Video Postcard From Peru

Photo by Russell Cothren, University Relations

Honors psychology major Linh Luu researched and presented on the lives of nuns and their servants in Santa Catalina, a Dominican convent in Arequipa, Peru.

Sixteen Honors College students spent a full semester preparing for study abroad in Peru, and landed in Lima well-versed on the Incan Empire, the Andean Hybrid Baroque and indigenismo. But lectures and (voluminous) readings can't prepare you for encountering paintings of angels with guns, sampling bony cuy with bubblegum-sweet Inca Kola, or encountering the floods of tourists at Machu Picchu (and being a tourist at Machu Picchu).

View this video postcard from Peru to see some of the unexpected lessons learned by students participating in the new Honors Passport study abroad course. 

Honors Passport courses send honors students and top faculty scholars to historically and culturally significant sites around the globe. During these two-week intersession courses, each student much research and present on a historic site, monument or notable individual, taking an active role in teaching the course.

"The idea is to create an international capstone experience where students and professors together explore the interaction of contemporary and historical sites, texts, and artifacts," said Honors College Dean Lynda Coon.

"Especially in this study abroad context, Dr. Hare and I have had a lot of back and forth, and we've included  students in those conversations, and that has been incredibly rich," said Shawn Austin, an assistant professor of history who co-taught the Peru course with Laurence Hare, director of international studies. 

In May 2018, Coon, who is a medieval church historian, and colleague Kim Sexton, an expert on medieval architectural history and associate professor of architecture in the Fay Jones School, will lead 16 honors students along medieval pilgrimage trails from Paris to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Future Honors Passport courses in Sicily, India and Mexico are also under discussion. 

The Honors College is also assessing interest in a trip to Peru for alumni and friends led by Shawn Austin, a specialist in colonial Latin America. For more information visit the Honors Passport website.