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Doing Human
Ecology in
Cross
Cultural Contexts: Mexico
College of the Atlantic
Winter Term in the Yucatan Ð 2006-07
Instructors: Gray Cox and Suzanne Morse
This
course deals with the social and political aspects of human ecological problems
as they are experienced, in MexicoÕs Yucatan Peninsula. We will look both at
the ways the Yucatan is representative of the rest of Latin America and also at
the ways in which it is unique. The course has a dual focus on two basic goals
-- one substantive, the other methodological:
Substantively,
it aims to introduce a significant amount of background information that will help explain how socio-political
structures and dynamics provide contexts for the visual, economic, and natural
ecological features of the world in Latin America and, in particular, in urban
and rural settings in the Yucatan. This part of the course will help provide
context for the other courses in this Winter Term program and also help prepare
people for independent study in the future.
Regarding
methodology, this course also aims to develop skills for investigating socio-political structures and dynamics:
*
skills in language learning,
*
in ethnographic observation,
*
in historical interpretation,
* in planning projects for research and/or action
dealing with socio-political issues.
We will constantly be cultivating ways to relate
specific sights, sounds, actions, and passages of text to general ideas about
the patterns of the world and the changes going on in it. This part of the
course should be of help in
processing experiences we have here in field trips, in other classes, with
families, and in other kinds of encounters. This course is intended, in these
ways, to provide orientation and
debriefing activities for the Winter Term Program here in the Yucatan.
Readings and Homework:
The
first portion of this course consisted of the readings, homework exercises and
discussions in the fall back in that other world on MDI. We will refer back to
these in the remainder of the term.
For
readings here in Mexico, handouts will be supplemented with reading options
that vary in how much competence in Spanish they require. These will include
materials from Howard RichardsÕ
THE EVALUATION OF CULTURAL ACTION (in English and Spanish versions),
academic articles and reports, articles from papers and magazines, brochures,
posters, graphs, maps, charts, short sections from books, management plans, et
cetera. Besides these readings, homework will often involve short activities
that provide opportunities to interact with people or observe things. These
activities will provide materials for your journal observations and for the
short writing assignments.
Class sessions
Mini-lectures
will be used to provide general background and introduce some basic theoretical
perspectives. In class, group exercises will be used frequently to help prepare
for a field trip, homework activity or writing task or to debrief from one.
Considerable time will be spent in discussion.
We
will also have some visits with people representing different points of view on
human ecological problems in the Yucatan and, in some cases, we will visit with
these people at the institutions where they work. Such trips will provide
important field experiences that should be reflected on carefully in your
journal. In some cases it will make most sense to visit related but different
spots in small groups and compare notes afterwards.
Our
schedule for meeting with other people will have to remain flexible enough to
adapt to things that come up for them because of current events, schedule
changes at their institutions, weather, et cetera. We will shift readings to
the extent necessary to adapt to such schedule shifts. It will be
important to stay informed about the class schedule.
Themes:
In
the course of the term, various
themes will arise depending on your interests, current events and our
travels. However, themes very likely to be prominent include:
* the historical processes and current institutions
that provide the context for the production of food in Mexico Ð including the
Òsector socialÓ and ÒejidosÓ
* tensions between ecological and economic
interests
* social conflicts related to class structure,
ethnic divisions, racial differences, gender and age differences, and language
differences
* historical origins and likely futures of these
conflicts and other features of the Yucatan
* lessons we can learn from successes in Mexico
that we might apply in the U. S. [e. g. the comparative success here in
conserving indigenous peoples' cultural traditions]
* difficulties in establishing the social
infrastructure and civil society needed for democratic governance and
collaborative action
* instabilities, crises, and opportunities created
by participation in the global political economy
* tensions and synergies between scientific
processes of investigation, political processes of planning, and economic
processes of development
* contrasts between basic categories used in U. S.
and Latin American contexts to understand ecological issues
Writing Assignments
There
will be four sorts of writing assignments.
First, you must keep a daily journal. The
word "daily" means that you should write at least something in it
every single day and on most days you should write at least a page or so of
reflections. The almost universal experience of people trying to learn about
other cultures is that writing a daily journal [or "log"] of this
sort is the single most important, invaluable, indispensable thing they have
done. If you have not kept a journal before and find it difficult in any way,
talk with class mates and with me immediately.
This journal can be kept as a private record. I
will not collect it for grading or review as such -- but you should bring it to every class and
field experience. You will be
asked to share selected passages from it and you will need to use passages from
it to develop materials for your other two types of writing.
