Places and Local Communities – Workshop

The main purpose of the course is understanding how local communities cope with cultural, environmental, political and social changes within isolated geographical context. This task is particularly interesting if we consider social and environmental fragile ecosystems such as tropical islands and coral atolls. A specific attention will be given to geographical, cultural, environmental and anthropological dimensions of the host community. The Workshop gives students the opportunity to be involved in the researches and projects carried out by our university in Faafu-Magoodho, and to get in touch with the Maldivian cultural and environmental heritage.

The course will be divided into a series of lessons and field activities (visits to tourism resorts, meetings with local actors) coordinated by Italian teachers and researches. Lessons will be held at the Marine Research and High Education Centre. All field activities in the sea will be carried out in snorkelling and in any case it is not expected throughout the course that students plunge with diving equipment .

In addition to providing a base of operations for laboratory research activities in the Maldives, the MaRHE Center is open to any marine research or education programs. The facility is located within easy access to a broad variety of habitats, including reefs, sea grass beds, and terrestrial communities.