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HANDS-ON
EXPERIENCE
Students engage in conversations with Latin American
faculty and guest lecturers, activists and leaders from
local communities. Learning is brought to life through
small group field projects and experiences with organizations
and communities in rural and urban settings working
on urban issues. Students observe, interview, and make
direct contact with local citizens and organizations
to better understand local conditions and efforts to
bring about change. Each student also completes an independent
study project on a topic of personal choice, based on
field research.
THE SETTING
Guatemala City is undergoing fast-paced change from
small town to metropolitan area with a new public transportation
system, shopping centers and growing visibility for
the arts. As a country, Guatemala is a unique political
arena, where a nation and a state are being created
under the guiding principles of “multilingual and
pluri-cultural” mandated by the recent Peace Agreements.
It is also a place well known for its colorful textiles
and folk art, rich Mayan ancestral ceremonies and lively
local markets.
The field excursion to Cuba offers comparisons and contrasts
to the realities in Central America. Exploring issues
of migration, housing, urban renewal, social movements
and social change from the point of view of common people
makes for an incomparable learning experience in Cuba,
particularly when comparing the colonial cities of Antigua,
Guatemala and Old Havana.
In Guatemala City, you will stay with a host family.
There are also field projects to various sites, including
a short-term home stay with a Mayan host family in the
Lake Atitlán region. All meals are provided by
home stay families or through a food stipend during
travel.
PROGRAM CREDIT
4 courses (equivalent to 16 semester hours or 27 trimester
credits).
All students take these four courses which are taught
as an integrated set of learning experiences:
Development in the Latin American City
Critical
Social Issues: Linking Theory and Action
Spanish
in the Field (advanced language course)
Independent
Study Project (student chooses topic)
COURSES
This program explores historical and current issues
related to rural-urban migration, industrialization,
government policies and effects on human communities.
Students compare and critique theories of development
and then explore their usefulness and limitations in
understanding the region and its global context.
A “Spanish in the Field” course facilitates
significant language learning directly related to current
issues and field experiences of the program.
In the seminars, most lectures are in Spanish, with
discussions in Spanish and English. Readings are mostly
in English, though some are in Spanish. Group and independent
projects require use of Spanish for work in the field
— interviews, reading primary documents, etc. Papers
may be written in English or Spanish.
CENTRAL
QUESTIONS
•
Why are Latin American cities in an urban crisis and
how does this crisis reflect the social conflict that
all societies are facing?
• How do people use the lenses of various economic
models (like Marxism and Capitalism) to understand and
define the question that urban and rural societies face?
• How can we act effectively and responsibly in
our increasingly interconnected communities?
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