Barbados and Ireland may not seem to have much in common, especially in terms of climate.
But for anthropologist George Gmelch, both are rich in ethnographic opportunities.
Gmelch, who since 1983 has run an ethnographic field school in warm and sunny Barbados,
is moving the program this fall to the Emerald Isle. The move coincides with his wife Sharon
(also professor of anthropology) doing a Fulbright Fellowship as lecturer and researcher at
the University of Maynooth, west of Dublin.
Ten students will study in Gmelch's program, beginning with three weeks of touring rural towns
and taking classes in Irish history. “There's so much more history to know than in Barbados,”
Gmelch said. For the rest of the term, students will move into homes with local families in different
towns in southeast Ireland – Kilkenny, Wexford and Carlow, for example.
The program is not connected to a term abroad in Galway, offered in collaboration with Hobart and
William Smith Colleges.
“There's no question that (the ethnographic field school) is the ultimate term abroad experience,”
said Gmelch, who ran a similar program in Ireland in the 70's when he was teaching at the University at Albany.
“The students are out there living in the community by themselves, and that forces them to examine the host
society in ways that do not happen in a classroom.”
Gmelch visited Ireland last fall, finding places in rural western Ireland that would be suitable for doing
field research. His next visit over the summer will secure host families for the students. “I have a waiting
list of host families in Barbados,” Gmelch said. “I'll have to start all over in Ireland.”
As for the weather, Ireland's higher latitude means cooler temperatures than in Barbados.
“But at least we'll miss most of the rainy season,” Gmelch said.