Country Sites

For New School students, the priority application deadline for the 2020 International Field Program is Sunday, October 13, 2019, 11:59 p.m. Applications will continue to be accepted on a rolling basis until December 15, 2019.

• Argentina

  The Argentina IFP focuses on social policy, urban poverty, and inequality in the context of metropolitan Buenos Aires, the third-largest metropolitan area in Latin America, which produces 46 percent of Argentina’s GDP. The academic partner and host organization of the IFP is the Centro de Estudios de Ciudad (CEC), a research center at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) focusing on urban issues. In the past, students have researched a variety of topics, including the emergence of social movements (e.g., the movement to legalize abortion in 2018), the effects of regional trade policies, and the role of community participation in relocation projects. 

  One of the placement organizations and projects in 2020 will be Buenos Aires’ housing institute and its citywide slum upgrading initiative. Patterns of social exclusion and inequality are perhaps most visible in Buenos Aires’ informal settlements, where living conditions are dire and poverty is widespread. Students will conduct fieldwork and interviews with residents in informal settlements affected by the upgrading project and produce a research report on topics related to housing, social inclusion, community participation, and migration. You can read more about the Argentina program on the IFP blog.

  Faculty Country Chairs: Michael Cohen and Lena Simet 

  • Program duration: June to July 2020
  • Open to: Graduate and undergraduate students from The New School and other universities
  • Language requirements: Some Spanish proficiency is required.
  • Accommodation during fieldwork: Shared apartments
  • Required courses for New School students:Urban Poverty and Inequality course and the Argentina IFP Lab
  • Concentrations: This program is appropriate for all concentrations.
• The Balkans: Security, Society, and Migration

  The Balkans IFP examines the dynamic between security and society with particular attention to issues of identity and migration along the Balkan route. It traces the physical, political, legal, social, and economic terrain that structures and defines the interactions between various actors along one of the main historic migration paths. 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 security and society; identity relationships, the conversations and the conflicts they spark, and the actors that claim them; migration, refugee issues and policies; EU and regional politics; the built environment, camps, spaces of confinement, and the paths and actors of mobility; as well as the institutional and legal structures  and the dominant discourses that frame these topics. You can read more about the Balkans program on the IFP blog.

  Faculty Country Chair: Everita Silina

  • Program duration: June-July 2020, with a continuation of the studio in fall 2020. Students might have an option to travel to Lesvos in January 2019.
  • Fieldwork: June-July 2020. For Lesvos, a winter option is possible.
  • Open to: Open to all students in graduate school programs and advanced undergraduates from The New School and other universities.
  • 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: 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. The economic overhaul begun by Raul Castro in 2010; the end of the charismatic leadership of Fidel (1959-2008) and, later, Raul Castro (2008-2018) that came with the election of Miguel Díaz-Canel to the presidency in 2018; and the troubled diplomatic relationships with the Trump administration counterbalanced by the strengthening of ties with the EU are redefining the meaning of the Cuban Revolution in its 60th anniversary.

  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 25, 2020
  • Ends: July 24, 2020
  • Language requirement: Knowing Spanish is a plus, but it is not a precondition for acceptance. 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 upon arrival in Havana.
  • International Affairs Concentrations: Cities and Social Justice, Development, Media and Culture, Governance and Rights.
  • Open to: Graduate and undergraduate students from The New School and other universities. Students from outside of The New School should determine how credits will transfer to their home institution.
  • Spring semester required courses: Cuba: Critical Concepts and Cuba IFP Lab.
• OSF: Global Drug Policy Program

  Open Society Foundations (OSF) are the world's largest private funder of independent groups working for justice, democratic governance, and human rights. The Foundations' Global Drug Policy Program works with policymakers, academics, and grassroots organizations to challenge and question the way the world approaches drugs and drug policy. Organizations supported through grants by the Global Drug Policy Program reinforce the mission statement of the program: to promote drug policies rooted in human rights, sustainable development, social justice, and public health. This summer, the Global Drug Policy Program is piloting its first IFP, a program that will reflect students' academic interests and motivations. Graduate students can apply for an internship in Europe with an NGO in London or a foundation in Warsaw, Poland, or in the Middle East with a treatment center in Beirut, Lebanon. With the help of the faculty advisor and host organization, students will carry out their own independent research project that focuses on the effects drugs have on international and cross-cultural issues such as human rights, gender expression, social justice, governance, public health, and development. Learn more about the Global Drug Policy Program.

  Faculty Countries Chair: Kasia Malinowska

  Begins: June 2020*

  Ends: July 2020*

  *Exact dates to be determined

  • Open to: Graduate students who have had previous experience living, studying, or working abroad
  • Contact: Kasia Malinowska
  • Language requirement: No language requirements apply.
  • Schools and programs: Open to graduate students in New School and other universities
  • Lodging: Will be identified by host organizations
  • Concentrations: All concentrations in International Affairs are applicable to this program.
  • Course requirements: Global Drug Policy and Global Drug Policy Lab
• South Africa

  There is much talk about the importance of participatory, bottom-up approaches to urban development, but reading about it is not enough to understand it, support it, critique it, and help make it better. Students in this program have a unique opportunity to join the efforts of the leading global network of urban poor working to improve their own neighborhoods, or an African research hub dedicated to the theoretical and practical re-thinking of urban development paradigms from a Southern perspective.

  The South Africa field program, offered by The New School’s Studley Graduate Program in International Affairs, helps master's, undergraduate, and PhD students reach communities and projects in the townships of Cape Town, South Africa. This program is unlike a traditional internship and it also goes beyond a narrow focus on community service. Instead, it provides students with a critical perspective that is grounded and relevant. The spring coursework prepares you to understand and engage with environmental and social justice battles as well as participatory urban policy narratives.
  The summer fieldwork offers you a first-hand perspective of how community-led urban development processes take shape in reality. You can read more about the South Africa program on the IFP blog.

  Faculty Country Chairs: Maria Carrizosa

  • Begins: June 2020
  • Ends: July 2020
  • 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 and focuses 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.
• Build Your Own

  Students applying to one of the sites described above may propose their own project or location as long as it is connected to either the theme (e.g., migration) or the region (e.g., the Balkans) of one of the existing IFPs. The Build Your Own IFP option requires approval from the IFP faculty supervisor and the IFP director.

  Please email ifp@newschool.edu for more information on this option.