California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
CLS 362, International Field Studies in Cuba
Dr. Jose M. Vadi
Summer 2002
Course Description:
Field Studies entails in-country experiences linked to the study of cultural, political, and economic characteristics of a particular country. Field Studies in Cuba include an examination of all of the experiences students have had in Cuba and the linking of those experiences to what they have studied in the classroom and through their own reading and reflection.
Each
student will submit a portfolio with the title Cuba as My Textbook.
The portfolio will consist of three elements as follows:
All students are required to keep a journal with DAILY entries on site. PLEASE DO NOT INVENT A JOURNAL AFTER THE FACT BECAUSE IT IS EASY TO IDENTIFY SUCH A “JOURNAL.” BESIDES, THAT WOULD DEFEAT THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE THAT WE WANT YOU TO HAVE. In this journal you will enter your intellectual and emotional experiences to what you are witnessing in Cuba. Each entry must contain the following:
-Date and Place
-A review of all lectures and field experiences for that day that includes a description of the activity, how the activity or lecture contributed to your understanding of Cuba, what questions or uncertainties you have after the lecture or activity, your emotional reaction to the lecture or activity. Feel free to write poetry, draw, or express yourself in prose but you must use prose to evaluate your experiences that day.
-In what ways, if any, do the lectures and the activities for the day either confirm or don’t confirm what you have read or what you thought previously about Cuba? What did you gain from the lectures and the activities? How was your educational experience broadened? How did you grow as a result of the lectures and activities?
The journal must be legible and orderly. Please be systematic and enter your reactions each day. All lectures and activities must be covered and omissions will be deducted from the grade on this project. The journal will be evaluated on the following basis:
-Comprehensiveness: This means that you have to cover everything in depth.
-Investment: This means how much did you put into the journal? How much of yourself did you invest in this project?
-Clarity of writing
-Thoughtfulness, insight, ability to see relationships among activities and lectures, ability to tie your experience in Cuba to what you have read and studied.
-Evidence of understanding things that you did not understand before, signs of growth as a result of the experience you have had in Cuba. This does not mean that you have to find “everything is great,” etc. Critical insights are also valuable and can show signs of personal growth.
The journals will be collected soon after your return from Cuba.
2. Interviews-
You will be expected to conduct three in-depth interviews while in Cuba with Cubans from different walks of life (someone who works at the hotel, one of the staff of Casa Las Americas, someone you happen to meet while in Cuba, etc.). A major goal of our trip is to get you to talk to people who live in a system that is quite different from the United States. We want you to talk to Cubans. Be polite and tactful. Sometimes, people across different systems easily discover their common humanity. Sometimes they discover that they are very different because they have been formed in different systems. But, remember, “Don’t get married!
You might want to know about the struggles of their daily lives, their achievements, what is it that they are most proud of as Cubans, how they perceive the United States, what are their likes and dislikes, any unusual life experiences they might have had. The interviews may touch on politics but the purpose of these interviews is for you to get to know Cubans more than anything else.
These interviews must be typed and submitted as part of the portfolio for this course. Please don’t see this as a chore. This should be an enjoyable experience that you would want to share with others. As part of the interviews, summarize your own reactions to the persons that you are interviewing.
3. Artistic Project-
We want you to express yourself in a wide variety of ways. In this project, you select how you want to express yourself. An artistic project could be a series of drawings or paintings; a photo montage; a collection of poems that you wrote while in Cuba; a skit or even a short play with characters that you have met in Cuba; a short and well-edited video; and expressive and well-written essay summarizing your experience in Cuba; some musical compositions or songs that you have written reflecting your experiences in Cuba.
The creative project must be accompanied by an explanation of what is being seen or heard (in photography for example).
The journal is due at the political science department office the Monday after we arrive from Cuba (July 15th). I don’t want some of you to have too much time to invent a journal. The rest of the portfolio is due no later than August 15th.
Tel. 909-869-3881
E-mail: jmvadi@csupomona.edu
Website: http://www.intranet.csupomona.edu/~jmvadi