Barbados: "Primate Behavior
Dr. Melissa Burns-Cusato m.cusato@centre.edu
This course offers students the opportunity to study monkeys in their natural habitat. Students will gain a thorough understanding of the behavior of green monkeys; develop proficiency in the methods and data analysis techniques commonly used in field research; gain an appreciation for the rich culture, history and ecology of Barbados, especially as they relate to green monkeys. Special attention will be given to an issue of human-wildlife conflict that is common in Barbados as well as around the globe – crop raiding. Economic, social, and political consequences of this behavior will be discussed. Students will then work with local farmers to develop and test a strategy to mitigate crop raiding. Throughout the course, students will conduct field observations of the monkeys during the day and review book chapters and articles as the basis for discussion during class meetings. After students have collected appropriate behavioral data, they will conduct statistical analyses, and present their findings.
Cost: $4500, a special fund will cover $1000 of this course, leaving the student to pay $3500. Air Fare is not included but lodging, all entry fees, and two meals a day.
If you are interested in applying for this course, please be in direct contact with the faculty directors named above.
Caribbean: Barbados, Martinique, and Guadeloupe
Caribbean Politics. ASN/ENS
Dr. Ben Knoll benjamin.knoll@centre.edu and Dr. Chelsea Ebin chelsea.ebin@centre.edu
When we think of the American Revolution, we often focus on the Thirteen Original Colonies and the Boston Tea Party. This course seeks to complicate those popular notions, highlighting instead that there were originally *26* British colonies in the New World and that long before the Stamp Act, there were the Molasses and Sugar Acts which soured relationships between Britain and its colonies. Sugar, its byproduct molasses, and its subsequent fermented product of rum, were planted, harvested, and produced primarily in the British colonies in the Caribbean by African slaves (where they far outnumbered slaves in the Continental colonies), creating a strong economic network linking slavery to the sugar, molasses, and rum trades. We intend to lead students on a trip to Barbados, Martinique, and Guadeloupe. We plan to spend 5-7 days in each location and visit a combination of historical sites, former slave plantations, slavery museums, and rum distilleries.
Cost: TBA
Includes: flights, all transportation and lodging, all entry fees, and two meals a day
If you are interested in applying for this course, please be in direct contact with the faculty directors named above.
Greece: Drama and Math in Ancient Greece
Greece: "Drama and Math in Ancient Greece"
Dr. Alex McAllister alex.mcallister@centre.edu and Dr. Kagen Moore
Program Description
We examine the dramatic arts and mathematics as practiced by the ancient Greeks including ways in which they intersect. The peoples of ancient Greece utilized both disciplines as ways to process and understand their changing world. Ultimately, they transformed both drama and mathematics, and created many fundamental elements and practices that continue to influence the modern age. We study the story of ancient Greek developments in drama and math, focusing on the history, the culture, and the detailed questions and techniques that arose in Athens, Epidavros, Delphi, Samos, and Delos and we look at specific innovations and events that gave rise to practices that remain relevant in the exercise of both disciplines today.
Cost: TBA
Includes: Flights, ground transportation, 3 meals/day, accommodations, and activities.
Japan: Pilgrimage in the East
Japan Pilgrimage in the East: Actual and Environmental Footprints. ASN/ENS
Dr. Robert Schalkoff
Students will, within the larger context of experiential learning, explore the interconnection between spiritual and physical worlds focusing on concepts such as enlightenment, human and environmental deification, respect, awareness, and sustainability through a three week, walking pilgrimage experience in Japan. Students will learn basic tenets of Japanese Buddhism as well as Shinto, a spiritual belief system unique to Japan. At the same time, they will focus on environmental issues directly related to pilgrimage sites where students will be trekking. Meetings with scholars, experts, and local religious leaders as well as key players in the tourism industry will help students understand the complex issues that arise when religion, tradition, and tourism meet. Students will discuss their observations in meetings held periodically throughout the course. On the second to last day in the field, students will present an initial summary of their learning through presentations or creative projects. A short paper submitted prior to return to the US will help students synthesize readings and reflections written during the course and to further develop the ideas they explored in their presentations or creative projects.
