Research Internship in Mexico June 30-August 1, 2011 Theme: SUSTAINABILITY, MIGRATION AND NAFTA View the brochure (PDF) Learn how NAFTA has been pushing campesinos off the land and driving them to El Norte. Observe how people are striving to make life sustainable in their communities. The Center for Global Justice (GJC) presents its fourth annual, Summer Research Internship Program scheduled from June 30 through August 1 in San Miguel de Allende in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato. This Research Internship Program is planned as a cross-cultural, cooperative learning experience for activists and college students (upper division undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate) who will study under the guidance of an outstanding international faculty. Interns will examine and analyze the realities of corporate globalization through selected readings, lectures and on-site, faculty-supervised field investigations culminating in reports intended for publication on the Global Justice Center's web site. The program is organized to acquaint interns with the social, economic and political realities influenced by US trade and foreign policy supporting corporate globalization over the past half century. An Urban / Rural Study –Research Program in Two Parts During the first two weeks interns will live with families in the city of San Miguel de Allende. During this time interns will participate an intensive two-week study on the causes and effects of corporate globalization, including creative local responses and alternative solutions to the status quo in Mexico. Academics, activists, practitioners, and community members from both the global North and South will facilitate these courses, providing students ample opportunity to engage with a wide range of perspectives. Interns will also have the opportunity to participate in public lectures, informal discussions and socials events during their time in San Miguel. During the second two weeks, interns will live with Mexican families in nearby rural communities where we have well-established cooperative working relations. Working with and supported by faculty and host community leaders, the interns will carry out community-initiated projects which can involve opportunities to learn about transforming family structures, changing roles of women, community economic initiatives, resistance to land privatization, and the search for alternative economic means of survival and development. During the last two days, interns will return to San Miguel to write their reports and prepare their public presentations about their projects and their experiences. The combined theoretical and practical participatory-research experience will deepen the interns’ insights into the effects of global restructuring on the Mexican people and perhaps themselves. The equivalent of third year college fluency in conversational Spanish is needed. Certificates of completion and letters of recommendation will be issued to the students upon successful completion of their written reports and their public presentations. Cost $1,800 covers all program costs as well as living expenses during the month-long internship. It does not include transportation costs to and from Mexico. Limited scholarship assistance may be available. For more information, visit www.globaljusticecenter.org or contact admin [at] globaljusticecenter.org.