So what's my most recent precarious adventure? Travels and study in the small country of Costa Rica. This time last year I was stressing my second semester course selection. I guess I found it easier to leave school all together. I will live and conduct anthropological research in Costa Rica for the entirety of the spring semester: February through May. I'm not necessarily afraid as much as I'm looking forward to this new experience.
I am shocked to say that I am quite the seasoned traveler. I've explored Germany, studied Global Warming in Canada on the Hudson Bay , dug Ancestral Puebloan ruins in the southwest, studied African American expatriate art in Paris, and excavated on a Greek shore. I was raised to believe that learning and growth can only happen through experience. I've never had the money for these experiences but have always been blessed and found ways to get where I wanted to be. Costa Rica is no exception: a new place in the world...somewhere that is not Colorado Springs. I love this city, probably more than most, but I don't like getting too comfortable.
The possibilities for research really do feel endless, however my field of choice has created some borders. Anthropology is the study of human beings. While other fields dealing with people might look at actions and results, anthropology asks why. It's in the murky gray area of beliefs, ideologies, and almost anything else that we can't see or touch. This is why i love this discipline. There truly aren't any answers. You, as an individual, are the answer. Anthropologists have the unique position of both researcher and participant. I think it's integral to acknowledge one's positionality and influence in any research. People are always impressionable to some degree.
I hope to focus my research on ideology. If all goes as planned my studies will fall under the title of "Tourism, Visual Culture and the Morphology of the Arenal Landscape." I would like to explore the ideology and treatment of the landscape surrounding Volcano Arenal in La Fortuna, Costa Rica. I like the use of the term "morphology" because it will help me to incorporate ideology and beliefs that transcend space and time. I hope to, through visual anthropology (photographs, video clips, pre-columbian artifacts, drawings, etc.), gain an understanding of the meaning of this landscape to people throughout time. I am most interested in the role of tourism on this landscape. Has Arenal changed as a result of this prosperous industry? How is meaning formed and how does this meaning vary for different groups of people?
I have so many ideas and have been reading several books on tourism and visual anthropology. While I won't know for sure what direction my research will go until I get to Costa Rica, I think I have a good start. I am extremely excited and nervous. The academic side of the semester has been distracting me from my other worries: will my host family like me? how will i survive this long away from home? will i fail miserably? Only time will tell. I have just under a month to work through all my worries.
