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Summer Field Study Abroad (Ethnography Field School)
Heritage & Tourism Management Internships
Program Details: Four Week Field Study
Program Details: Six Week Field Study
Chichén Itzá Internships
Hands-on Experience in Heritage & Tourism Management at Mexico's Premier UNESCO World Heritage Site
Participants seeking internships in the OSEA Chichen Internship Program enroll in either the Four or Six Week Summer Ethnography Field School. This is an ideal internship for anyone wanting to have direct hands-on, guided learning experience in heritage and tourism management and practical operations of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Learn more about OSEA Internships at Chichén Itzá
Ethnography Field School
Participants learn to design, conduct, and complete their own interdisciplinary ethnography project in a Maya community that combines global cultural networking with face-to-face community interaction and lifestyle.
Participants in the Ethnography Programs learn to design and conduct their own research projects on topics they choose. These projects are ideal for students to use as the basis of their undergrad BA thesis or "cornerstone" projects. Past participants have done resarch in areas that are ideally suited to study in the Maya community of Pisté:
⇒ Tourism Ethnography, Food, Performance, Sustainable Community Development
⇒ Emergent Forms of Maya Cultures: Sexualities, Sociality, Subjectivities, Ritual
⇒ Health, Healing, Curing, Belief, Medical Pluralism, Identity
Six Week Ethnography Field School and Chichén Internships
Summer: 6 week program. See OSEA schedule of activities
Dates: 2026: June 7 to July 18
Start: On-Site Orientation Meeting in OSEA, Pisté starts at noon on start date.
End: Departure from Pisté no earlier than noon on program end date.
Location: Pisté and Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, México, and surrounding Maya Indian communities
Find Cancun on Google Maps— — Find Pisté & Chichén Itzá on Google Maps
Credits: 8 credit hours, at undergraduate level.
Field Study Courses:
3 credits “Seminar in Anthropology: Cultural Theory & Maya Peoples”
5 credits “Ethnographic Methods and Field Research Practicum”
Internship Courses:
6 credits “Heritage and Tourism Management Practicum”
2 credits “Heritage and Tourism Seminar”
Total Cost: $5200 -- Total Cost (Tuition, Fees, Homestay Room & Board)
Homestay: Homestay with Spanish Speaking Maya, includes 3 meals
Regular Enrollment Deadline: All Application Materials Must be Received by Feb 25
Includes: Tuition, Program Fees, Homestay room & board, Group Trips/Events
Not Included: Airfare, Transportation to/from Pisté and Incidentals
Late Enrollment Available until May 20
Four Week Ethnography Field School and Chichén Internships:
Duration:
Four week program See OSEA calendar of activities
Dates 4Wk Session #1: June 7 to July 4, 2026
Dates 4Wk Session #1: (not offered in 2026)
Start Time: On-Site Orientation Meeting in OSEA, Pisté starts at 1pm on start date.
End Time: Departure from Pisté no earlier than noon on program end date.
Location: Pisté and Chichén Itzé, Yucatán, México, and surrounding Maya Indian communities
Find Cancun on Google Maps— — Find Pisté & Chichén Itzá on Google Maps
Total Cost: $4400 -- Total Cost (Tuition, Fees, Homestay Room & Board)
Homestay: Homestay with Spanish Speaking Maya, includes 3 meals
Regular Enrollment Deadline: All Application Materials Must be Received by Feb 25
Ask about Late Enrollment Availability (until May 20)
Credits: total 5 credit hours, at undergraduate level.
Field Study Courses:
3 credits “Seminar in Anthropology: Cultural Theory & Maya Peoples”
2 credits “Ethnographic Methods and Field Research Practicum”
Internship Courses:
5 credits “Heritage and Tourism Management Practicum”
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January Program: Guided Independent Study Winter Break
OSEA offers a unique international immersion course in the month of January. This course is designed for students who seek an international field study abroad program during the winter break between semesters.
More about Winter Break Intensive Immersion Courses
Read about student experiences, comments, and program evaluations
Participants learn how to conduct specific types of ethnographic research projects focused on specific topics and issues defined in the context of ongoing research. Participants select their areas of interest and focus, then design specific projects accordingly. The core seminar provides historical and ethnographic contexts on the research issues and problems that are investigated. The ethnographic field methods and practicum course is a series of workshops in which participants are trained in the methods and then conduct their own research. There is a student conference in which the participants present their research achievements and results.
OSEA Ethnography and Maya Coursework is Accredited through our Mexican University Partner, the UIMQRoo — Universidad Intercultural Maya de Quintana Roo
Early Decision Deadline is Jan 20. All Enrollment Materials must be received by deadline receive the $200 tuition reduction, including Registration Deposit of $300 (tuition reduction is applied on final billing, due May 10)
Eligibility:
Program is open to: undergraduate majors and graduate students in any social science, art, culture, communications, and applied research fields; persons who have completed a BA, MA, or other higher degree but are not currently enrolled in a degree program.
Applicants who have completed a high school and are entering college, may be considered for participation in special cases, please contact OSEA Director
Requirements:
GPA of 2.2 for coursework taken to date
Completion of Freshman year of college, university, or equivalent institution
No prior coursework or knowledge in Maya language is necessary
Minimum Spanish Language Requirement is Advanced Novice proficiency in Speaking and Listening as defined by the ACTFL criteria
Lodging:
Home-stays provide linguistic and cultural immersion; options for lodging and food in family-run posadas are available at an additional cost. Families are carefully selected based on the Program Director’s 40 years of experience in the community of Pisté. Participants are required to purchase a hammock for sleeping in homestays; a special hammock shopping trip to a nearby town is organized during the first days of the program.
Other Details:
The program begins with intensive language training and a core seminar on heritage that provides participants the linguistic skills and conceptual tools to conduct fieldwork in Maya communities on heritage issues. Heritage is conceived as an inclusive domain that includes social processes and problems involving archaeological heritage development, tourism, sustainability, community participation and control of development, state policy and strategies of tourism, intangible cultural heritage such as handicrafts production and art markets, Maya medicine and systems of health and healing, urbanism and environmental heritage.
OSEA Ethnography Field School Coursework is Accredited through a Partnership with the Universidad Intercultural Maya de Quintana Roo UIMQRoo. The UIMQRoo provides OSEA ethnography undergraduate participants with a fully accredited UIMQRoo transcript.
Read more about UIMQRoo and OSEA Partnership.
Visit UIMQRoo website
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