Latin America

Political Science and History

The Latin America study abroad program through the History and Political Science departments began in 2004. It went again in 2006, and we will go again in 2008, which will be the last study abroad before Furman changes to the semester system. Our geographical focus is Mexico and Central America. The trip is a “traveling seminar,” during which we move constantly as a group in search of academic opportunities. We begin the program in Mexico City and work our way via ground travel to Chiapas and the Guatemalan border over three weeks. During the next six weeks we travel through Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, spending approximately two weeks in each country. We have roughly five days of R&R in Belize, usually during Easter week.

Our educational foci are revolutionary movements, democratization and indigenous peoples’ relations with national states. We meet with local academics, activists, politicians and everyday people. On past trips we have met with members of the Zapatistas in Chiapas, as well as survivors of traumatic civil conflicts in Central America in the 1980s, to name just a few. We stay in guesthouses and small, family-run hotels, as well as some homestays. We do service learning in Suchitoto, El Salvador. We read, meet, discuss, lecture, test and ponder constantly. We coordinate with the Center for Global Education (CGE) out of Augsburg College in Minneapolis, MN, which has study centers and local staff members throughout the areas we travel. The two professors leading the trip, Dr. Erik Ching in History, and Dr. Cleve Fraser in Political Science, have led more than a dozen Furman study abroad programs between them and have years of experience in the region. Spanish is not a requirement for the trip as all meetings are translated. There is a website for the 2006 trip:
Applications for the 2008 trip will occur in Fall, 2007.Announcements for the 2008 trip will be sent out in Spring 2007 and then again in Fall 2007. For more information contact either Dr. Erik Ching in the History Department, or Dr. Cleve Fraser in Political Science.