Jamaica: Gender and Development

Location:
Kingston, Jamaica

Sponsor:
School For International Training

Program:
Jamaica, like many post-colonial Caribbean nations, is striving to pursue economic development against a backdrop of high unemployment, low wages, the juxtaposition of extreme wealth and poverty, and inequities of race, ethnicity, class, gender, and rural-urban resource allocation. As it seeks to establish its identity in the Caribbean, this former British plantation society remains strongly influenced by the vibrant African heritage of its majority population.

In Kingston, Jamaica's thriving capital and cultural center, you examine the intense interaction of gender, race, and class in Jamaican society, including the country's gender-based division of labor, the marginalization of the Jamaican male, Jamaican feminist movements, and problems of social cohesion related to gender. Through homestays, fieldwork with local organizations, and an examination of Jamaican cultural traditions, including reggae and rastafari, you gain additional insight into the complex role of gender in Jamaica's struggle for social and economic development.

Course Offerings:
This 16-credit program includes the following:

  • Program Orientation: Academic, cross-cultural, health, safety, and program orientation conducted by the Academic Director and other contributors during the first week of the program. Material covered includes program rationale, organization, and logistics; attitudes and tools for immersion in another culture; academic and personal expectations; evaluation methods and criteria.

  • Homestay: Seven weeks in Kingston and ten days in a rural village. Other accommodations during the program include hostels, private homes, or small hotels.

  • Gender and Development Seminar: An interdisciplinary course in English, with required readings. Lectures, discussions, and organizational briefings generally include: Jamaican Life and Culture; Gender and Development; Women and Men in the Arts; Service Learning with Community-Based Organizations; Educational Excursions/Rural Visit.

  • Field Study Seminar: A course in the concepts of learning across cultures and from field experience. Introduction to the Independent Study Project. Material covered includes cross-cultural adaptation and skills building; project selection and refinement; appropriate methodologies; ethics in field study; developing contacts and finding resources; developing skills in observation and interviewing; gathering, organizing, and communicating data; and maintaining a work journal.

  • Independent Study Project: Conducted in a location appropriate to the project. Sample topic areas: gender and the informal economy; alternative health practices; gender roles in family life; equal opportunity in public education; women's and men's organizations; impact of modernization on gender relations; gender relations in reggae music; marginalization of the male; women's microenterprise projects.

  • Program Evaluation: Oral and written presentation of the Independent Study Project. Final assessment in language. Overall program synthesis and assessment.

Contact Information:
School For International Training
Kipling Rd., P.O. Box 676
Brattleboro, VT 05302-0676, USA
Phone: (802)257-7751
Fax: (802)258-3258
E-mail: csa@sit.edu
http://www.sit.edu/studyabroad/latinamerica/jamaica.html