.png)
Pitt in Ecuador June 1-24, 2018 Pitt in Ecuador Summer Application Deadline January 20, 2018 Apply (For BYU June Session see: BYU Ecuador Linguistics Program)
Academics
All students take 2 classes for (6 credits):
Morning
ANTH 1713: Health and Nutrition of the Kichwa People
The June Session is designed to give you cross cultural skills you can use anywhere, but especially in the Health field.
1. Learn skills for interviewing patients in a cross-cultural setting.
2. Gain a comparative understanding of a very different national health care model.
3. Learn to understand basic concepts of indigenous thinking on causes of disease and illness.
4. Learn some key principles of alternative medicine.
5. Learn how indigenous and western medicine are being integrated in the Ecuadorian healthcare system.
6. Learn skills for helping patients and medical professionals make decisions when cultures clash.
Afternoon
ANTH 1548 Amazonian Culture and Environment
1. A chance to work with some of the most traditional and skilled indigenous ceramic artists in the Americas to make pottery in Amazonian style.
2. Satisfies Foreign Culture Regional and Non-western requirement and 2nd level course in Literature, Arts, or Creative Expression for Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences.
3. Learn to think comparatively about beauty.
4. Learn to understand how indigenous American theories of art and design differ from those of Europe and Asia.
5. Learn how native cultures of the Americas use art as a way of seeing nature and connecting with it emotionally.
6. No previous experience with art or skill level is required.
The class frequently goes out into the forest with native artists to study designs and gather materials. While working with these remarkable women you will also learn a great deal about native Amazonian, religion, music, and storytelling.
Instructor: Kathleen Allen, Senior Lecturer, University of Pittsburgh, is an archaeologist and potter interested in the intersection between contemporary Indigenous potters, cultural identity, and the interpretation of prehistoric pottery assemblages. She has taken workshops on Native pottery manufacture from contemporary Mohawk and Acoma potters, and has focused on hand-building pottery using pinch, coil and slab techniques of manufacture. She has taught courses on Native perspectives on pottery making for ten years and especially values working with the expert artisans in Amazonian Ecuador.
View from the Hotel Real Audiencia of the historic Santo Domingo Church built in 1540.
Cost
Cost : In-State; $4,800; Out-of-State: $5,000 (Includes lodging, 3 meals per day 6 credits of tuition in country travel and excursions).
Itinerary (tentative)
Friday June 1
11:30 PM Arrive in Quito Shuttle to Real Audiencia
Saturday, June 2
8:00 AM Breakfast
9:00 AM Tour colonial Quito (founded 1535)
12:00 Lunch At Hotel Real Audiencia
1:PM Bus to Andes and Amazon Field School
2:30 AM Bathe in volcanic hot springs
2:00 PM Visit Guango Hummingbird Lodge (See 11 species of humming birds in large numbers.)
6:30 PM Arrive at the Andes and Amazon Field School
7:00 PM Dinner
Sunday, June 3
8:00 Breakfast
9-12
1:00 Lunch
7:00 Dinner
Monday, June 4
8:00 Breakfast
9-12 Swanson, Introduction to Ecuador's history and Environment. Plenary Lecture in thatched dining room.
1:00 Lunch
2-5 – “Quichua understanding of the (shared) body: Implications for Illness and Healing.” Swanson, Plenary Lecture in thatched dining room. Health class
7:00 Dinner
Tuesday, June 5
8:00 Breakfast
9-12 Amazonian Arts: Making and Meaning Students begin working on forming vessels: mucawa and tinaja. Whitten 1998, Canelos Quichua People, pp. 14-29.
Due: Journal on first week observations with comments on readings. make traditional Amazonian ceramic bowls.
1:00 Lunch 2-5 “Quichua Shamanism: Implications for Community Health.” Plenary Lecture in thatched dining room.
7:00 Dinner
Wednesday June 6
8:00 Breakfast
9-12 Visit to the Tena Hospital
1:00 Lunch
2-5 Lecture on Quichua Aesthetics
Readings: Swanson and Reddekop, "Looking Like the Land: Beauty and Aesthetics in Amazonian Quichua Philosophy and Practice." Journal of the American Academy of Religion, September 2017.
