Exchange with students from la UNAM

This week, students had the opportunity to learn more indepth about what life is like for a Mexican university student, as all participated in a week long academic exchange with a group of students from the National School of Social Work at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Throughout the course of the week, students got to know each other both inside and outside of class, as they listened to speakers, gathered in small groups to discuss social policies both in Mexico and the United States and shared stories about their lives as they enjoyed some delicious tacos.

While the week was focused primarily on themes relating to social work and learning about the differences in the profession and the policies between both nations, the migration and globalization students found that they too could relate to some of the students. Many walked away feeling as though their experience here in Cuernavaca had been enriched for having met and heard the stories of the UNAM students, many of whom travel many hours and confront many obstacles in order to pursue their education and subsequently achieve their professional goals.

As one of the UNAM students put it so eloquently when discussing the challenges of discrimination, as social workers they are determined to acknowledge the inequalities present in society and work positively to change them. Listening to her words, many of the students felt that they could relate to such a sentiment in their own efforts to combat the injustices faced by those forced to migrate in the hopes of finding a better life for themselves and for their families.

Overall, it was a wonderful week shared by all, as new friends were made and a new consciousness was gained about the experiences of university students here in Mexico.

Photo: The group poses together at the conclusion of the week-long exchange

Spring 2010 Semester Off to a Great Start!

“Migration & Globalization: Engaging Our Communities” is back, as this semester-long program occurs every spring in Cuernavaca, Mexico through the Center for Global Education at Augsburg College. We just began last week and are happy to report a fabulous new group of students from colleges as diverse as Augsburg, Bowdoin, Emory, Davidson, and Drake University. For the first half of the semester, we are also being accompanied by a recent graduate of Carleton College who is participating in many aspects of our program.

During the first week we spent a lot of time getting to know Cuernavaca and each other. We took Spanish pre-tests at the Universal Universal Center for Language and Social Communication, which is a highly respected Spanish school, where you can choose two of 17 different Spanish courses ranging from basic grammar and conversation courses to Contemporary Mexican Literature, Spanish for Heritage Speakers, and Mexican Art.

We also visited the ancient pyramids at Xochicalco in the southern part of the state of Morelos and learned about the cosmovision (worldview) of pre-Columbian peoples, whose spirituality emphasized unity, bipolar duality (as opposed to Western oppositional binary dualism), fluidity, interconnectedness, balance, and reciprocity.

At Xochicalco we saw the remains of magnificent temples built by the Nahua-speaking population that existed long before the Spanish conquest, as the construction there began approximately 200 years BCE, and the civilization flourished between 600 and 900 of this era. It is believed that the Toltec emperor Quetzalcoatl (known often as the “Mesoamerican Christ-figure”) studied astronomy in Xochicalco, whose principle temple is dedicated to the feathered-serpent God Quetzalcaotl. (Quetzal = the bird, & coatl = serpent in the Nahuatl language). As you can see in the picture of the pyramids both above and below, the carvings represent this great feathered serpent god who united the heavens and the earth. (In the picture below, his feathered heaad is in the upper far left corner and his serpent-like body winds around to the right.)

After visiting Xochicalco, we visited a nearby former sugarcane plantation called the Ex-Hacienda Santa Cruz. We learned about the history of the plantations that were established during the colonial period and the exploitation of both indigenous and African slaves who were forced to work on them.

We spent the night there and then spent the next day getting further acquainted with each other and talking about our roles as foreigners in Mexico. Our discussions included articles such as Ivan Illich’s “To Hell with Good Intentions” and several articles on power, privilege, and positionality. This is especially important because many of us will be conducting internships in Mexican organizations, as well as living with Mexican host families, and we want to be as sensitive as possible to this cultural context.

Have you ever been to Mexico? If so, did you visit ancient sacred sites such as Xochicalco? What have you learned about Mexican pre-Columbian civilizations and contemporary indigenous peopes? What are your thoughts about your/our responsibility as foreigners here? We’d love to hear your thoughts!