Courses
Bucknell in Nicaragua
Grass Roots Development in Nicaragua – GEOG 237
This is a required course for all participants
This course is optional and can be taken in addition to the required course above.
Grass Roots Development in Nicaragua -- GEOG 237
Counts towards:
Geography Major
Anthropology Major
International Relations Major
Latin American Studies Major
Environmental Studies Major
CCC Course:
Social Sciences (SSLG)
Environmental Connections (EVCN)
Global Connections (GBCC)
The overarching academic purpose is to offer students an intensive introduction to themes and issues of third world development as understood through a combination of academic literature/ class room type study and service learning experiences. The feedback between the two types of activities are intended to inform and enrich students’ appreciation of the issues.
The course will present an overview of third world development issues, including different meanings of the concept of development, approaches to sectoral (health, agricultural, economic, e.g.) development, distinctions between different forms of ‘grass roots’, participatory, and other approaches. Emphasis will be on examples in which local people have taken the initiative and created services, employment, and generated the means of livelihoods for themselves. The overriding context will be Nicaragua.
Students will engage in service learning activities in a variety of settings, with the priorities for the work stemming from the local community founders. The host community, JHC/CDCA, working closely with community leaders, will be coordinating the service efforts.
We anticipate a series of field trips and special lectures. Included, for example, would be excursions to a variety of health facilities, both in urban and rural settings, with talks by local physicians and health providers. In addition, we plan excursions to different agricultural production units including coffee growers, sesame growers, and honey producers. These farmers operate in groups encouraged through different agencies (e.g. US Agency for International Development (US AID), Center for Development in Central America (CDCA)). Guest lectures by representatives of a variety of NGOs (such as the American Friends Service Committee), Nicaraguan officials, US AID officials, as well as by CDCA people in the central location as well as at different sites are planned. One of the advantages of living at JHC/CDCA is its proximity to a Women’s Sewing Cooperative, a Loseta Cooperative (concrete blocks), a Water Urn Filtration Cooperative, as well as the community health center for Nueva Vida. Each of these will be visited, with associated lectures and discussions with local workers.
A final essay will be due two weeks after the program ends.
ALL students have the option of signing up for this independent study.
Counts towards major in: Geography, International Relations, or Latin American Studies
Students will focus on a particular development issue/question in Nicaragua and will write a paper due two weeks after the end of the program. Both local materials in Nicaragua and available resources in the U.S. may be used.
Here is a sample of Independent Study topics including some selected by previous participants:
- Nicaragua's Education System
- Nicaraguan Health System: Public v. Private
- Children's Health Issues
- Markets and Foods in Nicaragua
- Access to Clean Water in Cities and Countryide
- Engineering for Development-Principles of Sustainability
- Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and Health Issues (also Agricultural Production and Industrial Production)
- Women's Rights
- Political Parties and Power
- Persistent Sandinistas, Persistent Struggle
- U.S. Policy Toward Nicaragua/Nicaragua Policy Towards U.S.
- Debt and Development Issues in Nicaragua
- Export Agriculture vs. Local Consumption: Pros and Cons
- Deforestation and Environmental Sustainability
- Meeting Basic Needs in a Disaster Refugee Community
- Rebulding After Disaster
If you would like to pursue one of these or another topic, contact Professor Paul Susman . Topics must be approved by the instructor before the program begins.
