In this intensive faculty-led study abroad experience, an anthropologist and a journalist will guide students in an exploration of Brazil from the perspective of two communities in different regions of this vast country. Students will participate in two courses (running concurrently) that will instruct them in the socio-cultural history of Brazil and in the techniques for researching and producing journalism in a global context. The theme that bridges the coursework in Anthropology and Communication is environmental justice in Brazil. In both the Amazon region (Santarém, Pará) and the southern mountains and valleys of Minas Gerais (São Gonçalo, Minas Gerais), students will receive instruction from the program directors, hear from local experts, visit a variety of culturally important sites, and engage in short-term fieldwork with local communities. In their studies of “environmental justice,” students will discover how social factors such as race/ethnicity, gender, class, and regional histories affect how communities gain access to or control over environmental resources (land, water, agricultural properties, culturally significant landscapes, etc.).
The program will be based in Brazil from May 22 through June 11, 2012. Guided by the tools of ethnographic inquiry, students will immerse themselves in local environmental dilemmas in Amazonia and Minas Gerais, and will learn to place the experiences of local communities in a larger social and historical context. With an eye toward community empowerment, student groups will report on locally relevant topics related to the environment and resource struggles. Brazil is a global economic superpower, and analysts are watching closely how it balances economic growth, social equity, and environmental protection. In this program, students will gain a firsthand understanding of these dynamics, and will learn how to accurately report on and engage in environmental debates in an ethical manner.
Our on site partners include two long-established organizations that will facilitate the logistical, academic, and service-oriented needs of the RWU group. In Santarém, students will participate in reforestation and rural services outreach projects brokered by Amizade Global Service Learning, a Brazilian/U.S. non-governmental organization. In Minas Gerais, our access to rural technology centers—hubs of village life and community empowerment—will be facilitated by another international NGO, Gemas da Terra. Along with these partners, students will be directly serving local communities throughout our time in Brazil. This service will provide the basis for reflective group discussion and student journaling on the topics of community empowerment, service learning, and global citizenship. “Environmental Justice in Brazil” features a one-credit service-learning course for participants.
Lectures and workshops by Drs. Campbell and Prado will constitute the academic content in this program, but the so-called “supplemental” activities will prove just as important. Beyond readings and in-class work, students will: hear from nearly a dozen local experts, visit key cultural and historical sites, participate in environmental justice projects, and engage in their own hands-on research of local communities. In the latter, professors and local bilingual aides will help navigate RWU students through linguistic and cultural barriers.
This program takes seriously the importance of placing global and national debates—about deforestation, development, and the conduct of democracy—in local context, and telling unique stories from such a local vantage that might then speak to larger concerns. Starting in Amazonia, students will grasp the main tenets of analyzing the relationship between social inequalities and environmental issues; in Minas Gerais, the students will begin to apply these analytical tools while acquiring the newsgathering and technical skills to report from a foreign location. We will spend three weeks in Brazil, but the course continues after returning home: students will have two weeks to complete their final multimedia reports and to compile a prospectus of future research that will bring greater depth and texture to the stories they capture. This material is due on the last day of classes (Tues., June 26). Between June 11 and June 26, Drs. Campbell and Prado will be convening online discussions and administering successive deadlines to bring students’ group and individual projects to completion. Students may attend the online portion of the course from any location of their choice, provided they have access to a computer with broadband connection
