Week 2

    We leave for Greece tomorrow, so our workshops got a lot more intensive. We had an extremely interesting session with Dr. Carmela Garritano, in which we examined “Petroculture” through the lens of the media. We watched a fascinating short film called, “Pumzi” (2009) and analyzed ways in which energy is depicted. The University Writing Center held a workshop to aid us in developing our literature review and gave us tips on how to write concisely and avoid redundant jargon. Dr. Jafaru Egieya reviewed systems dynamics with us through a case-study on South Africa. Lastly, we put our skills to the test by holding a mock focus group. We practiced interviewing “farmers” and had to think quickly on our feet, learning how to pivot and not rely on a script to keep the interview flowing. This week was full of riveting discussions and gave us a taste of our exciting field work to come! Next stop: Athens!

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