A $500 deposit is due on April 1, 2022
Apply directly to the director, applications due by Feb 15th. (Robert.schalkoff@centre.edu) Cost $4200
Mexico (Oaxaca): Environment and Society in Oaxaca
Environment and Society in Mexico (Oaxaca) BIO/ANTH)
Dr. Mark Galatowitsch (mark.galatowitsch@centre.edu) & Dr. Robyn Cutright (robyn.cutright@centre.edu)
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This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the co-evolution and interactions among plants, animals, and human society in Oaxaca, Mexico. Specifically, we’ll focus on corn, cochineal, agave, and chocolate as windows onto processes such as domestication, globalization, development, human-environment interactions, and identity in Oaxaca. Students will engage with questions and methods from a range of disciplines to address these interrelated processes through site visits, readings and student projects, and opportunities to learn from local experts. At the end of this course, students will be able to trace how humans have shaped and been influenced by plants, animals, and the environment over 10,000 years of human history, and how this engagement is negotiated and practiced today by the people of Oaxaca.
Cost: TBA
Includes: Flight, transportation, visits, 2 meals/day, accommodations, classes, and activities.
Morocco: "Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Morocco and Spain"
“Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Morocco and Spain” (REl)
Dr. Matthew Pierce (matthew.pierce@centre.edu) and Dr. David Hall (wdavid.hall@centre.edu)
This course introduces students to the history of the interactions between Judaism, Islam, and Christianity in Morocco and Spain that began in the Medieval period and extend into the present, and to the rich culture these interactions have produced. We will explore historical and architectural sites and visit with living communities to gain a sense of the legacy, both good and bad, that these interactions have left in the region. Students will come away with an understanding of the religions’ historical and cultural effects and their continuing engagements on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar.
Cost: TBA
Includes: Flight, transportation, visits, 2 meals/day, accommodations , classes, and activities.
If you are interested in applying for this course, please be in direct contact with the faculty directors named above.
Taiwan: “Ceramics, Cuisine, and Colonialism: An Exploration of Intercultural Exchange in Taiwan”
Taiwan: "Ceramics, Cuisine, and Colonialism: An Exploration of Intercultural Exchange in Taiwan” (CHN), (ARS)
Dr. Mei Li Inouye (meili.inouye@centre.edu) and Dr. Stephanie Galli (stephanie.galli@centre.edu)
In this class, we explore the idea of intercultural exchange using the case study of colonial influences on Taiwanese ceramics and cuisine. Prof. Inouye will introduce students to the colonial history of Taiwan starting with the history of Taiwan's indigenous peoples followed by Dutch, Chinese, and Japanese colonizers. She will guide students in analysis of national narrative construction and transnational exchange/appropriation to identify the political, economic, environmental, technological, and social events/infrastructures that have contributed to the intercultural diversity and identity narratives of present-day Taiwan. Prof. Galli will lead the students through the history of ceramics and hands-on workshops in the ceramic’s studio.
Cost: TBA: The cost includes 3 meals per day, full access to every event, and flights .
If you are interested in applying for this course, please be in direct contact with the faculty directors named above.
New Zealand : "Physical Science of Volcanoes in New Zealand"
Physical Science of Volcanoes in New Zealand (CHE)
Dr. Joe Workman (joe.workman@centre.edu) and Dr. Kerry Paumi (Kerry.paumi@centre.edu)
Course Description:
Students will study the physical science of volcanoes and related geothermal phenomena. The study of volcanoes in New Zealand offers students the chance to engage in the wonders of geology through the different sites, smells, tastes and sounds of geological activity that we can experience on the North Island of New Zealand. The list of topics for the course in fundamental geological principles and volcanism will frame the course, with New Zealand volcanoes used as specific examples. The nature of the course precludes laboratory work, but some fieldwork will be done using thermometers, hand lenses, and pH paper. The prerequisite is any physical science course (normally CHE 131, 135 or 117, NSC 110 or 140, PHY 110 or 117) at Centre College or permission of the instructor. There will be some relatively strenuous hiking involved, so physical fitness is a natural requirement.
