OSEA-CITE: Ethnography of the Future / Interdisciplinary Cultural Anthropology / Study Abroad. Experimental Ethnography, ethnographic installation, ethics of ethnography, ethnographic ethics, Emmanuel Levinas, Double Sensation, Expanded Documentation, Experimental Ethnography, Quetzil Castaneda, Juan Castillo Cocom, Maya Culture, Mayan Civilization, Maya Riviera, Yucatan, Mexico, Community Action Research, Ethnographic Installation, Maya Calendar, Maya 2012, Chilam Balam, Ah Dzib, Second Language Studies, Second Language Learning, Bilingual Education, anthropology of Art, anthropology of Tourism, the Maya World, Cancun, Merida, Playa del Carmen, Tourism studies, Medical anthropology, Maya healing and ritual, Field Study Abroad, Latin American Studies, Valladolid, Chichen Itza, Tulum, Ek Balam, Piste, Travel Mexico, Tourism Development, Ethics of tourism,

Is OSEA right for me?
What is Ethnography?
What is Field Study?
What is Heritage?
OSEA FAQs

Student Experience
Student Success
Student Projects
Student Reviews
Student Conference
Student Testimonies

Ethnography Field School
Maya Language Immersion
Teach English Service
Maya Health & Healing
Intensive Spanish

Art: Ah Dzib Pizté Project
Memory: Chilam Balam
Language: SELT Project
MIRA: Tourism Ethnography



OSEA Group on Facebook
Escuela Abierta on Face
OSEA FB Photo Albums
OSEA Image Galleries
OSEA YouTube Vids
OSEA Publications
OSEA News & Updates
Ethics & Human Subjects


 
OSEA Field Study Abroad Programs in Mexico

 

OSEA Student Experience

 


 

Students Discuss their Research Projects and Experiences
For More Students Testimonies, Student Research Presentations, and other ethnographic video
Visit OSEA YouTube Channel at OSEA Open School Ethnography and Anthropology





 

Contact OSEA Alumni
Prospective participants in OSEA Programs are welcome to write to Dr. Castañeda for a list of OSEA alumni who are happy to discuss with you their experiences in OSEA Field Study Abroad.

 


2006 Student Evaluation for MIRA Field School

Meaning and Experience of SELT Teaching English Service Learning
Laurie Kovacovic, Comment
Lisa Porostovsky, Comment


2009 Student Evaluations

Summary of 2009 Student Evaluations

Selection of Comments from 2009 Field School Participants


Student Testimonies. click here
Read Student Testimonies about the importance of their OSEA experience in getting jobs and acceptance into medical school and graduate programs. These testimonies were written by a number of different OSEA participants one or more years after completing the summer program.


Selecton of Student Comments (different years)
Staff, Teaching, Seminars
Home Stays, Cultural Adaptation, and Life in Pisté
Fieldwork and Research Projects
General Comments

Image Gallery from OSEA Programs
Winter Workshop with Dr. Juan Castillo Cocom (January 2005)

Brianna (OSEA 2009) at Yaxuna Dzonot Jen and a Maya girl selling handkerchiefs at Chichen (OSEA 2005) at Yaxuna Dzonot

Staff, Teaching, Seminars
The respect and trust that exists between the students and staff is remarkable.

One of the best things about the field school was Quetzil’s respect for us and his expectations of us. We were treated as equals, and we were expected to respond to him, each other, and the people of Pisté as equals.

In one seminar session, Professor Castañeda was able to present an outline of different theoretical approaches which actually made sense to me. Not only did I learn about structuralism, post-structuralism, materialism, idealism, positivism, functionalism, and hermeneutics, but I understood the differences between these and how they were relevant to what we were doing.

What I most appreciated about the way in which all this material was presented, was that we looked at it critically, we looked at ourselves and what we were doing for examples and illustrations.

Quetzil’s teaching style is excellent, challenging.

