International Conflict Resolution Study Abroad in Latin America accepting applications

International Conflict Resolution Study Abroad in Ecuador: Application deadline March 1
May 24-June 19, 2009
Quito, Ecuador
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The University of Georgia Center for the Study of Global Issues (GLOBIS) and the Center for Mediation, Peace, and Resolution of Conflict - International (CEMPROC) are
currently accepting applications for the International Conflict Resolution Study Abroad Program in Ecuador, which will take place from May 24-June 19, 2009. This program is open both to UGA students and those enrolled in other universities. To see a brief 3-minute video on the program, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmcAIcXYRf4 .

Join us for this exciting program nestled in the beautiful Andes Mountains of Quito, Ecuador, in which you will examine international conflict from theoretical and practical perspectives, learning the root causes of conflict and potential tools for engaging in effective peacemaking. Topics will include environmental justice, ethnic conflict, sustainable development, ethics in peacemaking, and different approaches to resolution. Building on this theoretical base, you will be exposed to tools and paradigms for addressing conflict through negotiation, mediation, sustained dialogue, and other methodologies, as well as in-depth treatment of case studies including Colombia, Ecuador-Peru, and El Salvador. Opportunities for cross-cultural interaction will be plentiful as you study beside Ecuadorian host fellow students. One student said that the cross-cultural interaction was “better than the three other study abroad programs I’ve been on (some three times as long).”

You will have the opportunity to interact with phenomenal guest speakers who are practitioners and scholars dealing with these topics in the Latin American context. Representative guest speakers in past years included Yolanda Kakabadse, former Minister of the Environment, Randy Borman, leader of the Cofan indigenous nation in the Amazon rainforest, and U.S. Ambassador Linda Jewell, among others. You will have the opportunity to apply what you learn in practical, hands-on class activities such as case studies, conflict simulations, and site visits to areas where political, environmental, or other conflicts have occurred. Students will also complete practical internship projects to participate in the peacebuilding work of CEMPROC; projects in past years have included a conflict resolution activity booklet for children, video documentaries, design of a training manual for conflict in the family, a simulation of a mining dispute, a CD of children's peace songs, and a survey research project on attitudes toward refugees. (See http://www.cemproc.org/studentprojects.htm for examples of past projects). The program will be given in English. Come to Ecuador and make the world your classroom!

For more information, see the web page at http://www.uga.edu/globis/study_abroad/ecuador/itinerary.html or contact Patricia Sullivan, tsulli@uga.edu or Jeff Pugh, jpugh9@jhu.edu. The application deadline is March 1, 2009, so act today!


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Jeffrey Pugh
Executive Director
Center for Mediation, Peace, and Resolution of Conflict - International (CEMPROC)
www.cemproc.org

Doctoral Candidate
Department of Political Science
The Johns Hopkins University