Explore Chile’s recent political and social history and discover how Chileans are working to reconcile with the past and create a more equitable and culturally inclusive society.
Program Highlights
Explore how Chileans today are using social, cultural, and political means to achieve representation, communication, and identification.
Examine the challenges facing Chile’s indigenous peoples.
Work on a community project with an NGO in Valparaiso.
Rapidly improve your Spanish.
Develop on-the-job skills with an internship or conduct independent research during the final four weeks of the semester.
Witness the debate between truth and justice and reconciliation in the context of the human rights violations during the Pinochet regime.
Please visit the SIT Study Abroad website for details on the program courses (including syllabi), educational excursions, and housing.
Independent Study
During the final four weeks of the program, you can choose to use your new language and cultural skills and the academic knowledge you have acquired to complete an Independent Study Project (ISP) on a topic of interest to you. You may pursue research that produces a non-traditional ISP, such as a photography exhibit, a video, or another digital or creative platform. Conducted in Valparaíso or in another approved location, the ISP offers you the opportunity to conduct field research under the guidance of an advisor.
Sample Topics:
Memory and political violence
Social movements
Gender and sexuality
Indigenous beliefs and culture
Migration and ethnic minorities
Conflicts, political parties and processes
SIT internships are hands on and reflective. In addition to completing the internship, you will submit a paper processing your learning experience on the job and analyzing an issue important to the organization you worked with, and/or you will design a socially responsible solution to a problem identified by the organization.
Sample Internship sites:
Strengthening vulnerable populations through art, sports, and respect for diversity at School Laguna Verde, a primary school in rural Valparaiso
Working on political and international issues at think tank Libertad Institute
Promoting on Chilean students’ mobility and study abroad opportunities with Universidad de Valparaíso International Relations
Working on human rights issues within vulnerable communities at INCITA Corporation
Providing advocacy, education, and support for people living with HIV/AIDS at ACCIONGAY
Supporting indigenous populations through methods based on Mapuche cultural practices at Guacolda, an intercultural high school in Chol Chol
Key Topics of Study
Chile’s “successful” economic model, development, and social inequalities
Community responses to Chile’s socioeconomic changes
The Pinochet regime, human rights violations, and Chilean history
Truth, justice, and reconciliation
Current civil socies) at your college or university to learn if your school’s scholarships and grants and federal and state aid programs can be applied to an SIT Study Abroad program.
