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Patricia Hiking in the Amazon Rainforest
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Patricia Munoz is a senior majoring in the Liberal Studies’ Global and Multicultural option. She was very excited when she found out about the Liberal Studies program, new to MSU in 2004, because she had become interested in obtaining an interdisciplinary degree while attending community college in Arizona. Patricia appreciates the flexibility the program offers. She says it allows students to mold coursework to their individual interests and compels them to take responsibility for their intellectual growth.
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Achuar Village
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Patricia has definitely made the most of a particular opportunity for intellectual growth by doing her senior capstone research project in Ecuador in summer 2006. With the encouragement of her Liberal Studies advisors and financial support from the Undergraduate Scholars Program, Patricia embarked upon what she refers to as “a truly life-changing experience.” |
Patricia departed for Ecuador with a goal of “capturing the essence of the work being done by the Pachamama Alliance,” and returned with a new set of eyes to view the world with. The Pachamama Alliance is a non-profit organization that strives to preserve tropical rainforests by engaging in partnerships with indigenous groups in the Amazon Basin. Some of the major goals of the Alliance include enlightening the industrialized Global North about the consequences of unbridled consumption and providing GPS equipment and technicians to establish legal boundaries for indigenous territories. The Alliance also helps indigenous groups integrate eco-tourism into their communities, allowing them to sustain their cultures in an environmentally sensitive manner.
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During her time in Ecuador, Patricia stayed in various Achuar communities where she became completely immersed in Achuar culture. From witnessing sacred traditions to drinking Chicha (Chicha is a traditional drink made by chewing up Yucca root, spitting it into a basin, and allowing it to ferment… Patricia claims that it is “an acquired taste”), Patricia experienced the ways of life of the Achuar in a very close, personal way.
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Achuar Men Drinking Chicha
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Patricia speaks passionately about the Achuar people, their hospitality, and the high level of simplicity and consciousness with which they live. To Patricia, the Achuar represent an enlightenment of what is possible in the way we consider the world. Although she concedes that it is too drastic to call people to completely abandon modern lifestyles, Patricia does believe we can learn a lot from the Achuar people and the high level of consciousness with which they live. In fact, she believes the Global North and South have a lot to learn from one another. By joining the keen awareness of the interconnectedness of human and natural systems embodied by traditional cultures of the Global South with the technological capacity of the Global North, Patricia believes that “a whole new way of thinking about the world could evolve.” |
In the true spirit of a Liberal Arts education, Patricia discovered the intricate web of political, economic, social, cultural, and ecological factors that underlie all environmental issues during her time in Ecuador. She also discovered beauty in the souls of the Achuar people who invited her to experience their culture as well as a new awareness of herself. If you see Patricia on campus, ask her about her summer adventure. She speaks with an energy and authenticity that will surely bring the rainforest to life right here in Bozeman, Montana. |
Achuar Women
For More Information on the Pachamama Alliance,
please visit their webstie at:
www.pachamama.org |
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"I love how flexible the Liberal Studies Degree is. It allows you to mold coursework to your interests and puts responsibility for intellectual growth into your own hands. The department was very supportive of my summer research project in Equador. This project was truly a life-changing experience."
-Patricia Munoz
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Leadership 
