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79 S. Pleasant St. #A5
Amherst, MA 01002
(888) 515-7333
India - Sustainablitiy in Practice at Auroville

Overview
Study abroad in Auroville, an international community along the tropical coast of southern India dedicated to promoting human unity. Participate in an academic program that fosters collaborative inquiry, critical thinking, and dialogue while exploring daily awareness practices such as yoga and meditation.

Through engagement with a holistic approach to world issues that encompasses inner, cultural, and outer processes, you broaden and deepen your understanding of sustainability and ecology. Hands-on experience with habitat restoration, local organic food production, teaching in village schools, working with village action groups and more helps build a growing theoretical understanding of issues relating to global sustainability.

Empower yourself and learn to empower others through a process whereby what you learn is integrated with how you live.

Check out the student weblogs »
Browse the photo gallery »

 

Highlights
Visit cultural and ecological sites including Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary
Engage in a 40-hour wilderness solo process of self-inquiry and reflection.

Travel to Karnataka and spend 3 weeks at the Ecodaya Sanctuary, an island in the Tungabhadra River - jungle ruins of ancient Hindu empires and some of the rarest ecology and geology on the planet.

Overnight at Sri Ramanamaharshi's ashram and climb Arunchala Mountain, locally believed to be the body of the Hindu god Shiva.

 

Auroville as "Ecovillage"

was founded in 1968 with the intention of realizing human unity, and is now home to approximately 2,000 individuals from over 40 nations around the world. Vibrant community culture and its expertise in renewable energy systems, habitat restoration, ecology skills, mindfulness practices, and holistic education make Auroville one of the best places to study abroad in India.

Read more about Auroville and its location »


Courses

Group Dynamics (Comm 352) (4 cr.)
Learn to recognize and analyze the physical, social, economic, political, ethical, and spiritual elements that make up sustainable communities. Students build strong conceptual frameworks and have opportunities for real-world experience by developing a learning community and engaging with established host communities.


Global and Local Sustainable Living (Env. Design 592A) (4 cr.)
Study the role of human history, language, education, physical landscape, society, and world view on shaping human-place relations. Explore methods of strengthening these connections through use of ecological footprint analysis, ecological literacy, mindful awareness, community/societal action, and systems thinking.


Applications and Practices of Sustainable Living (Honors 397I) (4 cr.)
This field-based experience, combined with readings, dialogue, reflection and a project paper, introduces you to the history, methods, and meanings of sustainable development. Students select, implement, record, and evaluate an internship project in sustainable development during their ten-week stay in Auroville, India.


Body, Mind, and Spirit: Cultivating Personal Sustainability (Int’l Ed 292C) (4cr.)
Study the importance of worldviews and how they affect human behavior and the earth, and gain an appreciation for the historical role of religions and spirituality in creating culture. In addition to seminars, readings, reflective journaling, and discussion on philosophical and spiritual movements that link inner transformation with political and environmental action, this course explores how practices such as yoga and meditation, holistic health, and rituals expand perceptions about who we are and how we live.


Academic Credit
Earn 16 transferable credits through the University of Massachusetts Amherst

Find out about transferring credits to your home school »

 

View the full curriculum for this program »

Expert faculty help students build skills in ecology, habitat restoration and group facilitation through workshops, coursework, seminars and internships, which take place outdoors and offer transferable college credit.
Expert faculty help students build skills in ecology, habitat restoration and group facilitation through workshops, coursework, seminars and internships, which take place outdoors and offer transferable college credit. More photos »

Program Dates (subject to change)

Spring Semester
January 23 - May 2
Application Deadline: October 31*

Fall Semester
September 13 - December 19
Application Deadline: April 15*

*Rolling admissions on a first come first serve basis. Contact us for late availability.

Learn how to apply »

Questions? Contact us »

Particpants form a strong and supportive learning community within the dynamic living community of Auroville.
Particpants form a strong and supportive learning community within the dynamic living community of Auroville. More photos »

Costs

tuition, program costs, room and board, in-country travel .... $13,400

credit... Included


Learn about financial aid options »

Program at a Glance
Week 1
Academic and cultural orientation to Auroville
Develop a sense of place in Auroville: natural history walks, bioregional introduction, visit to cultural centers, discussion with community members, language introduction, exploration of potential internship sites, etc.
Introduction to and engagement with the learning community
Weeks 2 - 5
Engage in internships
Attend faculty and Aurovillian seminar series on the Inner, Outer, and Cultural realms of sustainability
Field excursions to Pondicherry, ashrams
Facilitation of, and participation in, learning community activities and meetings
Creation of Individual and Community Learning Plans for weeks 11 - 14
Mid-semester assessments & learning celebration
Weeks 6 - 8
Community stays in Auroville
Engagement with Individual and Community Learning Plans
Student seminars
Facilitation of, and participation in, learning community activities and meetings
Week 7
Travel to Fireflies Ashram near Bangalore
Learn about the shift from chemical to organic agriculture
Meet with locals to discuss quality of life issues
Continue service learning in organic gardens and explore the interconnectedness of social and ecological transformation
Weeks 8-10
Study efforts to preserve and enhance biodiversity on this beautiful area, rich in geologic, ecological, and cultural significance
Forty-hour solo experience
Weeks 13 - 14
Return to Auroville
Facilitation of, and participation in, learning community activities and meetings
Final assessments & learning celebrations

Faculty

Tanya Elder

Ph.D, Technology and Social Change, University of Linköping, Sweden

After teaching communication and social science at The American University of Paris, Tanya is looking forward to returning to Auroville, where she spent much of her childhood. She attended college in the U.S., and then lived in Sweden (where she completed her Ph.D) and then Senegal, where she worked in development and social services. Tanya has also conducted ethnographic research in Mali, Ghana, and Burkina Faso. Her research interests include comparative analysis of civil society and NGOs, media and communication for development, sustainability studies and human unity, and identity and culture.

 

Jake Pollack

M.A. Integrative Health Studies, California Institute of Integral Studies; B.A., Religious Studies, Grinnell College

Jake has lectured in Fundamentals of Integrative Medicine, Global Health Systems, and the Ethics of Healing in the Integrative Health Studies program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He has also worked with the University of Denver's South India Term Abroad program in Madurai. His research includes the 20th century transformations of South Asian traditions of yoga and healing, especially the professionalization of yoga therapy, and the globalization of Siddha medicine and Ayurveda. He has also taught yoga and worked as a yoga therapist for over six years, in various clinical settings including the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at UC San Francisco.

 

Kundan Singh

Ph.d Candidate, Humanities, California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS); M.A. in Applied Psychology with Concentration in Social Psychology, University of Delhi, India

Kundun divides his time as faculty for both Living Routes and CIIS, where he is completing his dissertation entitled, "The Evolution of Integral Yoga." His academic interests include the adaptation and secularization of spiritual practice for inner and outer transformation and building a new consciousness for global and local social change. Author of several book chapters and journal articles, his areas of research include Integral yoga, spirituality and social action, globalization, personal responsibility and social change.

 

Tlaloc Tokuda

M.A., Environmental Education, University of Hawai'i Manoa

Tokuda has spent his life working for social justice and environmental change. In addition to working in diverse regions of the world, he has conducted research on reforestation in Auroville for his master's degree, and also studied solar energy and globalization at the University of Hawai'i. Tokuda has taught ecological sustainable development, and worked for Oxfam in Australia where he built his own passive solar mud brick home. In 2005, he returned to Auroville, where he has been active in ongoing tsunami relief efforts.








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