Guatemala Spring 2025

Power, Place, and Possibilities

Looking at both sides of globalization in a post-colonial world, we will engage with history, cultural interaction, linguistic change and influence and decolonization efforts in addition to reconciliation within a history and a context of colonization. The term begins in Guatemala City where students will have eight weeks of language and culture studies at CASAS, including day or weekend trips to places like Antigua, Tikal, Chichicastenango, and Atitlán. Students will also be immersed in communities through service-learning assignments.

Students will watch for remnants of Christendom and the Conquista to better understand power struggles within developing democracies and economies, comparing with our U.S. context. Learning will provide students with additional insight into historical syncretism, the connectedness of globalized societies, pressures of immigration, and historical examples of varied cultural groups living together.

 We will examine the colonization of the Americas, and the impacts of revolution and generational trauma on the varied polities of Central America. The final month of the program will be a slow journey north, with stops on the Migrant Trail, first at the Guatemala-Mexico border and then the US-Mexico border, where we will learn about immigration realities, human rights and needs. Students will engage choices about the guiding narratives, assumptions, and values around how they will show up as the emerging generation of North American citizens and community leaders.

Courses

• ICSSC 201 Intercultural Social Science: Guatemala (3 SH)
• ICSPA 110-322 Spanish Language (6 SH) Two of the following, based on previous knowledge:
  • ICSPA 110, 120 Elementary Spanish I & II
  • ICSPA 210, 220 Intermediate Spanish I & II
  • ICSPA 312, 322 Adv. Conversational Spanish I & II
  • Other advanced courses by permission
• ICHIS 304 Religion, History and Culture of Guatemala (3 SH)
• ICSOC 350 – Passports and possibilities: Learning as people on the move (3 SH) 

Immunizations

• Routine – MMR, DPT series with last booster within 10 years, IPV or OPV, Hep B, Hepatitis A, Influenza and Covid-19 as required for EMU enrollment.
• In an effort to maximize the safety of our hosts and our students, EMU Intercultural Programs requires all employees and students who plan to travel for intercultural immersion, both domestic and international, to have completed their vaccination regimen for COVID-19 more than 14 days prior to travel. This requirement is one of the standard immunizations required for enrollment, effective Mar. 1, 2021.
• Typhoid 

Immunizations and prescriptions may be obtained at EMU Health Services by appointment.
Immunizations may also be obtained from your local health department or primary care provider.