Cost:
TBA but covers all basic costs (round-trip airfare, in-country transportation, housing, meals, excursions and entrance fees.
To Apply:
If you are interested in applying for this course, please be in direct contact with the faculty director named above. Apply by Feb 15th.
Thailand/SE Asia : "Sustainable Development in Thailand"
Sustainable Development in Thailand (ENS)
Dr. Brett Werner (Brett.werner@centre.edu)
Building on student knowledge and interest across a few disciplinary approaches, this course takes an in-depth look at Sustainable Development in the context of Southeast Asia and Thailand. Using the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals as a guide (and Nicholas Grossman's Thailand's Sustainable Development Sourcebook) as a starting point, we will investigate several of Thailand's approaches to development, including brief consideration of most of the following, and an in-depth look at some of the following: poverty, hunger, health, education, equality, water, energy, work, infrastructure, climate, biodiversity, and more. Our course will take us to multiple sites in Thailand with a base of operations in Bangkok and the surrounding region, along with Chiang Mai (northern Thailand), and southern Thailand (likely Prachuap Khiri Khan).
Cost: TBA Will include 2 meals a day and flights and accommodation.
If you are interested in applying for this course be in direct contact with the faculty director named above.
Lake Tahoe: “Contemplative Ecology/Nature’s Sacrament”
“Contemplative Ecology/Nature’s Sacrament” (BNS)
Dr. Aaron Godlaski (aaron.godlaski@centre.edu)
An interdisciplinary journey into our physical and metaphysical connection to nature, and the psychosociocultural experience of living in a time of catastrophic climate change. Because knowing the cause is not the same as making sense. Such a journey to solve these issues requires a radical de-centering of the self and its desires; a shift in the structural and temporal understanding of the place of humanity in the more-than- human world; and the creation of space for mourning and grief for what has been, and is yet to be, lost. This course connects works on Nature and Being across the Sciences, Humanities, and Arts. Topics include: ecopsychology; environmental and human health; spiritual ecology; deep ecology; climate justice, climate grief and creative catharsis.
Cost: TBA
Includes: flight, transportation, visits, 2 meals/day , accommodation and activities.
If you are interested in applying for this course, please be in direct contact with the faculty director named above.
Merida Internships (Mexico)
Merida Internships (Mexico)
Dr. Rick Axtell (rick.axtell@centre.edu)
Students with advanced proficiency in the Spanish language are eligible to live and work in Merida for 3-4 weeks in January. It is a great opportunity to professionalize one's Spanish language abilities, to prepare for a career, and to embed yourself in the local community.
Cost: $1000 (does not include airfare)
Includes: All meals, homestay, and a day excursion in Merida
If you are interested in this course please contact Dr. Rick Axtell and/or Mrs. Karen Ryan ( karen.ryan@centre.edu )
Tahiti, French Polynesia: “Post-Colonial and Post-Nuclear Sustainability Narratives in Tahiti”
“Post-Colonial and Post-Nuclear Sustainability Narratives in Tahiti” (FRE)
Dr. Christian Wood(christian.wood@centre.edu) Dr. Marc Demont(marc.demont@centre.edu)
TENTATIVELY, this will be a DLM III course. Our course is a framework for iterative practices upon which to learn, reflect upon, and collectively engage using practical and theoretical skills drawing from an interdisciplinary integration assessing two related phenomena. Namely, the intersection of colonial practices and ecological agendas within the last three centuries, leading to an eerie crescendo in the late 20th century: the nuclear tests conducted at Moruroa and Fangataufa, whose fallout continues to drastically affect the Tahitian environment and sense of identities. Our course seeks to identify, analyze, and explore relevant responses and alternatives within these two phenomena through the integration and critique of the following disciplines: post-colonial studies; Sustainability (ENS); Anthropology; Philosophy; Humanities (and French Studies for those taking the course in the FRE track).
Cost:TBA
If you are interested in applying for this course, please be in direct contact with the faculty directors named above.