Virginia Layfield

Education Abroad

I chose to study abroad in the May-mester in Argentina using the STEP Fellowship. The program consisted of taking a history course about Argentina for a few days in Columbus and for the month of May abroad. The course consisted of reading primary sources, doing research, going to museums and historical sites, and participating and immersing myself in the cultural activities of Argentina.

I’ve become more culturally sensitive and aware in many different ways. Something really small such as addressing myself as “American” was kind of wrong since I was in South America and they are American there too. This showed me how western ideals have plagued society in the U.S. because we forget that the other countries in North America, Central America, and South America are all American too not just us in the U.S. I found this to be an interesting concept since I’d never experienced it before going abroad when I went to Europe. Cultural differences were evident the minute I stepped off the plane and heard nothing but Spanish being spoken. I felt like Buenos Aires had a very New York or Chicago feel but more with more evidence of European attributes from the early influx of immigration that really built the city.

I got to participate in so many different events while in Argentina that contributed to my cultural awareness of the country. I didn’t know much about Argentina initially and didn’t t realize how similar the country’s history was to ours here in the U.S. yet different.

Our weekend trip to Salta, Argentina was the experience that really solidified what we were learning in class about the effects of colonialism which had affected the U.S. similarly. As we arrived, I could already see the stark difference between this northwest region and the city of Buenos Aires. With indigenous people being pushed out of BA and more immigrants flooding in, the long term effect was that many more descendants of indigenous people are living in the mountainous and desert regions of Argentina like Salta, and more descendants of Spaniards and other Europeans are living in port cities like BA. This reminds me of how natives were pushed out and killed in the U.S. as well around the same time it was happening in Argentina due to European exploration and exploitation. It was eye opening to see how similar the two countries’ inceptions were. Yet, the position of the two countries is very different today.

We visited Museum of High Altitude Archaeology, MAAM, and learned about three Inca children that were buried thousands of feet above sea level in Mount Llullaillaco. The Incas in this region held a ritual called the Capacocha on Mount Llullaillaco. The ritual was used to merge sacred space with ancient times and they offered up their most important possessions to the Gods in hopes of being rewarded with things like an excellent harvest season. The children they chose to to sacrifice were typically deemed special based on their flawless physical appearance and skills. There was a big celebration where the chosen child would drink until s/he passed out and then the Inca would bury him or her alive with other offerings that provide insight into what was important in the Inca civilization. Some of the items were ceramics, food, textiles, statuettes, and alcohol. They deemed these items worthy enough to be offered to the Gods.

The Lightning Girl was the child on display when we went to MAAM. The children are rotated out every six months to help with the preservation of the bodies. Cryopreservation is the technique used in the conservation of the children in which the atmosphere is modified to replicate that of the mountain where the children were found. The discovery and conservation of the children is important because it allows us and more importantly the people of Salta to understand where they come from. We can see the belief system of an early civilization and better understand traditions current people in the region have.

The Queen of the Hill, another Inca child found in a tomb, had been stolen and her tomb looted. She was bought, traded, and stored in a basement. Her body is in a very deteriorated state because of how she was handled. MAAM wants to exhibit these children and other findings to the public in a frame of deep respect for who and what they once were. They were humans. I gained a new respect and appreciation for the work museums like MAAM do. Preserving these ancient cultures isn’t easy but it is important so that not just tourists and intellectuals see the history but the descendants of these ancient peoples themselves. Being able to understand and acknowledge history can keep us from repeating previous mistakes and keep us preserving positive traditions.

Also, while in Salta, we ate a traditional beef stew and attended an evening filled with folk music. The beef stew was a sign of the prevalent source of protein in Argentina which had also been a prime trade item in the 19^th century. The traditional folk music consisted of an array of people from a man on stage with a traditional looking guitar and wearing a cape and outfit that could have been from the late 1800s to a boy band, The Folk, that came up and added their own spin to folk music. It was like listening to an evolution of folk music and watching a huge tribute to Argentinian culture. It was fantastic. There was even a segment of song and dance that featured dancers in garments that seemed pre-21^st century and, based on prior knowledge of folk dancing, the dance seemed like a folk dance. The blend of old and new was very impactful because it showed me how proud the people are of their culture, heritage, and past despite the atrocities inflicted upon and the displacement of their ancestors.

Another place we visited that impacted me deeply was ESMA, also known as Ex-ESMA by the locals of Buenos Aires. ESMA is the site of detention centers or concentration camps that the Argentine government built to strike fear into the community for having different political opinions. An estimated 30000 people, who became known as the disappeared, were kidnapped and put into these camps that were right in the heart of Buenos Aires. They were caged in an attic and tortured in a basement in the officer’s hall all while the officers lived and laughed in the two in-between floors of the quarters. We went to these places and walked the grounds of the camp. It was eerie and unsettling but I felt it was so necessary to be there and to learn about a history I never knew. It was insane to know that camps like these were existing in the 70s and 80s and I didn’t even know it until this trip. It even sadder to see that camps like these are here in the U.S. today keeping children separated from their parents. Its horrific and a crime against humanity. The men responsible for what is known as the Dirty War are still on trial for crimes against humanity and genocide. Can it really be called a war if both sides didn’t have a fighting chance? And I go back to an aforementioned point that we must understand and acknowledge history so that we can preserve positive traditions and keep ourselves from repeating previous mistakes.

All of these experiences have changed me for the better. My eyes have been opened to a history that I have never explored. And seeing how race, nationality, gender, and ethnicity have played a role in that history and how it affects the present is really fascinating. My desire to diversify the field of accounting and the business world in general has been heightened by this journey because I saw the inequalities faced in another country that are similar to the ones in the U.S. because of how people look and where they’re from. Also, my passion for activism for equality too has increased because it’s a problem the world is dealing with. The world is struggling to accept people that are different and resorting to inhumane acts to control it because they are scared of people that are different. I thought colonialism, slavery, the Holocaust, or the Dirty War would have taught us something, but here we are in 2018 seeing children that have been ripped from their families in detention centers because they are seeking asylum from the atrocities they faced in their home country. I hope to continue the fight for equality around the world by traveling and learning and doing what I am able to do to ensure that history can stop repeating itself and to ensure progression instead of regression.