¡Éxito con el primer foro internacional universitario!
“Compartiendo experiencias, despertando intereses”
Success with the first international academic forum!
“Sharing experiences, awakening interests”
This past Friday evening was our last event as part of this year's winter Total Immersion program. We closed things off with our First International Academic Forum wherein the students presented five short minutes of their experiences and independent projects with PICY to the public. It was a success!
Here are two write-ups of the event that were published in the local newspapers here in Merida.
Galen Hecht "Las travesuras del Arux y Chan Gringo"
Galen spoke about his adventures with cultural promoter Bernardo Caamal Itza, focusing on the impacts in the culture of modern Mayans with changes such as increased migration from small pueblos and the risk of young folks forgetting their cultural traditions. For more information, check out this article!
Lilyanna Sollberger "Equinoterapia en Panaba"
Lilyanna worked in an equine therapy center and learned an incredible amount both from the people and the practices that they employ in the therapeutic aspect, but also many social aspects, such as life in a pueblo and the perception of disabled children in small communities in Yucatan: that they are people too, and deserve to be treated as such.
Kendall Cook, "Doña Sofia: Partera, Matriarca y Bruja Buena"
Living with a midwife, matriarch and "good witch", Kendall had many eye-opening and surely life-changing experiences, perhaps the most obvious of which is that she was able to assist in the birth of a young woman's first child, and she actually received the baby!
Seth Wegner "Una Cucharra de Mostaza"
Seth started out as part of the total immersion program, but come January broke off to start his internship working in two local schools, a primary and secondary school where he teaches English and helps with the students. He shared an anecdote with us about how important it is to make connections with these kids who absorb everything that they see and hear.
Rosa de Jong "La Guerra de Castas y el Territorio Maya Maasewaal"
The only student to leave Yucatan for her project, Rosa spent three weeks in Quintana Roo, the neighboring state. She conducted many interviews about the Caste war that ended relatively recently and, for some, still hasn't ended.
Jay Jolly "Ko'ox Janal Kay"
Jay had the amazing experience of living on the coast with a family that is dedicated to fishing and making traditional sweets from coconut. He shared his experiences with the family and some of the knowledge that he gained from his time on the sea and on the shore.
Emmanuel Greeno "Mi experience en Chimay"
Emmanuel lived in a tiny pueblo that can't be found on map, and shared with us some of the challenges he faces living in a new and different environment, and what he learned from his experience there.
Emily Engelking-Rappeport "Las Manos Cotidianas de Uayma"
In her presentation "the daily hands of Uayma", Emily spoke of cycles and circles. She started out with a short movement piece reflecting on her acquisition of some of the Mayan language through the repetitive daily cycles that she encountered in the pueblo of Uayma and the connected symbolism that she saw in the predominance of circles there.
Emma Kimball "Historia de la Pesca en Sisal, Yucatan"
Emma collected histories of fisherman and others from the once extremely important port of Sisal, highlighting the changes that this place has experienced over the years. She learned about equipment, species population, occupation, economy and much more.
William Mason "Xaya es el Mundo"
The student part of the forum was closed with a small part of a longer documentary/reflective video made by Will Mason. The video highlights both the normalcy and grandeur of a small pueblo called Xaya. He shared with us his realization that the world is made up of places like Xaya, where you can spend your whole life and still not have discovered all of it's secrets. Each place is infinite in breadth and depth if you only let yourself see the richness contained in the smallness.