal background-- Saudi women are returning to the Kingdom with PhDs, MBAs, and other internationally-recognized credentials along with concrete plans to start their own businesses and/or involve themselves in civic activism. This paper investigates the factors that may be influencing this phenomenon, its impact on individual participants, and the possible short term and long term impacts on Saudi society, economy, and political environment as a whole.
The research study which this paper is based upon utilizes a qualitative methodological approach, specifically case study design, to collect data from nine female graduate student participants from Saudi Arabia and presents an in-depth description of each case. The analysis of the collected data has been guided by theoretical frameworks related to Arab feminism(s) and Islamic feminism(s). It is anticipated that this paper will build on and add complexity to contemporary understandings of transnational feminism(s) in a global context, with specific focus on the diverse educational experiences of Muslim women.
Natalie Vinski Ibrahim is Associate Director for University of Maryland’s Honors Global Communities Program and a PhD candidate in International Education Policy in UMD's College of Education. She joined the UMD campus community in 2011 after completing a year-long Fulbright Teaching fellowship (ETA) at University Hassan II Faculty of Arts and Humanities in Casablanca, Morocco. Her research and professional interests include international education, intergroup dialogue, and gender issues in higher education. She has co-led education abroad programs to Tohoku, Japan, and Santiago, Dominican Republic, and has participated in Búsquedas Investigativas international education research practicum in Havana, Cuba.