Intergroup Contact Fosters Intercultural Competence among Global Service-Learners through Appreciation of Differences and Awareness of Structural Inequalities
Samuel Ikendi, Michael S. Retallick, Gail R. Nonnecke, Theressa N. Cooper, Francis Owusu
Journal of Agricultural Education
Urban Farm DB summary
A 2025 comparative study of alumni from Iowa State University (ISU) and Makerere University (MAK) who participated in a summer school garden service-learning program run through the Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in Uganda between 2006 and 2019. Grounded in intergroup contact theory, a self-administered questionnaire was sent to 274 alumni via Qualtrics with a 94.2% response rate, measuring change in self-perceived appreciation of differences (SAD) and awareness of structural inequalities (ASI). ISU alumni showed greater changes in knowledge, attitudes, and awareness than MAK alumni; race, ethnicity, and gender accounted for differences, with white and female ISU alumni showing greater changes than alumni of color and male alumni respectively, and binational housing arrangements also influenced the differences.