Back to Lectures!

After an exciting and very busy weekend in the Big Apple, the team was back to reality this morning. We found ourselves making our way back to trusty ol’ Valentine’s Hall for breakfast, before heading across to Fayerweather for lectures on our penultimate day in Amherst. First on the agenda was Professor Alice Nash from UMass to give us her take on the history and current status of Native Americans. She impressed upon the group the importance of being aware about the language we use in the teaching of indigenous studies. Prof. Nash also guided us through a some of the fundamental content we can use to inform our own teaching/learning programmes at home.

The second lecture of the day was delivered by David Glassberg (UMass). His topic was the history of the “National Park Service and Environmentalism in the US”. Mr. Glassberg gave a clear review of the changes and trends in governmental environmental protection in the US over the last 160 years. He made clear the cultural and historical significance of sites which have been designated as National Parks, National Forests and National Monuments. He also touched on the ecological significance of protected areas, but the focus was more on the changing human uses of these areas.

The social highlight of the day (perhaps of the whole trip??) was near the end of lunch, when Nawa (Zambia) agreed to sing for the group. The man can sing! The noise of the trucks and other traffic seemed to recede into the distance, as Nawa created a memorable moment for our group of far-flung educators.

The afternoon session was begun with some info and advice about the upcoming trip west (we leave on Thursday!) which sounds like it will be super busy. Half of the group then gave brief overviews about their respective research projects. This was a great opportunity to learn from each other, and it was really special to see the amount of positive feedback the group gave and received.

Only one more full day in Amherst – this place we have informally started to call “home”!