The Brazil Service Learning Intensive is being coordinated through the Solidarity Economics Program of the EAUFBA. The S-CAR student team will work together in the field with English speaking and other members of the Solidarity Economics program. The S-CAR students will help the solidarity economics team address a long-standing conflict in Matarandiba that is impeding the progress of the village’s development. The student team will also train the Solidarity Economics team in facilitation and mediation skills. Portuguese language, or other Latin-based languages, will be extremely useful for this intensive work, however, the S-CAR team will be accompanied by English-speaking graduate students from EAUFBA, working collaboratively in the field.
The S-CAR team will also have the opportunity to engage in Bahia’s culture, learn about the history of Bahia-Brazil, witness Afro-Brazilian aspects of life in Bahia, and visit several historic locales, monuments, and churches—the cultural aspect of this intensive service is important for the over-all learning objectives. The purpose of this service learning intensive is to allow S-CAR students the opportunity to work, interact, and provide professional services in a culture other than their own. The S-CAR students will be working with the team from the federal university and with members of the village as part of this fieldwork.
It is the intention of this field experience that students will meet the following objectives:
- Become acquainted, by participation, with the issues, mores, and aspects of local communities in Bahia
- Engage an ongoing conflict identified by the partner team
- Design a viable strategy to address and resolve the conflict
- Train the solidarity economics partner team in facilitation and mediation skills
- Conduct action research in another culture
- Begin to develop understanding about actual conflict situations in Bahia civil society
- Demonstrate ways to work effectively with a team to capitalize on team member strengths
