About the Author
Harvard Summer School Program in San Jose de Moro, Peru
The summer of 2019 has been an amazing adventure. We learned about Incan quipus from the world expert on the subject, toured important archaeological sites and museum with their directors, took lectures from Peru’s Minister of Culture and interacted with locals whose lives have been affected by archaeological research. On the weekends small packs of students ventured into town visiting local restaurants and cultural craft stores. I even got to practice my Spanish language skills as a I ordered the best milkshake I have ever tasted.
This past summer I had the pleasure of attending the Harvard Summer School Program in San Jose de Moro, Peru. In addition to providing me with course credit towards my concentration and access to the archaeological sites I am researching for my honors thesis, this trip provided me and my peers with invaluable cultural experiences as we traveled through the highlands and along the north coast of Peru. Having the opportunity to attend this archaeological field school has been invaluable to me as a student of Anthropology and as a global citizen.
More Student Views
Post-Secondary Education Access in Peru
Over the summer, I visited four public schools in Peru located in two regions, about 1,200 miles apart from each other. I interviewed teachers, principals and high school juniors and seniors. I wanted to discover their perspectives on perceived opportunities and barriers for students to plan for and fulfill their higher education goals. I also interviewed the superintendent at each school district to learn about local initiatives aimed at decreasing barriers to higher education transition.
The Opacity of Cuba’s La Habana Vieja
On a recent trip to Havana, two fellow visitors reminded me what it feels like to encounter the Cuban city for the first time and to become enamored with its paradoxes. The first, a young Kansan woman in my Airbnb, learning that I study Cuban architecture and urbanism, expressed a familiar curiosity about the dramatic contrast between austere 19th century mansions, colonial palaces and the surrounding blocks of ruinous buildings. The second, a Berliner, shared ceviche with me on a restaurant balcony overlooking a street bustling with tourists and art vendors. He pointed out with a laugh that our utensils came from Air France first class.
It’s Time For Women
“I believe we are in an exacerbated crisis of non-guarantee of women’s rights throughout the country, with the peculiar characteristic of finding ourselves in a moment of different rhetoric — of it being the time of women — because we now have the first woman president, seventy years after women gained the right to vote in this country,” said my interviewee, an organizer for a women’s rights organization in Oaxaca.
