Nicole Blumenfeld '20 and Annika Bjerke '19 were awarded Engaged Learning in Scholarships in support of their travel and research.
Engaged Learning in Scholarships were established by an anonymous donor to support students who seek training in anthropological techniques or who would like to participate in anthropologically-oriented engaged learning opportunities.
The Department of is grateful for generous donors who make these awards possible. The Engaged Learning awards provide students with opportunities for transformative research and experiences.
Annika's research project, “The Art of Well-Being,” will serve as a nested endeavor within the Uzima, Spaces of Nourishment Project, spearheaded by Professor Stacey Langwick. The Uzima project explores the link between the environment and medicine through the use and design of a one-acre plot which will serve as a plant-based installation space just outside the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center in Moshi, Tanzania. Annika's research will explore the link between art and healing.
Annika will travel to Moshi, Tanzania to identify and work with networks of Tanzanian artists to design art for the garden space. The commissioning of local Tanzanian artists supports the development of a creative community whose collaborative work not only transcends traditional academic boundaries but also national boundaries, creating a meaningful global community that values well-being through the cultivation of art.
Annika is a senior majoring in and Government.
"I am excited to pursue this endeavor during my last semester at Cornell, using my anthropology background as a way to navigate cross-cultural and cross-community difference, which will translate into my future career in public health and law," Annika said.
Nikki Blumenfeld will spend the spring semester at the Nilgiris Field Learning Center in Tamil Nadu, India. She will work with indigenous communities of the area on researching various community-identified issues. These ongoing research projects focus on the social sciences and ecology, while emphasizing the importance of an interdisciplinary, collaborative approach. Nikki is excited to bring what she has learned so far in her studies and add to the work started before her. This program, and its unique collaboration between Cornell students, faculty and those at the Keystone Foundation, will give Nikki skills only a field-based environment can provide.
Nikki is a junior majoring in .
"It is with the help of the Engaged Learning Scholarship that I will be able to take advantage of this unique opportunity and get the most out of my Cornell experience," Nikki said.
Nikki provided this update on March 11, 2019:
"For the next five weeks I’ll be talking to four traditional healers around the Nilgiris to try to document their life histories. I am partnered with two other students from India, and we also have a translator with us which makes it possible for me to communicate to both my partners and the healers. I’m also fortunate enough to have homestays in each of the healer’s communities, which gives me a lot more opportunities to talk to them and also talk to other people around. I am definitely applying ethnography while I am out here!"
