Chile: Cultural Identity, Social Justice, and Community Development

  Chile

• Valparaiso: 
Valparaiso

Term: Fall, Spring 
Dates: September-December/February-May

Description: Chile has generated international interest for a variety of reasons, including its return, after 18 years of military dictatorship, to civilian rule. Recent efforts to prosecute former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet spurred worldwide debate on issues of human rights and social justice. The nation's economic policies, as well as increasingly active indigenous groups, are other important topics currently debated among Chileans.

In this program, based in the engaging seaport city of Valparayso and neighboring Viya del Mar, you examine Chile's political history in a contemporary cultural context. Excursions to nearby Santiago, intensive field study, and a homestay with indigenous families in either Arica, the seaside base of the Aymara and Andean cultures, or Temuko, homeland of the Mapuche, not only deepen your appreciation of the attitudes, behaviors, practices, and values encompassed within Chile's diverse panorama ' they also help you to better understand Chile's efforts to reconcile its past while moving forward politically, socially, and economically.

Highlights: Six weeks in the Valparaiso area, one week in Temuco or Arica, and five days with indigenous families of Mapuche or Aymara descent. Educational excursions to Santiago, and Arica or Temuco, Iquique.

Degree Level: Bachelors Degree (Undergraduate)

Cost in US$: contact sponsor

Experience Required: yes

Three recent semesters of college-level Spanish or equivalent and the ability to follow coursework in Spanish, as assessed by SIT .

This Program is open to American and Worldwide Participants.

Scholarships are Available.

Application Process Involves:

• Essay
• Letters of Reference
• Physical Exam/Health Records
• Written Application

Post-Program Services Include:

• Alumni Network
• Exit Debriefing Abroad
• Job and Internship Network

SIT Study Abroad's Mission Statement: SIT Study Abroad is the accredited higher education institution of World Learning, a private, nonprofit international organization promoting international and intercultural understanding, social justice, and economic development through education, training, and field projects around the globe. SIT prepares students to be interculturally effective leaders, professionals, and citizens through SIT Study Abroad, undergraduate, field-based academic programs operating in more than 50 countries worldwide, and thorough short-term professional training and graduate degrees in language teaching, conflict transformation, international education, social justice in intercultural relations, management, and sustainable development.

Year Founded: 1932