Connecticut College

SATA Peru 2007

Exploring the country's indigenous people and ethnobotanical wealth

Program Description | Host Institution | Courses | Excursions | Recommended Reading, Sites

View of the center of Cusco, Peru: Plaza des Armas

Connecticut College students with Professor Manuel Lizarralde, of the anthropology and botany departments, have traveled to Peru where they are living and learning in Cusco and neighboring regions about the Inca capital and its current indigenous population.

SATA Peru 2007 will run from August 30th to December 15, 2007.

SATA Peru 2007 is based in the city of Cusco, once the capital of the Inca empire, and later a very important Spanish colonial city in the highlands of Peru. Its streets and buildings offer a beautiful portrait of both the Quechua and Spanish Colonial cultures.

Peru is one of the major centers of Amerindian civilization and modern Amerindian population. Students will learn about Peru’s pre-Inca and Inca legacy of extraordinary cultural and archaeological treasures found in places such as Cusco, Pisac, Ollantaytambo, and Machu Picchu.

Ethnobotanically, Peru has been a major contributor to the history of the world, from providing quinine in the 1600s to offering in the present more than 5,000 species of plants with scientific uses. It is the eighth richest country in the world in terms of plant and animal biodiversity, including nearly 50% of the world's most important commercial food crops such as potatoes, chili peppers, sweet potatoes, common bean, quinoa and coca.

Professor Lizzaralde's Connecticut College courses most often mention the country of Peru for its great ethnobotanical wealth. With the need to prepare the College's students to be leading members of our society and our world, SATA Peru presents an exceptionally rich experience that will widen their perspectives.

The program's goal is for students to understand both the past and the present: the historical roots of native Peruvian peoples and the current situation of societies in the countryside. Being exposed to the way traditional people live today and trying to understand their struggles through direct participation will be a unique learning experience for Connecticut College students.

The program has been limited to students who have had intermediate Spanish.

Professor Manuel Lizarralde at Machu Picchu, Peru

Host and Associated Institutions

The host institution is Colegio Andino (CA), a research and teaching center created in 1985 as an agent of social transformation for the Cusco Andean Region with the objective of helping indigenous people.

It is a university level institution in collaboration with other similar institutions in Europe and North America (UC Davis) as well as with the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLASCO-Sede Quito). Created in 1974, CA is part of La Biblioteca del Centro de Estudios Regionales Andinos "Bartolomé de las Cassas" (CBC), located in Cusco, Peru.

Excursions

The program will has a Tropical Rainforest component - a three-week field trip to Manu Park and neighboring areas with the assistance of CREES (The Rainforest Education and Research Center). CREES is a Peruvian not-for-profit organization based in the Andean city of Cuzco that designs, develops and implements education and research programs. The programs promote improved sustainable natural resource management practices and cooperative conservation strategies in tropical environments. On the way to Manu, the group will stop at the Wayqecha biological station in the cloud forest between Cusco and Atalaya, run by the Amazon Conservation Association.

Further, the group will spend two weeks at the Matsigenka Lodge and the Estación Biológica Cocha Cashu at Manu National Park, Madre de Dios, Peru, and visit the center Los Amigos, also run by the Amazon Conservation Association.

The Tropical Ecology portion of SATA Perù will be taught with the assistance of Varun Swamy '01, a Duke University Ph.D. candidate.

Pre-Departure Orientation

A week orientation before departure in Fall 2007, with lectures, a film and discussion of short readings, helped clarify expectations. Meetings on medical and personal equipment requirements were held late in the Spring '07 semester to prepare students for Peru.

Applying for SATA

Applications for SATA programs are available to Connecticut College students in the Office of National & International Programs, Fanning 113. Students may also contact Shirley Parson Associate Director of the Office of National & International Programs.