2023 ETHNOGRAPHIC FIELD SCHOOL COVID-19 SAFETY AND TRAVEL PROTOCOLS
PROOF OF VACCINATION REQUIRED OF ALL STUDENTS
APPROPRIATE MASKING REQUIRED OF ALL STUDENTS
Anthropologists and other types of Ethnographers have been on the front lines of social and medical issues for many decades. From pandemics such as HIV to other infectious diseases, the history of ethnographers providing critically needed data to help slow and prevent the spread of disease has been life saving on a global level. The COVID-19 era is no different.
We have adapted our training to include technologies that allow us to provide a safer, yet extremely productive learning environment. For example, While there will be daily contact in outside and distanced environments, some traditional lectures or training segments will happen through online discussions. While every researcher will be in direct social contact, safely, they will also be using online communications with research subjects, providing a means for in-depth data collection while also maintaining good rapport and empathy.
We have adopted many of the CDC and WHO suggestions, such as the wearing of masks indoors and in taxis, washing hands frequently, social distancing and cleaning of environments and items used frequently, but we will also require proof of full vaccination of all students prior to arrival.
Refusal to respect local Covid 19 laws and customs will result in immediate expulsion without refund from the program.
The state of Quintana Roo uses a 'stop light' system for COVID restrictions, which all program participants will abide by. Our practices on the island, coupled with our breezy open-air environment, have kept C19 cases very low and the population safer than most places in the USA or other countries. But as noted earlier, we will also co-opt CDC and WHO suggestions.
For more information about the CDC and WHO protocols please see:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html
https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus#tab=tab_1