Indigenous Rights and Environmental Justice in Bolivia

This three-week summer program explores the rights of indigenous peoples and the issues of environmental justice against the backdrop of the Bolivian nation. The homebase for the program will be in Santa Cruz, but there will also be excursions to two autonomous indigenous territories in Bolivia, Guarayos (Amazon) and Lomerio (Chiquitano Forest). During the course of the program, students will learn primarily from the indigenous peoples themselves through conversation, site visits and participating in service-learning projects of importance to these communities. Readings and discussion will complement the investigation of issues involving the indigenous peoples, including tourism, agriculture, conservation, sustainable development, economics, and climate change, as well as their rights to utilization of the natural resources around them.