Goulet.pdf

Jeanne Simonelli, Erin McCulley, and Rachel Simonelli
and implemented in conjunction with community groups and
facilitators
3. To encourage team building through these cooperative-learning
projects
4. To foster interaction between individuals from all parts of the
community who share concern for, and commitment to, working on
major social issues
5. To strengthen the sharing of resources between the colleges and
related communities
6. To empower students and community members to be informed,
involved, and compassionate creators of humane communities both
locally and globally
In 1999 I began co-teaching programs in both the Southwest and
Chiapas with Dr. Duncan Earle (Earle, Simonelli, and Story 2004 ).
Working with a male co-director was not new to me, but working with
a male codirector in largely female programs did create a certain new
dynamic. Female–male co-directorship in Maya country fit within the
cultural logic, where notions of complementary duality dictate that
leadership roles be shared.
After a number of student programs within Zapatista communi-
ties, we have learned that activism and objectivity are not mutually
exclusive, that research and/or service projects can and must be de-
signed in collaboration with our community partners, that our ser-
vice is research and that research can inform our service. We are active
partners in a shared future, yet at the same time, as anthropologists
we are scribes of that experience, using our training to step back and
document a process of social change. But we have also been taught
by our Zapatista hosts that there is long-term educational benefit in
the simple cross-cultural exchanges that our visits bring. It is not al-
ways what we expect it to be.
In our programs in the Zapatista communities our most important
learning experience has been to value the visit itself. For our hosts, to
see a group of students coming to understand their struggle and per-
spective was a cultural learning experience for them as well, especially