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Under the direction of Professors Tod Swanson, and Janis Nuckolls a student/faculty team records Amazonian Kichwa narratives or songs on plant and animal species.  For examples of of these video recordings see”Bitter, Bitter Ayambi (an iguanaesque lizard),”  “Ritual Harvesting of Amarun Caspi (Cespedezia spathula)”; “How a man became the Chuku tree (Erythrina poeppigiana)” ; “Ethnobotany class eats Grias Neoberthii in the forest;”  “Song to the Russet-backed Oropendola;” or “Ritual song to the Tundishcu bird species”. filmed summer of 2010. This material is transcribed and analyzed for clues to an indigenous philosophy of nature  as well as to better understand Kichwa language.  Particular attention is payed to the language through which native narrators take on the perspective of plants and animals.  For an example of this approach see Swanson’s article “Singing to Estranged Lovers: Runa Relations to Plants in the Ecuadorian Amazon”.   Recorded material will be deposited in the Archive of Indigenous Languages of Latin American at UT Austin. Among our principle sources this summer will be Eulodia Dagua  and Luisa Cadena  the subject of Janis Nuckoll’s book Lessons from a Quechua Strong Woman.   The Native Artists Workshop, held at the Field School during the same time period, adds visual representations of plants and animals and the spirit world within and behind them.



Enroll through the University of Pittsburgh  

Application Deadline: March 1, 2012


Undergraduate 8 weeks 12 credits:  $6500; 4 weeks 6 credits (June or July session only): $3500;   Prices include tuition, lodging, 3 meals per day, and in country travel. Graduate FLAS eligible Kichwa Program (8 weeks 6 credits): $7300 (costs paid by FLAS Fellowship for grantees).  


Available courses:

  1. •Ethnobiology: Amazonian Religious Culture and Nature  June

  2. •Amazonian Ethnobotany  July

  3. •Global Environment  July

  4. •Health and Population and Nutrition of Napo 1, 2 June-July

  5. •Kichwa Language and Culture 1, 2 June-July

  6. •Amazonian Arts Workshop  (pending course approval)

  7. •Details on Engineering Course coming soon


University of Pittsburgh Both Sessions: Apply;  June Session: Apply;  July Session: Apply. Graduate (FLAS eligible) Kichwa: Apply    Note: Please also email or call Field School Director Tod Swanson at tod.dillon.swanson@gmail.com; Phone 480 361-9289 to indicate interest in applying.


Other enrollment options:  Course offered for credit through:

Brigham Young University  6 credits 8 weeks:  Anthropological Linguistics Jn-July. 

Appalachian State University,  6 credits Anthropological Field Methods June

Apply through University of Florida Gainesville

Apply directly to Andes and Amazon Field School. Audit classes. No credit: $1950 per session.  $3800 for both. 


  Join us for Andes and Amazon Field School 2012

June 5-30; July 5-29, 2012 (also June 5-30; July 5-29, 2013)



Interdisciplinary work in the Humanities, Sciences, and Engineering on the sustainability of Amazonian environment and culture.  Held at Iyarina (Ee-yah-ree-nah) on the banks of the Napo River in eastern Ecuador, one of the most bio-diverse places on earth.  Open to adventurous students from any college or university.

In addition to hard work students have fun and build lasting friendships.   Video by Lauren Tomlin, Summer 2011. Full Screen

“Welcome to the Jungle” by Cate Mumford featuring linguistics students  Summer 2011. Full Screen