Global Intensive Spotlight: Chile

By Lindsay Weinberg

This April, CU Instructor Nicholas Villanueva brought ten students to Santiago, Chile, on a Global Intensive program to study Nationhood, Nationalism & Sport. Global Intensives are short-term international programs embedded into a course taught on the CU Boulder campus.  They are a unique opportunity for students to bring their course material to life through global travel.

Nicholas works in the Department of Ethnic Studies focusing on intersectionality and comparative ethnic studies. His focus is on race, nationhood and nationalism. His edited volume, Nationhood, Sport - A Global Perspective, is being published this fall. Nick has traveled throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as parts of Western Europe and the Middle East. Santiago, Chile, is near the top of his favorite destinations, however Cairo, Egypt, is his absolute favorite place that he has traveled to.

One of Nick’s hopes going into the global intensive program was to dispel some of the preconceived notions that his students had about what Santiago is like. “I hope that they leave with a completely new narrative and understanding of Chile that was unexpected.”

The course examines nationalism and sport. Specifically, the class examines athletes and how they can become national figures, being lionized as well as demonized to the public. This can occur for on-the-field or off-the-field actions. Students also examine important social issues that are revealed through sports, such as political expression, LGBT athlete participation, racism & discrimination, ableism and gender inequity. They begin by understanding this topic in the United States and then explore the topic through a comparative study of Chile.

The uniqueness of this program comes from exploring different sports and locations as case studies. There is the option to take the course to the Dominican Republic to examine baseball, rodeo in Brazil, Cricket in Jamaica, and soccer in Argentina. Additionally, there will be an opportunity to study major global sporting events, like the Pan American Games, which will be held in Lima, Peru during the summer of 2019.

The class attended sporting events in Chile, and visited culturally and historically significant locations. Their final project created a video essay that demonstrates their understanding of nationalism and sport in Chile. Students are provided with a Go Pro video recording device from the Department of Ethnic Studies to film their trip. The videos are presented as their final project during the last week of the semester.

Chile is an extremely relevant location for the course because “a sport as a national identity” has changed over time in Chile. People have long believed that football is part of the national tradition and heritage. While that is largely true today, the class explored other sports such as Chilean Rodeo and how that once was a national identity as well. Chilean horses are unique and much different than the horses used in rodeo everywhere else in the world, and Chileans are very proud of this.

Students learned about how social factors throughout Chilean history reconstructed national identity. In Chile, football is an important part of their culture and was significant historically during a twenty-year dictatorship during the 1970s and 1980s.

Nick believes it is important for students to travel internationally throughout their lives. “The personal growth that occurs when a student breaks out of their comfort zone and is faced with the challenge of studying a course in a foreign place is remarkable. The experience also demonstrates to future employers that they have international experience. Students can expand their worldview and change previously held beliefs about the people and culture of a foreign place."

Global Intensive programs are an extraordinary opportunity for students to get out of the classroom to learn in a real life context. Nick’s goal of altering the preconceived ideas of what a foreign place is like is a highly valuable lesson for students to learn. Traveling internationally can humanize a foreign city and make students more culturally aware of the world that we live in.