Ecuador faculty-led study abroad program
A group of Miners has returned home from Andean Journeys, an immersive study abroad experience in Ecuador. Led by Eric Rodrigo Meringer, Ph.D. and Selfa Chew-Melendez, Ph.D., these students earned six credit hours over three weeks learning about Latin American history, culture, and related topics. All students participated in immersive cultural experiences, including field trips to museums, archaeological sites, cathedrals, and a functioning steel mill. This summer program also provided students with a week-long experience at the Andes and Amazon Field School (AAFS) in the Ecuadorian Amazon, where students learned about Amazonian indigenous culture from native Kichwa speakers.
From the Pacific port of Guayaquil to the Afro-Ecuadorian communities of Northern Ecuador, students considered competing conceptualizations of Western, indigenous, and Afro-Latin American identities. Students also examined common themes of Latin American history: legacies of racial hierarchy, transculturation, colonial and neocolonial exploitation, dependency, and modernization. All students can benefit from participating in Andean Journeys, given that upon completion, students gain a more significant historical awareness and sense of their own American identities.
“Students in this program got to reflect on America as a continent with rich histories and diverse cultures that are interconnected. They developed an appreciation for different philosophies, linguistic systems, and arts that are, at the same time, rooted in similar historical experiences,” said Selfa Chew-Melendez, Ph.D.
This program consisted of various readings, informal lectures, structured discussions, and a digital photo journaling exercise where students documented and analyzed experiences and observations within broad historical frameworks.
“Ecuador was a country that I would have never thought I would visit, let alone be so immersed to the point where I did not want to leave. Learning about African diasporas and Latin American history opened my eyes and my way of thinking,” said Ilze Martinez, a student participant.
Andean Journeys is an interdisciplinary program offered each year to students from various disciplines, including non-Liberal Arts degrees. The College of Liberal Arts encourages Miners to talk to their professors and the Office of International Programs and Study Abroad to learn how to participate in faculty-led study abroad programs.
Program description courtesy of Eric Rodrigo Meringer, Ph.D.
Photo courtesy of Selfa Chew-Melendez, Ph.D.
Andean Journeys: https://minersabroad.utep.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ViewProgramAngular&id=11520
Office of International Programs and Study Abroad: https://www.utep.edu/student-affairs/oipsa/study-abroad/index.html
Facebook Post: https://www.facebook.com/utepliberalarts/posts/pfbid0pB7uazJfJ5KPhHggKeqnHhRYidGvHBkJeteBj62KxUTx8PZM5sH3V8tFz4bz7tCWl
