Students

Anthropology course at the E3 program in Brazil

5 November 2025

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The University of Alberta's e3 Brazil program in Curitiba offers you a unique blend of learning and adventure. Imagine spending your days taking a fascinating course, enhancing your resume with a hands-on internship, and learning Portuguese in the heart of one of Brazil’s most innovative cities.

This spring take an Anthropology course, taught by Dr. Eve Nimmo, Curator and Faculty member in the Department of Anthropology.

Community-Based Research and Engagement: Agroecology, Heritage, and Sustainability in Southern Brazil

This course introduces students to community-based research and engagement through the lens of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS), with a focus on the shade-grown erva-mate agroforestry system in Paraná, Brazil. Using this living heritage as a case study, students will examine how traditional knowledge, Indigenous practices, and local communities sustain biodiversity, cultural identity, and climate resilience. Delivered as a seminar, the course will combine discussion-based learning with hands-on experiential activities. Students will learn about the importance of participatory action research, storytelling, and ethical collaboration while exploring how global sustainability goals and frameworks intersect with local priorities and Indigenous rights under UNDRIP. Through readings, podcasts, guest lectures from partners in Curitiba, and collaborative analysis of oral histories, students will learn how to design and communicate research that serves community interests. Final course project will be flexible, including visual storytelling, policy briefs, or podcasts, to encourage students from diverse disciplines and backgrounds to contribute their strengths. By the end of the course, students will be equipped to work respectfully with communities in Southern Paraná, contribute to heritage conservation and rural development, and reflect critically on their own positionality within global conversations about decolonization, sustainability, and reconciliation.

Learn more at https://www.ualberta.ca/en/international/global-learning/go-abroad/programs/e3-in-brazil.html