The IARU Global Transformation initiative and Global Summer Program have collaborated to launch a joint field course for GSP 2018. Learn more about this course here, titled Borderland: Critical Approaches to Field Research in the Global South.
This course is designed to provide students with an opportunity to think critically about the research process, epistemologies, and ethics in the conduct of research. It combines classroom learning with field engagement and immersion in local environment that include meaningful interactions and placement with local NGOs or ongoing research projects in and around Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand.
Emphasizing the research process rather than the mastery of a specific topic or method, the aim is to provide students with the tools to raise and address critical questions in their own research and a foundation from which they can apply the knowledge and practices from the course to future projects.
We envision that, by the end of the course, each student will have produced a polished draft of a research project proposal (7-10 pages) that could be used for future engagement with the Global South, be it through research, policy, advocacy, or other pursuits. In addition, students are expected to develop and complete a group project and to make meaningful contributions to the organizations or research projects to which they are assigned.
Themes that will be addressed in the course in the context of globalization processes and borderland issues include:
- Borders and boundaries
- Mobilities and immobilities
- Environment and natural resource management
- Human in/security and social justice
