Ethnographic Field School in
Cochabamba,
Bolivia
Are you looking for an international experience that will give
you an opportunity to be completely immersed in a different
culture and conduct your own research project on a topic of your
choice? Then the Ethnographic
Field School
in Cochabamba, Bolivia may be just what you are
looking for to round out your studies here at UW-L. This
is a 6 credit, 4 week field school that takes place at the same
time as the UW-L
Archaeological
Field
School in Cochabamba. Students who elect to do
ethnography in the field engage in a variety of activities that
are scheduled every day while they are in Bolivia,
including completing 4 weeks of intensive one-one-one Spanish
and/or Quechua language instruction. Quechua, the language
of the Incas, is spoken by 10 million residents in the Andes
today, and the field school is a rare opportunity for UW-L
students to learn this language and to speak it with indigenous
agriculturalists in rural Bolivia.
Weekend activities include group excursions to the Amazonian
jungles of
Bolivia, to regional
archaeological ruins, and to local cultural events.
Students’ research projects are supervised by Dr. Hippert, who
works on her own research examining rural community development
and ethnic identity. Ethnography students from UW-L engage
in some activities related to Dr. Hippert’s research in order to
become acquainted with rural Andean life, but the bulk of their
time in
Bolivia
will be spent doing their own research. In order to apply
to the
Ethnographic
Field School,
students should have an idea about what aspects of Bolivian
culture they might be interested in researching. Dr.
Hippert teaches a course called Andean Anthropology (ANT 290),
and taking this course is essential for ethnography students in
order to design a culturally relevant research project.
The joint Ethnographic/Archaeological Field School is designed in part to
give students a better understanding of the importance of the
4-field approach in anthropology. They are very few field
schools providing this kind of experience, so we’re pleased to
offer this exciting opportunity at UW-L. Our first field
school returned from Cochabamba in June 2009,
and it was a great success. If you have any questions and
want to learn about the Ethnographic Field
School at UW-L, please
contact Dr. Hippert (hippert.chri@uwlax.edu).
Are you looking for an international experience that will give
you an opportunity to be completely immersed in a different
culture and conduct your own research project on a topic of your
choice? Then the 
The joint Ethnographic/Archaeological Field School is designed in part to
give students a better understanding of the importance of the
4-field approach in anthropology. They are very few field
schools providing this kind of experience, so we’re pleased to
offer this exciting opportunity at UW-L. Our first field
school returned from 