2015
Project title: Caminhando e Cantando (Walking and Singing): The Pilgrimage of the Forest in the Brazilian Amazon
L&S/Music Faculty: Darien Lamen
Community Partner: Commissǎo Pastoral da Terra-Anapu, Pará Brazil
The 16-minute documentary “Caminhando e cantando (Walking and Singing)” (2014) explores the multifaceted role of song and spoken poetry in the “Pilgrimage of the Forest.” The annual pilgrimage is held in honor of Sister Dorothy Stang, outspoken champion of sustainable development in the Brazilian Amazon, assassinated in 2005. In the context of intensifying national debates over social and cultural costs of large-scale development, the video provides evidence that the Amazon, contrary to dominant
views, is not a cultural void, and that local visions of development offer meaningful alternatives. The video was developed to serve as a pedagogical tool for local collaborators to use internally and externally in the critical “problem-posing” tradition they adapted from Paulo Freire. The video’s reach can be measured by its national circulation among youth congress members on social media; hundreds of views garnered on Youtube in the last several months; and exhibition at the UN last year. tCreating a documentary to serve as an internal and external pedagogical tool and distributing it digitally and physically was conceived as a first step in developing a reciprocal relationship with local base communities. Since at least the 1980s, self-reflexivity has been germane to anthropological and ethnomusicological practice. It informs my commitment to leveraging my individual, institutional, and educational capital as a white university-educated North American in ways that benefit the local community while also bringing local knowledge and experience to bear on problems of global importance.
2014 Recognition for Global Engaged Scholarship
Service-Learning in Belize
Who: Joel Hill
What: For the last 3 years, students from the UW-Madison Physician Assistant (PA) program have traveled to Belize to provide medical care in the impoverished areas around Independence, a small town in the southeastern part of the country. The range of patient encounters includes management of both acute and chronic medical problems, administering prophylactic de-worming medication and assisting with immunizations. In 2013, UW PA students treated 266 patients in clinic and administered de-licing and de-worming medications to nearly 1600 students at primary schools near Independence. In addition to treating patients, students have the opportunity to experience many different aspects of Belizean culture including a medicinal plant walk with a traditional healer, a home visit to a local farmer, and several other unique encounters with the local populace. The experience in Belize leaves a lasting impression on many of our students and furthers the PA program mission of developing strong primary care providers who can work effectively in rural or underserved areas.
2014 Honorable Mention for Global Engaged Scholarship
UW-Madison Physical Therapy Promotes Disability Awareness and Inclusion in Toledo District, Belize
Who: Amanda Cleary, Kelsey Figg, Paul Larson, Christa Wille, Doubara Wis-Wolo, and Ashley Woest, Graduate Students
Physical therapy students and two UW-Madison faculty traveled to rural villages in the Toledo District of Belize to complete the following sustainable projects: 1) increase the accessibility of Hillside Healthcare international’s facilities, 2) talk with primary school students about creating an inclusive community, and 3) create culturally relevant home exercise handouts for common conditions.