Off-campus study beckons for mid-year break

For most of the campus population, the mid-year break signals a chance to relax and recharge for the new year and upcoming semester. But a small portion of the Skidmore community is preparing now for mid-year adventures that foster learning in very different environments.

Two new faculty-led international seminars will take place during the break. Joel Smith and Rob Linrothe, associate professors, respectively, of philosophy and art history, will lead a travel seminar to Mysore, India; while Jordana Dym and Viviana Rangil, associate professors of history and Spanish, respectively, are leading a travel seminar to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

In addition, a group of first-year students is heading to New Orleans to continue work on rebuilding that region in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Each travel seminar carries one credit; each is accompanied by a two-credit pre-travel course that was offered on campus this fall.

The international seminars represent an effort to develop new programs to meet student needs that are not met through the College?s traditional semester-long off-campus programs, according to Cori Filson, director of the Office of Off-Campus Study and Exchanges. ?These programs are a significant opportunity for students who may not be able to go abroad for a semester,? she said. ?They are very intensive and they?re great because they help ensure that all students who are interested will have a chance to study abroad? at some point during their Skidmore careers.

Mysore, located in south India, will be the headquarters for ?Hindu Religion and Art/On-Site.? Smith and Linrothe will accompany 11 students (sophomores, juniors, and seniors) during the seminar, which is scheduled Dec. 27 thorough Jan. 17. Smith laid the groundwork for the program last spring while he was on a month-long sabbatical in Mysore. The seminar is something of a prelude to the new Skidmore Semester in India, which will be offered starting in the spring of 2010. Linrothe will be the first faculty member to lead the full-semester program.

While in India this winter, students will have the chance to visit a number of archaeological sites as well as several contemporary temples; experience the life and culture of India; do field work on sites that they researched during the fall; and, Smith hopes, gain awareness of ?how religion and art intersect at all the sites they will visit.?

Among the locations on the agenda are the Halebid temple, which has been recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage site; the Belur temple; and the Somnathpur temple. Smith calls the sites ?amazing.? Belur continues to operate as a contemporary temple, and students will be visiting during worship ceremonies. Smith promises that the ceremonies are lively, crowded scenes, offering the students a unique opportunity to witness Indian culture.

The students will pursue research projects they at began during the fall course. The course introduced many aspects of Hinduism: ritual practice, narrative and philosophical texts, architecture, and imagery. Students also learned how religious and visual aspects of Hinduism intersect. Teams of students were organized, and plans were made for fieldwork at the various sites.

The travel seminar is designed to foster appreciation of ?how studying something on-site can be enriching,? said Smith. ?India is just so important?it will be a major international player for years to come,? he added. ?Skidmore is ahead of the curve in recognizing the importance of studying in India.?

Safety of Americans in India is a prime concern these days, and Smith, Linrothe, and Filson have been monitoring developments there since the November terror attacks in Mumbai. The situation changes day by day, Smith said, and revolves around two key issues: terrorism within India, and the simmering tension between India and neighboring Pakistan. Smith pointed out that Mumbai is located in northern India and that the southern part of the country is not considered as risky a location. Parents of some of the students who have registered for the trip have expressed concern, he said, and the professors and Filson are monitoring the situation daily via correspondence and calls to people within India and experts located in the U.S.

Smith praised the contributions of Filson and her colleagues who have handled the administrative details of the trip, including matters involving safety of the program?s participants.

Dym and Rangil have 17 students (sophomores to seniors) registered for ?Puerto Rico and the United States: Culture and Colonialism.? Scheduled for Jan. 5 to 15 and sponsored by the Latin American Studies and International Affairs programs, the seminar will offer students first-hand experience of the tensions and paradoxes of Puerto Rico as a commonwealth with the soul of a nation and an increasingly mobile and diasporic people. Said Dym, ?Puerto Rico offers the chance to go to Latin America without leaving the United States. As a place that is both Latin American and American, Puerto Rico is exciting and vibrant. Students will have the opportunity to meet with leading scholars in literature, politics, sociology, and economics, as well as artists and filmmakers like Sonia Fritz, who visited Skidmore a few years ago.?

Both Dym and Rangil spent a week in Puerto Rico in January 2008 as participants in a New York University Faculty Resource Network course on Puerto Rican literature to begin planning and organizing their seminar. Dym is excited about sharing teaching duties with Rangil. ?One of the best things about this seminar is the ability to co-teach. We don?t often get to do that on campus,? she said.

The Skidmore group will spend most of its time in San Juan, with day trips to Ponce and the historic Buena Vista Coffee Plantation, and the island of Vieques, where the U.S. government responded to Puerto Rican and international protest in 2003 and ceased military exercises there.

To prepare for the travel seminar, students also completed a fall course that introduced them to Puerto Rico, including such topics as Puerto Rico?s national identity, cultural autonomy, political processes, and migratory community. Dym said, ?This has been a terrific class ? it has a real energy and vibe.? The students mapped out research projects on everything from reggae and hip-hop to education and bilingualism in the fall and will take their research further while on-site. ?They will follow up on their own interests and then present to the Skidmore community when they are back on campus,? she added.

Dym said that she hopes the students will realize that both Latin America and the U.S. are more complicated than they originally assumed. ?The U.S.-Puerto Rico relationship has both positive and negative aspects and requires a nuanced understanding of the issues,? she said. She hopes the trip will allow the students to gain that understanding.