Innocents Abroad: American Teachers in the American Century

by Jonathan Zimmerman

Protestant missionaries in Latin America. Colonial "civilizers" in the Pacific. Peace Corps Volunteers in Africa. Since the 1890s, thousands of American teachers--mostly young, white, middle-class, and inexperienced--have fanned out across the globe. Innocents Abroad tells the story of what they intended to teach and what lessons they learned. Drawing on extensive archives of the teachers' letters and diaries, as well as more recent accounts, Jonathan Zimmerman argues that until the early twentieth century, the teachers assumed their own superiority; they sought to bring civilization, Protestantism, and soap to their host countries. But by the mid-twentieth century, as teachers borrowed the concept of "culture" from influential anthropologists, they became far more self-questioning about their ethical and social assumptions, their educational theories, and the complexity of their role in a foreign society. Filled with anecdotes and dilemmas--often funny, always vivid--Zimmerman's narrative explores the teachers' shifting attitudes about their country and themselves, in a world that was more unexpected and unsettling than they could have imagined.

Genres: History, Education, Nonfiction

312 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2006

About the author

Jonathan Zimmerman is professor of education and history, New York University. His previous books include Innocents Abroad: American Teachers in the American Century and Whose America? Culture Wars in the Public Schools. He lives in Narberth, PA.

Reviews

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book focuses on one of the most visible groups of Americans who live and work abroad: teachers. Zimmerman shows that there were differences between those who went abroad in the first half of the 20th century and those who left in the latter half. Though the social, historical and political frameworks changed over time, he notes that there has always been a diversity of opinion and a lively debate about just what these Americans were doing (or supposed to be doing) abroad. There are things in here that will make Americans wince - not just how some Americans viewed the countries where they worked (especially those that were a part of the American empire like Puerto Rico or the Philippines) in the first part of the 20th century but also how this continued in a different way in different regions in the second half of the century. He also shows how these Americans abroad found that there were things they heartily approved of in their host countries (like government support for religious schools) and so they brought those things back to the US.

The only quibble I have with the book is that I would have liked more discussion about the late 20th century and a longer chapter (not just an epilogue) on American teachers in an globalized world.

[Zhelana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book could easily be summed up "The Catholics and protestants fought, and everyone was racist as fuck." It basically describes Americans who go abroad to teach school. It talks about how they all hit the kids, even if they would never hit their own kids, because they were racist as fuck. Then it talks about how they viewed imperialism, even though they were the biggest imperialists, and racist as fuck. I think the author may have bitten off more than he could chew with such a broad topic. I mean history 101 is to pick a small specific topic. This was like all the teachers for an entire century, and it was just too much. I have no doubt the author knows what he's talking about, but in large part, I don't because it was too much information shoved into too little space. It makes me glad I didn't wind up in the peace corps when I graduated from college with how little preparation for teaching these people got, and how they tried to pass that off as a good thing. Basically, once again I find myself uncertain what I thought of the book. It didn't stand out much, and I'm not sure I retained much. I considered putting it down at one point, but then found myself in a new chapter that stopped being repetitive like the earlier chapters were. It was an alright book. I wouldn't recommend it though unless you're going abroad to teach and need to earn what not to do.