°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½Ó¿Ú

SOCD02: The Sociology Global Field School (2024: Costa Rica)

This unique global field school course offers UTSC Sociology students and Costa Rican Indigenous students from TEC University (Cartago, Costa Rica) the opportunity to spend two weeks traveling and learning together in Costa Rica. A strong team of faculty and community partners are involved in all aspects of this course; the team has been working together for 10 years. Key contributors include:

Danielle Kwan-Lafond, Assistant Professor, UTSC

Laura Solano Moya, Canatico Tours

Diana Segura, TEC University, Resiliencia Indigena TEC

Prof. David Arias, TEC University

Prof. Marinella Gamboa, TEC University

Paul Pritchard, Course Teaching Assistant 2023-2024, UTSC

So Cagru Indigenous Cultural group, Boruca Territory, Costa Rica

BriBri Nation (Stibrawpa, AGITUBRIT)

Hands for Health, Costa Rica

Itinerary

Students spend the first 3 days of the trip in a mini-conference at the United Nations University for Peace and TEC University. Presentations by Indigenous students and faculty members provide context for the travel the group is about to embark on. The focus is on understanding Indigenous communities in Costa Rica, including some of the political, social, cultural and economic challenges for Indigenous nations in Costa Rica. Speakers include Indigenous representatives of the United Nations in Costa Rica, faculty members who work with Indigenous communities that the group will visit, and presentations by Indigenous Costa Rican students and community members. 

Following the first 3 days, the group travels to the south of Costa Rica to various Indigenous communities, joined by Indigenous students and faculty members who provide context for our visits. This shared travel and learning experiences leads to new friendships and many opportunities for informal learning through everyday conversations and shared experiences. Some of the travel is challenging, with no electricity or internet connection. To reach one community in BriBri territory, the group travels one hour by boat ride along the Telire river, which is also the border of Panama/Costa Rica. The group also visits communities in Ngobe and Boruca nations – see below for more information. 

2024 Course Description

This intensive international field school course is an experiential and land-based learning course in which students go to Indigenous territories in Costa Rica and learn about Indigenous sovereignty, rights, lived experiences of colonialism, UNDRIP (the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples), and Indigenous resistance and cultural resurgence.

Students will learn with Indigenous Costa Rican university students and community partners in order to draw links between Indigenous sovereignty and rights, the policy frameworks that are supposed to protect them (e.g. UNDRIP), the ideologies, policies and practices that disavow them (colonialism), and the lived experiences of Indigenous communities struggling to maintain and reclaim them (e.g. education, health, food security, language retention, land rights).

The course involves an irregular course schedule in May 2024, with 7 pre-travel classes and a course assignment due prior to travel. In June 2024, students participate in 15 days of in-country travel. A writing assignment is due after our return from Costa Rica.

The structure of this course is informed by Indigenized pedagogies and places a heavy emphasis on Indigenous ways of teaching + learning (in relation) and prioritizes knowledge that comes from Indigenous people. Together, we make up a relational learning community. This means our learning takes places in relation to each other and to the land on which our learning is taking place.

Students will have gained knowledge of:

• Indigenous sovereignty and rights and the centrality of Land to these
• How Canadian and International law (e.g. treaties, UNDRIP) have been used to protect
and disavow Indigenous sovereignty and rights
• How Indigenous nations have fought to protect, reclaim, and assert sovereignty and
rights
• How the state, public, and various institutions have reacted to Indigenous assertions of
sovereignty and rights

Students will participate in:

• Ethical community engagement and co-learning
• Cross-cultural engagement, knowledge-sharing, and Indigenous approaches to shared
learning.

Students will gain this knowledge by participating in land-based and experiential learning, and by learning directly from Indigenous knowledge keepers, Elders, community members, Indigenous students and community partners in Canada and Costa Rica.

Want to know more about the 2022 trip? Read these blog posts by our students.

Check out the latest images from our 2024 trip below!