Country Sites

Please note: For New School students, the priority application deadline for the 2019 International Field Program is Sunday, October 14, 2018, 11:59 p.m. Applications will continue to be accepted on a rolling basis until December 14, 2018.

• Brazil

  Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is one of the most complex places in the world for the study of human rights, and although rights violations occur on a daily basis, there is an extensive NGO community addressing a wide range of violations. The Brazil IFP focuses on the role of media in the human rights movement in Brazil. Students work in small groups to produce projects such as short documentary films, Web docs and trans-media platforms, advocacy videos and websites for NGOs, critical blogs or photographic portfolios, long-form research reports or podcasts, participatory/youth media projects in the communities and human rights education portals. Media possibilities depend on the interests that students bring to the IFP and the critical issues that are playing out in Rio during our time there. You can read more about the Brazil program on the IFP blog.

   Faculty Country Chair: Peter Lucas

  • Program Duration: Summer 2019
  • Language requirement: Taking intensive Portuguese is a requirement. Portuguese classes are offered for free for students in the Brazil IFP. Students can also take their own additional classes and tutoring sessions outside of this New School arrangement. Many students travel to Rio two weeks early for intensive classes before the program begins, on June 4.
  • International Affairs Concentrations: Media Studies, Human Rights, and Security and Development. Students from other programs within the New School, such as Media Studies and Parsons, are encouraged to apply.
  • Spring semester required courses: Students should take at least one class with Peter Lucas, either in the fall (Human Rights and Media or Global Youth Media) or in the spring (The Poetics of Witnessing). There is also a mandatory weekly IFP Lab on Wednesday evenings.

  
  
  

   

• Migration Studio: The Balkans

  Migration Studio: Topography of the Refugee "Crisis" focuses on the phenomenon of migration along the Balkan route. It traces the physical, political, legal, social, and human terrain of the refugee "crisis" unfolding along one of the main historic migration paths. We take the current refugee situation in this corridor as our departure point. As we shift our gaze from the Turkish Aegean coast, from one island "hot spot" to another, across Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia, we engage with histories of empires and their collapse, ancient and more recent migration flows, and the cultural sediment they have left behind. Student research agendas, internships, and media projects are arranged along several thematic axes connected to broader topics of migration and refugee issues and policies; EU and regional politics; identity relationships, the conversations and the conflicts they spark, and the actors that claim them; the built environment, camps, spaces of confinement, and the paths and actors of mobility; and the institutional and legal frameworks and the discourses and representations of the crisis that have come to define it. You can read more about the Balkans program on the IFP blog.

  Faculty Country Chair: Everita Silina

  • Program duration: June-July 2019, with a continuation of the studio in fall 2019. Students might have an option to travel to Lesvos in January 2019.
  • Fieldwork: June-July 2019. Winter option possible.
  • Open to: Graduate students from The New School
  • Contact: silinae@newschool.edu
  • Language requirement: For those wishing to undertake the January or June field experience related to the refugee camps, familiarity with French, Arabic, and/or Urdu is strongly recommended.
    
  • Schools and programs: Open to all students in graduate school programs and advanced undergraduates. Non-New School students may also be considered.
  • Lodging: Hotels and apartments.
  • Concentrations: All concentrations in International Affairs are applicable to this program.
    
    

   

• Cuba

  Cuba is witnessing profound change and the need to redesign its economic and political paradigms, following the ongoing economic overhaul begun by Raul Castro in 2010 and the current diplomatic thaw between Cuba and the United States. This shifting environment positions Cuba as an ideal site to explore issues related to socialism, economic transformations, race relations, gender and sexuality, informal economies, poverty, food security, and urban planning as they unfold. The objective of the Cuba IFP is to provide you with a unique research-oriented experience in which lectures and interactions with your peers from different countries provide you with a more in-depth understanding of global problems at play in a specific context. Studying the emergence of neoliberal practices in an allegedly market-less economy, of class and race disparity in a purportedly classless and post-racial society, and of gender equality in a highly gendered reality — these are some of the building blocks of a political grammar the Havana IFP will provide you with, in order to ideally make you better citizens of your own country. You can read more about the Cuba program on the IFP blog.

  Faculty Country Chair: Gabriel Vignoli

  • Begins: May 27, 2019
  • Ends: July 28, 2019
  • Language requirement: Spanish (intermediate-level proficiency). If not already fluent, students are encouraged to take Spanish classes at their home institution (New School students may audit fall and spring Spanish classes). Spanish classes will be given throughout the IFP in Havana, based on the results of a language test administered in April.
  • International Affairs Concentrations: Cities and Social Justice, Development, Media and Culture, Governance and Rights. (Students from outside of The New School should find out how credits will transfer to their home institution.)
  • Spring semester required courses: Cuba: Critical Concepts and Cuba IFP Lab.
    
    

   

• Ethiopia

  Ethiopia is a country rich in culture, history, and landscape. In the last year, it has undergone significant political change, with a new prime minister signaling a freer political environment and supporting a “pan-Ethiopian” national identity over distinct ethnicities pitted against one another.

  The Ethiopia IFP is organized around project work with national client organizations involved with economic and gendered development, education, and environment and climate change. While it is possible to work with an inter-governmental UN agency or international NGO, most of our client organizations are grassroots, national (Ethiopian) NGOs that actually need the work we contribute. Many projects will be developing tools for Monitoring and Evaluation, such as data collection, data visualization, data analysis, and reporting. You can read more about the Ethiopia program on the IFP blog.

  Faculty Country Chair: Mark Johnson

  • Begins: May 27, 2019
  • Ends: August 2, 2019
  • Open to: Graduate students from The New School
  • Language requirement: No proficiency requirement, but the spring Amharic class is required.
  • Spring semester courses: Monitoring and Evaluation or Practicum in International Affairs I: Project Design and others specific to project and/or research
  • Schools and programs: All graduate school programs and advanced undergraduates. Students in the Milano programs in policy and nonprofit management and at Parsons are also welcome. Non-New School students may also be considered.
  • Concentrations: All concentrations in International Affairs are applicable to this program.
  • Syllabus: Available by request

  
  
  

   

• South Africa

  Sub-Saharan Africa is a region that is urbanizing rapidly and from very low income levels. As a result, many cities in the region face significant challenges in terms of urban poverty, access to jobs, and housing and household services. The purpose of the South Africa field program, conducted in collaboration with Slum Dwellers International (SDI) and the African Centre for Cities (ACC), is to actively engage students with research on topics concerning urbanization in African cities, privileging opportunities for fieldwork and collaboration with important professional and academic partners. During the last four years, students worked on projects such as 60 Days, 1 City, 11 Maps; the City Communities blog; and the SDI annual report. You can read more about the South Africa program on the IFP blog.

  Faculty Country Chairs: Achilles Kallergis and Laura Wainer

  • Begins: June 2019
  • Ends: July 2019
  • Open to: Graduate and undergraduate students from The New School and other universities
  • Required courses for New School students: Communities in Urban Development and South Africa IFP Lab
  • Concentrations: This program is multidisciplinary in spirit, with a focus on cities. It is appropriate for all concentrations and no previous training in urban issues is needed, but it does require an academic or professional background in any of the topics of work and research. All undergraduate (rising third and fourth year) and graduate New School students, as well as students from outside of The New School, are welcome to apply.