Ecology, Technology & Indigeneity in the High Amazon

This six (6) credit Peru Global Seminar: Ecology, Technology & Indigeneity in the High Amazon offers an intensive three-week program of study consisting of two integrated courses:

• EDCP 467A: Ecology, Technology, and Indigeneity in the High Amazon
• EDCP 467B: Indigenous Ecoliteracies and Ecopedagogies in the High Amazon

In addition to course readings, seminars and writing assignments, field trips, and guest lectures, you will learn from Kichwa-Lamista educators and community members about Indigenous cultural practices and ecotechnologies such as:

• medicinal plants and foods
• sustainable traditional agricultural practices
• weaving
• building and architecture
• ceramics
• ritual and ceremony

Through this holistic intercultural/international program of study, you will engage mind, body, heart, and spirit as you experience worldviews, knowings and community practices that value things outside global capital and geopolitical systems.

You will reciprocate by doing hands-on service work in the Kichwa-Lamista communities of Shukshuyaku and Alto Pucalpilla, as well as at the Sachamama Center for BioCultural Regeneration as part of the coursework. It is hoped that the relationships formed with the Kichwa-Lamista will be sustained beyond the duration of the program toward Global North/Global South networking and solidarity building.

You must decide on your final project by the beginning of Week 2. Projects can be done on any topic of interest that has been covered in the course. The final projects will be presented during the morning and afternoon of the last day of the course to give adequate time for discussion and feedback on each project.

This Summer Institute is run through Go Global. Full details and registration is available on their website. 

Dr. Peter Cole

Peter Cole is a member of the Douglas First Nation, one of the Stl’atl’imx communities in SW British Columbia, and also has Celtic heritage. He has taught at universities in Canada, the United States and Aotearoa-New Zealand, most recently as Associate Professor in Aboriginal and Northern Studies at the University College of the North where he was Chair of the Research Ethics Board. Peter has played key roles in the development of the Aboriginal & Northern Studies degree program at UCN; the Developmental Standard Teaching Certificate with four Vancouver Island First Nations communities to certify language teachers to teach their Indigenous languages in schools; and, while at Massey University in Aotearoa-New Zealand, was invited by Maori colleagues to participate in the reshaping of the pakeha Technology in the New Zealand Curriculum document into Hangarau: i roto i te Marautanga o Aotearoa, a curriculum based on Maori spiritualities, knowledges, and technologies. Beginning in January, 2001, Peter has been instrumental in initiating a dialogue with the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada to be more inclusive and respectful of Aboriginal research protocols, epistemologies and methodologies.

Dr. Pat O’Riley

Pat has taught at universities in Canada, New Zealand and the USA, in remote northern communities, First Nations reserves and the High Amazon of Peru. Her teaching is shaped by ecological, Indigenous, poststructural and posthumantist theory and practices. Her research focusses on the intersections of social justice, ecology, technologies and global capitalism. For two decades Pat has been conducting research with Indigenous communities in BC in the regeneration of their traditional ecological knowledges and practices. Concerned about global warming and global social inequities, Pat’s research has expanded to include research with Kichwa-Lamista communities in the High Amazon of Peru to support them in their efforts toward community and ecologial sustainability and to examine the significance of their traditional ecological knowings as counter-narratives to the predominant “progress” narratives offered in mainstream education.

Peru | June 2-22, 2019

The program will take place in Peru from June 2-22, 2019.  Prior to your time in the field, you will be required to attend pre-departure sessions in Vancouver.

Notable environmental and cultural conditions:

• The High Amazon of Peru can be hot, humid, forested, sunny, rainy, and there will be mosquitoes.
• Students are encouraged to do hands-on service work on the chacras at the Sachamama Center and in the Kichwa-Lamista communities of Shukshuyaku and Alto Pucalpilla.
• As the Sachamama Center is on the outskirts of the colonial town of Lamas, there is a 15-20 min. walk into town.
• Transportation by van to Tarapoto (1/2 hour) for field trip, and 1/2 hour by van to the Kichwa-Lamista communities of Shukshuyaku and Alto Pucapillo.

Accommodation

• You’ll stay at the beautiful Hospedaje La Sangapilla at the Sachamama Center for BioCultural Regeneration in Lamas, Peru.  You will share the rooms.  There are 2 per room in the Big House and 3 per room in the tambos.
• For three nights you’ll stay in the Kichwa-Lamista community of Shukshuyaku where everyone sleeps in the large community tambo which has cots.  Students are to bring their own mosquito nets.
• The food is all organically grown from the local chacras and prepared by Sachamama Center staff.

This program is run by UBC’s Go Global.

Please visit their website to register.