My name is Todd Pierce and I am the Director at the Isla Mujeres Ethnographic Field School (on the small Caribbean island, Isla Mujeres, Mexico). You can learn about our program on our site AnthroFieldSchool and on our Facebook page: https://facebook/Islamujeresethnographicfieldschool (we post up new information about the Field School on our FB page, posts concerning many of the issues that we find important as well as general anthropological interest posts that you might find entertaining or useful.) I am sorry if you have received this e-mail from me before. I am using a large e-mail list of colleagues and faculty. If you have received an e-mail about our program before, I do hope that your students found the information useful and this e-mail can serve as a reminder. Many students are returning from their Spring Break and if they have not made their plans for the summer, perhaps our program would be perfect for them. Our main website (and related e-mails) experienced some technical issues from Feb 25th to March 11th. The site was down and the e-mails did not work (so any student sending an e-mail with questions or applicaton materials received an error message / bounced e-mail). This is also one of the reasons we are sending this e-mail, to let students know about this tech issue and that they should re-send their e-mails. We hope you can pass the information about our Field School on to your students who may be interested. We are currently accepting enrollment to our summer 2014 Field School sessions. We are offering two 6 week Advanced Methods sessions and two 3 week Practicum Sessions for students to choose from. The Practicum sessions also offer a medical anthropology focus for those students interested (one focus will be on teen pregnancy and HIV prevention, the other will be on health, nutrition and diabetes). Our 6 week advanved methods students are also encouraged to participate in these two medical anthropology practicums. The deadline for applicatons for the first session (mid-May through July) is April 15th. The deadline for the second session (July through mid-August) is May 15th. Ethnographic Field School is a great resource for any student of Anthropology, from beginner students to those more advanced in their studies. Many disciplines study issues of Culture and the Environment, political economy, or other cultural studies programs, like Latin American studies, not just Anthropologists -- and anthropology is not the only discipline that utilizes Ethnographic Field Research techniques. Much of the Field School description below pertains to the 6 week long Advanced Methods session, though some aspects of this carry over to the 3 week long Practicum sessions as well. We encourage Undergraduate and Graduate students from the fields of Anthropology, Sociology, Biology, Environmental Sciences, Marine Biology, Forestry, fine art, music (we actually highlight local island artists on our facebook page) and other fields who are interested in learning Ethnographic Field Research Methods and techniques to attend the Isla Mujeres Ethnographic Field School. For example, a student might major in Marine Biology and is interested in the preservation of Whale Sharks. To fully understand this issue the would need to know not only a bit about their life cycle, migration patterns and environments, but also the political economy of the context in which they are endangered. Understanding the tourism that surrounds them, the guides and fisherman who launch site-seeing and swimming tours for tourists to be close to them and other issues like the political context of such tourism and official government efforts to protect (or not) the Whale Sharks, is vital to seeing the whole picture. Gaining this larger perspective that also focuses on the daily cultural issues surrounding this animal is what our Field School can offer. Students will receive a minimum of 40 hours of classroom ethnographic methods instruction (as well as the theories and ethics related to ethnographic field research) and conduct a minimum of 80 hours of directed independent research. Each student will receive a minimum of 9 hours of intense Spanish Language training, accompanied by over 40 hours of conversational practice. We also offer an elective 3 week (2 hours per day, 5 days a week) intensive Spanish course that is detailed to the students current level of Spanish, and developes their ability from there. Students will also receive about 15 hours of Scuba Dive instruction, with an additional 10 hours of practical experience. The location, the Mexican Caribbean island of Isla Mujeres, is an ideal location for putting the learned methods into practice through a focus on culture and environment. Each week students will experience Field Work with their Local Expert Mentors, along with Excursions, such as taking a Lanchero (small fishing boat) to the Contoy Island Nature Preserve, swimming in the open Caribbean Sea with Whale Sharks, touring the Isla Mujeres Tortugranja Turtle Preserve, diving or snorkeling at the Cancun Subaquatic Museum, and visiting the Mayan ruins on the island and at Chichén Itzá. The Isla Mujeres Ethnographic Field School provides: • Practical experience in Ethnographic Methods, Research Design, analysis and ethics through formal training and field research • Engagement in Cross Cultural Processes to gain an on-the-ground perspective of everyday life through internships with local native mentors, families and cultural activities • Study in the complex social and political contexts of the relationship between Culture and Environment in an amazing location that thrives on eco-tourism and environmental protection • PADI Open Water Dive Certification and Spanish Language Boot Camp • Informed Career Counseling and Direction by experts to further your career in the competitive professional and academic field of Anthropology Isla Mujeres is a very small island in the Caribbean, located about 8 miles off of the coast of Cancun. Spanning about 5 miles long and a half mile wide at the widest point, Isla Mujeres is a Mexican Caribbean treasure. Here you will find the remains of an ancient Mayan temple to the Goddess Ixchel, and although Spanish is the official language, many of the locals still speak Mayan fluently. The economy of the Isla Mujeres (simply referred to as Isla” by those who live there) is driven by tourism, followed by fishing and the Mexican Naval Base on the island. Located 1.5 hours from the Coba Ruins, 2 hours from the Tulum Ruins, and 2.5 hours from Chichén Itzá, Isla has a rich Mayan tradition spanning several thousand years, intersecting interestingly with a history of Pirates as well. We would greatly appreciate it if you could pass the information about the field school onto your students and others who may be interested in attending the field school. Our website, AnthroFieldSchool, illustrates what the field school is all about and also has an informational flyer that can be printed to pass out to students or posted to your department’s bulletin board. Please also see our FaceBook page for updates and posts of interest: https://facebook/Islamujeresethnographicfieldschool The Field School is also a structural base for the inclusion of other types of ethnographic training. For example, if a professor wanted to design a field school for her students that focused on community health, this can be arranged with all of the logistical necessities taken care of for that special segment of the Field School. Some of the interests we have already had inquiries about are Latin American Studies, Nursing and Medical Anthropology. I am available to discuss the course work, research and overall program directly with the students academic advisers to answer any questions they might have, as well as submit any IRB paperwork needed. Sincerely, Todd G. Pierce, Ph.D. Director Isla Mujeres Ethnographic Field School Pierce@AnthroFieldSchool 202-241-5325 (USA) 998-139-7122 (MX) AnthroFieldSchool https://facebook/Islamujeresethnographicfieldschool
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 13:53:52 +0000
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