Parkes, Graham
2011 "Japanese Aesthetics", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2011 Edition), Edward
7:00 Dinner
8:00-10:00 Visit to shaman
Thursday June 7
8:00 Breakfast
9-12 Hike in the forest with potters to look at patterns and hear stories.
1:00 Lunch
2-5 Amazonian Arts: Making and Meaning
Continue forming vessels. Make brushes so that students can paint when they have time on Wednesday and Thursday. Minar and Crown 2001, Learning and Craft Production: An Introduction
7:00 Dinner
Friday, June 8
8:00 Breakfast
9-12 Dr. William Waters, Plenary Lecture in thatched dining room.
1:00 Lunch
2-5 Dr. William Waters, Plenary Lecture in thatched dining room.
7:00 Dinner
Saturday June 9 Free Day. No Class.
Sunday June 10 Free Day. No class.
Monday, June 11
8:00 Breakfast
9-12 Class Dr. William Waters, Plenary Lecture in thatched dining room.
1:00 Lunch
2-5 Dr. William Waters, Plenary Lecture in thatched dining room.
7:00 Dinner
Tuesday, June 12
8:00 Breakfast
9-12 Amazonian Arts Making and Meaning
Swanson, Lecture and short videos on the meaning of designs painted on ceramic vessels. Finish painting, Firing
Due: Journal on second week observations with comments on readings.
1:00 Lunch
2-5 Canoe to Misahuallí
7:00 Dinner
Wednesday, June 13
8:00 Breakfast
9-12 Class Visit to Chonta Punta
1:00 Lunch
2-5 All day trip to Chonta Punta Quichua indigenous community with government public health team.
7:00 Dinner
Thursday June 14
8:00 Breakfast
9-12 Work with Quichua women in traditional manioc gardens to study sources of local diet.
1:00 Lunch
2-5 Forming second set of vessels; Plan questions for Native potter interviews.
Bowser and Patton 2008, Women’s Life Histories and Communities of Practice in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
7:00 Dinner
8:00 Guest Lecture by Prof. Pieter C. Muysken, Radboud Universities Nijmegen, "The development of Ecuadorian Quechua – restructuring or substrate."
Friday, June 15
8:00 Breakfast
9-12 Make chicha and traditional foods.
2-5 Amazonian Arts: Making and Meaning
Forming, polishing; Interview life histories of the Quichua artists.
7:00 Dinner
8:00 Guest Lecture, Prof. Pieter C. Muysken, Radboud Universities Nijmegen,
Saturday June 16 Free Day. No Class.
Sunday June 17 Free Day. No Class.
Monday, June 18
8:00 Breakfast
9-12 Medical Pluralism and Culturally Appropriate Care . Lecture in thatched dining room.
1:00 Lunch
2-5 Amazonian Arts: Making and Meaning
Swanson, Lecture and videos on Amazinian Quichua face paint design. Paint faces of students.
7:00 Dinner
Georgia Ennis, Ruku Kawsaymanda: Narrativising Cultural Change in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Tuesday, June 19
8:00 Breakfast
9-12 All day trip to Amopakin-Quichua midwives co-operative.
1:00 Lunch
2-5
7:00 Dinner
Saturday June 24 Free Day. No Class.
Sunday June 25 Free Day. No Class.
Wednesday, June 20
8:00 Breakfast
9-12 Students interview Amazonian Quichua families in their homes on questions of health.
1:00 Lunch
2-5 Amazonian Arts: Making and Meaning
Discussion of interview results. Final Essay assigned.
7:00 Dinner
Lisa Warren Carney, "Taken to Live With the Water People."
Thursday, June 21
8:00 Breakfast
9-12 In class processing of Health interviews.
1:00 Lunch
2-5 Amazonian Arts: Making and Meaning
Oral exam on student vessels and designs.
7:00 Dinner
Friday, June 22
8:00 Breakfast
9-12 Course wind up
1:00 Lunch
2-5 Amazonian Arts: Making and Meaning
Course discussion and evaluation.
7:00 Dinner
Saturday, June 23
9-12 Session wind up
8-10 Quichua Dance and Despedida
Sunday, June 24
Travel to the airport.