Legacies of the OSEA ethnography and Maya language field school (1997–2023)

Abstract

This article discusses the legacies of the Open School of Ethnography and Anthropology (OSEA) field school programs and projects. OSEA was founded in 2003 in Pisté, Yucatán, Mexico, and continues to offer an array of programs to undergraduates, graduate students, non-students, and scholars. OSEA emerges out of a prior field school program (1997–1999). The article considers the difficulties of how to assess the intangible, immeasurable legacies of field schools, provides a history of OSEA and its precursor, and concludes with a view toward future development.