The shortcut to cultural awareness has become, in some intellectual circles, a trip to the Third World. Whether volunteering or studying, a trip to the poorest areas of Africa or South America has come to represent a foray into modern enlightenment. However, for students to appreciate the realities of the impoverished neighborhoods located beyond the resort gates, they must understand what they are seeing. School of Law professor Kevin Outterson, who is in his first year teaching at Boston University, offered students from West Virginia University an informed look at the favelas — squatter settlements of Brazil — and BU students would surely benefit should Outterson decide to bring his study-abroad program here.

Outterson has been recognized for his research in areas of international law that affect access, pricing and intellectual property rights for exports — rules that affect pharmaceutical availability, particularly for AIDS medications, in poor nations. His knowledge of the international structures that connect American professionals to far-away Brazilians enriches students’ experiences. By allowing his students to study comparative and international law with Brazilian students, who often admonished members of his group to avoid the dangers of the settlements governed by community will and drug lords, students were able to appreciate the divergent views and wealth distribution that exist in Brazil. Students could also learn the importance of the law they will eventually practice by understanding the rules that govern the favelas, where laws are not always codified.

The company that Outterson used to escort his group through the favela donates a portion of its profits to charities — a feel-good draw for wealthy tourists. The real benefit denizens of the favela can derive from student visits, however, is not money or economic activity within the neighborhoods. Rather, by actually seeing the realities facing those affected at the lowest levels by World Trade Organization policies and international fiscal decisions, students – who will someday be in positions as lawyers, consultants or politicians – may be inspired to effect policy changes that could benefit the favelas, rather than only themselves or their employers.

Outterson’s emphasis on the role future lawyers play in determining the fates of the poor is commendable, and his approach to tourism could easily be adapted to an American setting or offered to business students and others hoping to someday call the shots on the international stage. Those who recognize the difference between tourism and informing oneself will take the most from Outterson’s lessons. His honest, educated approach to understanding those living outside the ivory tower of higher education should be expanded to other programs in other areas, including places in the United States, for the benefit of fortunate students and people suffering from shortsighted policies that can be changed.