Amazon Field School highlighted in Appalachian Today

Amazon Field School Covered by The Appalachian (online)

Summer 2009

In June, sixteen students from Appalachian State travelled to Ecuador through a faculty-led Appalachian Oversees Education Program to study indigenous activism and language in the Amazon. As part of an ethnographic field school led by Dr. Timothy Smith (Anthropology), they learned how to construct research projects, learned interviewing techniques, and were immersed in the Kichwa language, the dominant indigenous language spoken by nearly 11,000,000 throughout the Andean and Amazonian areas of South America

“The experience I had in Ecuador was like finally coming home to my field of study; to see how anthropologists conduct their methods of data collection made sense of my last two years of classes at ASU. Without having this opportunity, I don’t think I would have the idea I now have of my future career,” said Elizabeth Stabler.

The program started out in the Andean capital of Quito, where students had the opportunity to visit local museums and learn about the archaeological and colonial history of Ecuador and, in particular, the history of the Inca Empire, which dominated the Andes and Upper Amazon for nearly a century before the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century. From there, the group travelled by bus for six hours before arriving to their field site in the Napo Province of eastern Ecuador. The course housed students on the grounds of a local indigenous foundation of the Amazon, which focuses upon eco-tourism and conservation of the rain forest, which is located on the shores of the Napo River, one of the ten main tributaries which make up the mighty Amazon, which cuts through the heart of the South American continent. The focus of the field school was on indigenous activism in Ecuador surrounding the introduction and maintenance of an oil pipeline.

Nearly forty percent of Ecuador’s export earnings derive from its oil industry (other industries include bananas, cut flowers, and shrimp). Nearly one-third of the central government’s budget revenues come from its oil earnings, which for many has justified the exploration and colonization of the Amazonian basin since the mid 1960s. It was the sustained presence in the area as part of a sustained effort to exploit the country’s petroleum reserves in the Amazon region which sparked an indigenous uprising in this eastern part of the country. While impacting national level politics and underwriting the rise to power of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), Appalachian students were specifically focused upon documenting the impact of the oil industry on Kichwa speakers of the Upper Amazon, who formed an organization of seventeen communities through which a pipeline skirts through the jungle and their lands. 

The students were divided into four research teams, each of which worked in collaboration with one indigenous consultant in the carrying out of a research project in the indigenous communities along one of the following themes: history, oil, identity/activism, and gender. Working together, students developed their own research goals and questions to ask community members. In addition to participant-observation with one community over the course of the month, students travelled each to a family home with indigenous translators and guides to interview local families. In order to foster a collaborative spirit and build rapport, as well as receiving a crash course in linguistic field methods, students underwent intensive Kichwa study in the afternoons. They were introduced to basic phrases and concepts through a grammatical study of the language and were charged with creating a basic lexicon around individual lessons.

“I would not have expected that I could learn so much about a culture and its language as I did on this trip. It was only until I asked an indigenous man when the bus was coming in his own language that I realized how much I had learned,” explained Charles Webster.

In addition to classroom and field instruction, students also were given an introduction to local traditions and practices in the way of manioc (cassava) harvesting, community service projects (mingas), midwifery, and shamanism.   Their time in the Amazon culminated with an overnight hike into the jungle where they learned about local plants used for medicinal purposes and regional biodiversity. The course culminated with their participation with an Andean community outside Quito during the Inti Raymi, a festival celebrated throughout the Andean world marking Winter solstice, in which they donned local dress and sang along community members. Thousands of villagers descended upon the town of Cayambe, where they participated in a day-long competitive parade of singing and dancing. 

Currently, the field school members are completing their final reports and they plan on organizing a local outreach event in Boone, where they can share their findings and experiences with the High Country, as well as bring awareness to the impact of oil in the Amazon and how it has changed the lives of indigenous peoples, for better and for worse.

For more information on this program and how to apply, contact Dr. Timothy J. Smith at smithtj2@appstate.edu