Excursions & Travel Seminars
Courses | Supervised
Field Study | Language Learning | Living
Arrangements | Cultural Excursions |
How
To Apply
Program excursions are a very important part of the learning process with the Border Studies Program. The travel seminars and excursions are inteded to enhance students understanding about border conflicts in both ecological and social spheres, as well as to take advantage of the natural and human diversity of the border experience.
The first semester excursion is a visit to small towns in the Mexican state of Sonora, very important staging points for migrants and goods crossing the US/Mexico border. Migrants from throughout Mexico and Central America pass through Sonora to prepare for their journey north. This excursion may include a night at a migrant shelter, a day-long service project, visits to the desert which many heading north traverse, or opportunities to collaborate with activist groups. Students come away from this excursion with a much deeper understanding of the challenges that face migrants as they move northward.
Following the first excursion students participate in two extended travel seminars. During these travel seminars students will travel in southern Mexico, northern Mexico, and southern Arizona visiting important ecological sites, sustainable farming initiatives, ranches, mines, fisherman, commercial agriculture farms, and the Sea of Cortez. Participants will meet with members of indigenous groups on both sides of the border, migrant workers, conservationists, envinronmental NGOs, grassroots organizations, officials, farmers, labor unions, and more. In this way, the group will gain a greater appreciation of the bi-national Sonoran ecology and the ways that the environment and society interact to respond to agricultural, social and environmental dilemmas.
A potential third excursion of the fall semester will be to a comparative location on the US-Mexico border to provide students with a window into a different border reality than what they have experienced thus far in the program.
Program staff sometimes arrange optional excursions to important historical/cultural sites and areas of natural beauty in the local area. These excursions are optional and students may be asked to pay some of their own expenses.
Participants also have the opportunity to attend local events during the fall semester, which include La Fiesta de San Augustin, Norteño Music Festival, Sonoita Labor Day Rodeo, the Mexican Independence Day Celebration, All Souls Procession, Dia de los Muertos, as well as many social and cultural events at the University of Arizona.
