Jeanne Simonelli, Erin McCulley, and Rachel Simonellimany of these apprentice anthropologists, the programs were forma-
tive experiences (R. Simonelli 2002 ).
Learning and teaching anthropology in the field requires a special
set of skills and insights, some of which can be gleaned from books,
and others, as yet another mentor said, “you’ll figure... out when
you get there.” This chapter provides a narrative journey through
one instance of the living apprenticeship of anthropological field-
work, through a qualitative look at a program taught in Chiapas,
Mexico, in 1999. Field programs have always been work-intensive,
requiring arduous planning, but with the potential for unparalleled
growth for all involved. They are life-changing experiences for those
who participate, a chance to link classroom with the global and lo-
cal community, to make teaching an interaction between the teacher,
the learner, and what is being learned, an intricate quadrille where
the dancers change places as the set progresses. Beyond this, they are
also the seeds that our students can sow when they return, as subtle
teachers among an American public that needs to see beyond its own
borders (J. Simonelli 2000 ).
Learning from the FieldIntensive field-based learning has a long history in anthropology, but
like the qualitative research model, it has been adopted by many other
disciplines as part of a push to give students a taste of the “real world.”
In these diverse experiences, project directors use a wide range of mod-
els in designing and carrying out their off-campus experiential learning
programs. They differ in the amount of pre-travel preparation, and in
the focus of the program. Some are primarily to teach research meth-
ods, others to teach students how to engage with the global commu-
nity. They also differ in the way students are housed and monitored
during the actual field stay. On one end of the continuum, the “drag
and drop” model involves minimal amounts of on-campus training,
instructors meet many of the students for the first time at the airport,
and students are housed in individual homestays. Students and direc-
tors come together daily or periodically to cover academic content and
to consult on independent student projects. While the homestay model