As students, we took a great deal of satisfaction from our interactions with the people of Pisté and from the responsibility and professional respect which we were given by the project staff.

I have to admit I was surprised, however, as I received more information I realized that the independent nature of the program could be daunting or confusing to an undergraduate. In truth I prefer more independence in my research.

top

Home Stays, Cultural Adaptation, and Life in Pisté
Although I found myself in an environment as alien as any I had ever been in and felt as “foreign” as I have ever felt, I can think of few situations in which I was truly uncomfortable.

the village of Pisté. It is small enough so that nothing is far, and the students begin to develop a sense of all the relationships binding the town, yet lively enough to support a fun social life.

…the extreme kindness of my host family…from the very first day, they were willing to help me learn Maya and discuss local life and customs. They were equally interested in learning about my life in the United States.

A very important realization I had while living with the family was that the people of Pisté were conducting an ethnography of their own through their questions and curiosity about the lives of the students. Living and participating in a family environment allowed me to blur the distinction between my ethnographic work and day-to-day life.

This opportunity for immersion in local cultural life and full participation in ethnographic research made the completion of our projects that much more enjoyable.

While overwhelmed by the attention and the adjustment to the language, I did not feel threatened despite my position as the target of all these big eyes, fast mouths, and gesturing hands.

I was amazed by the generosity of the people of Pisté throughout our stay, accepting us into their homes, weddings, funerals, classrooms,streets.

Eventually I simply accepted the possibility and probability of being misunderstood. Then the exchanges I had with people began to move forward because we both were communicating in new ways. Talking became much more of a pleasure, an unknown path taken with humor.

top

Fieldwork and Research Projects
As the plans for the projects developed, we concentrated on particular tactics and strategies used to solve the research problem.

Also impressive is the hands-on application of ethnography in conjunction with art, theater, language teaching, training and learning. The students in this field school are exposed to a wide array of different arenas of experience, yet these are all brought together and thoroughly explored.

Although the unpredictable nature of the fieldwork requires a great deal of flexibility, it would also be helpful for students to have a fuller awareness of project requirements in advanced.

Here we were able to implement the experimental methodological practices which we had learned such as double sensation, evocation, transculturation, and ethnographic triggers. These all recognize our presence and the other’s presence, together in contact. From the contact, we were both witness and agent in the continued emergence and changing of culture.

Instead of trying to document culture as it was at one instant, our preoccupation was in the change itself, in recognizing the exchanges and not trying to make our presence, which was undeniable, a mere suggestion, but an acknowledged event. We used these methods in every aspect of the field school, amongst ourselves, with our friends in Pisté, with everyone, for these are really the practices of normal human contact which occur regardless of whether or not you are wearing the cloak of an ethnographer.
Instead of only producing a textual summary, we also constructed photographic essays, filmed video for display, both of which show us in exchange, with cameras, with tape-recorders, observing, being observed. These media helped expand the description, make it “thicker” as Geertz says. But they do more than portray a rich description of a moment with multiple perspectives, they show a continuation of exchanges, a process with no beginning, no end.

All of these accounts show only glimpses, but together they interact to raise questions about who is influencing whom, and who is observing whom, and how these influences and observations are triggering the continued creation of culture.

There are photo essays which show the artists, their work, the ethnographers, our interviews, our tools of documentation, their tools of artistry, us using their tools, learning to carve wood, their using our tools, learning to speak English, etc. There is video footage which shows these exchanges as well.

top

General Comments
The students are challenged to immerse themselves in ethnography, in the local culture, with their host families and new friends, yet there is always academic and personal support from the staff and other students of the field school.

Students will not only get their feet wet playing with ideas, but they are encouraged to dive in and truly explore their emerging visions.

The Field School in Experimental Ethnography has been and will continue to be a wonderful, wonderful thing.


top

 

 

 

© 2004 – 2024 osea-cite. all rights reserved. | osea-cite home | contact us | privacy policy