Mexico: Cultural Competence in Human Services - A Mexican Immersion Experience

Dates for WT2010: January 2-24, 2010

FMSC 498C & 498L / FMSC 698C & 698L / CORE Diversity (6 credits)

This three-week, 6-credit program in Mexico provides graduate and undergraduate students with an intensive immersion experience and structured opportunities to acquire cultural competence in working and communicating with Spanish-speaking clients. The program takes place in the central historic district of Oaxaca (pronounced Wa-ha-ca), a beautiful colonial city in southern Mexico. The state of Oaxaca is extremely diverse, both culturally and ecologically, with a large and visible indigenous population. Oaxaca city is small and colorful, with numerous shops, art galleries, museums, and cafes. The downtown area bustles with pedestrians late into the night. The Zócalo, or central plaza, is a community gathering place for music, dance, and indigenous artisans selling art, jewelry, clothing, and leather goods.

Participants will combine intensive Spanish language classes with lectures, discussion, and site visits to human service organizations. We will also visit cultural and historical sites to gain a greater understanding of the history, economy, culture, and economic conditions of the region and its people.

FMSC 498C/698C is an approved CORE diversity course. Participants will also earn credit for FMSC 498L/698L, Human Services for Latino Clients. The courses are designed to provide students with cultural sensitivity and a perspective on their own culture, which will increase their ability to work effectively with clients from all backgrounds.

Solexico Language and Cultural Center

The Solexico Language and Cultural Center will provide intensive Spanish language instruction and coordinate homestays with Mexican families. The center is located in the heart of Oaxaca’s Historical Center, four blocks from the Zócalo, and two blocks from beautiful Santo Domingo, a former convent now serving as a cultural center and regional museum.

Excursions

Participants will visit a number of human service organizations where they will have the opportunity to interview representatives about each organization’s goals, structure, and professional practice. We visit a program for street children, a battered women's shelter, a juvenile detention center, a hostel for families of patients in the public hospital, an ecological/nutritional outreach program and several others. We will meet with practitioners, including alternative or indigenous healers, and experience a temazcal (sweatlodge) and indigenous massage.

Accomodations

Students will be housed with Mexican families carefully selected and monitored by Solexico. Participants will eat two meals a day with their host family and converse with them in Spanish. The homestay provides a personalized, nurturing environment, using cultural and linguistic immersion to experience Mexican community life in an informal setting. Families frequently tell the students that their home is "tu casa en Oaxaca" (your house in Oaxaca), and homestay experiences often result in lasting friendships between students and their Mexican families.

Faculty and Staff

Dr. Jacqueline Wallen is an associate professor in the Department of Family Science at the University of Maryland. She teaches courses on human services delivery to families, program planning and evaluation, work and the family, and addiction and the family. Her research has focused on mental health and substance abuse services, especially for women. She has a strong interest in cultural competence in human services and has completed two separate sessions of study at Solexico herself, living with Mexican families both times. Please contact Dr. Wallen for information about course content and itinerary.

For questions about the application, registration and pre-departure logistics, please contact the Study Abroad Office.