The
second sort of writing will involve usually very short pieces that
will also be used in class and handed in. These will typically consist of a
question, comment or proposal with a brief explanation. You will often be asked
to write some portion of them in Spanish. These exercises will help to prep and
debrief various field activities and reading assignments and cultivate
methodological skills for studying socio-political structures and
dynamics.
Third, at the end of the classes, before your final
project you will turn in a short
[1,000 to 1,500 word] reflective
essay that answers both of the following questions:
* In learning
to observe and interpret the social and political aspects of another culture,
what things work best for you? Also, what things are most difficult and how can
you best deal with the difficulties they present?
* How might you best make use of theories and
information covered in this course and also skills and methods of investigation
covered in order to pursue your final project? (Note: In answering this second
question you should pay special attention also to specific ethical issues that
might come up and how you might best deal with them.)
Fourth,
as part of your final
project, you will need to turn in a written
proposal for it prior to undertaking it and you will need to turn in an outline
of your presentation when you present it. [We will provide more detailed
material on the final project as the term progresses.]
Spanish and English [and Yucatec Maya]
The
basic plan is to teach in this course in English as much as is necessary and to
learn in this course in Spanish as much as is possible. Some class sessions or
portions of class session will be in English but we will talk about Spanish
words, phrases, and texts. For example, in some cases it will be useful to work
in English in dealing with ideas and theories which have been previously
studied in English or which are especially challenging in conceptual
terms. From time to time role
plays and other activities that might be useful in preparing for field
observations may be done partly in Spanish. Interviews with visitors will vary.
In some cases we will speak in English, in others, translate, and in others use
various forms of paraphrase and restatement in Spanish as well as English to
try to make communication as effective a vehicle as possible for both
understanding other people's perspectives and understanding them "in their own terms".
Since members of the class are at different levels in their ability we will
have to experiment some with this -- and pay attention to ways in which
different levels and kinds of abilities can complement one another in the
observation process. Beginners notice some things native speakers overlook, for
example. [Note: As peculiar as it may seem at the start, you may find that
trying to pick up a little Maya will also serve as an excellent way to learn
some Spanish.]
Grading:
The
final evaluation will be based as follows: 25% in-class participation, 25%
short writing assignments and homework activities, 20% reflective essay and 30%
final project.
Note
that apart from reasonable and appropriate allowance for medical excuses and
the equivalent, no work will be accepted late. There is a really good reason
for this. The written work is intended to help you process experiences as they
occur. Timeliness is essential to its effectiveness.
Note
also that while no grade is directly given for journal writing, the frequency,
quantity and quality of your journal writing will directly affect your
performance in all four areas that are directly graded.
Written
work and class participation will be evaluated based on:
* the extent to which they draw on theoretical
ideas and general information presented in the course;
* the extent to which they demonstrate improved
skills in methods of studying socio-political structures and dynamics and:
~ the extent to which they reflect careful,
systematic, thoughtful journal observations;
~ the extent to which they take multiple points of
view into account;
~ the extent to which they demonstrate,
specifically, progress made in working in relevant Spanish vocabularies;
~ and the extent to which they are written in
effective prose.
Schedule:
Week
1/6
Treasure Hunt
exploration of Merida and vicinity
1/13 Monday
orientation, meet Tuesday and Thursday
their
questions,
market
State and
Federal Government
"Mexico",
chapter 16 from Charles Haus' COMPARATIVE POLITICS
1/20 "Ten
Assumptions", HANDBOOK ON MULTICULTURAL AWARENESS
Selection
from Kraus on cultural differences between U. S. and Mexico, discuss families
Video on San
Crisanto
Lecture on
Merida, Federico Sauri
1/27 Mexican
NGO's
Selections
from "Ethnography Demystified" by Dan Rosenberg
Video on
Celestun
2/3 Academic
Community
materials
from UADY and CINVESTAV
Extended
Field Trip [Chichen Itza et cetera]
2/10 Demographic
Differences
readings on
race, class, language group, gender
Faculty
Retreat
2/17 Business Community
2/24 Religious
Communities, Maya Cultural Communities, and the Mass Media
Selections
from Nelson Reed's THE CASTE WAR IN THE YUCATAN, Gary Bevington's MAYA FOR
BEGINNERS, and others
3/3 Individual
and group projects and trips
3/10 Projects
and trips
- and
final presentations and collective
debriefing