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MIRA: Multimedia Interdisciplinary Research
in Anthropology
A collaborative and comparative study of tourism destinations and
cultures
MIRA Research Agenda
The project design is based on the innovative combination of specific
pedagogical and research agendas. The project faculty will be providing
hands-on training to selected graduate and undergraduate students. The
primary objective of this program and project is to provide student
participants with the opportunity to gain intensive, on-site fieldwork
training in ethnography and cultural anthropology and develop new skills
in interdisciplinary research methodologies as they relate to anthropology,
art, design, and related areas including cultural studies. Specifically,
the students learn through interactive participation, discovery, observation,
interviewing, multi-media documentation, analysis, critical thinking,
and invention.
The project faculty have designed an umbrella research agenda that details
specific possible projects from which students have the opportunity
to select their own investigations. These include the investigation
of specific events, places, and interactions/dynamics at the chosen
program sites. Students will work individually and in groups. Student
research and learning projects contribute to an on-going multi-media
ethnography of the region. Evaluation of student performance is based
on engagement and accomplishment and include completed analytical and
descriptive works that aim toward publishable quality and dissemination
among diverse audiences.
The program will be flexible while retaining a structure for hands-on,
interactive and collaborative learning. Students will have the opportunity
to explore topics and mediums of interest in the first person while
working in small groups in an environment of cultural immersion.
 
Street scenes in Playa del Carmen
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