Julia A. Heath
Journey in Cultural Anthropology:
Changwon, South Korea (2009)
I first arrived at Columbia College in the summer of 2000. Originally, I wasn’t all that interested in people. I thought I would be interested in economics, but after a couple of semesters I became aware that I was most interested in learning about the local area and enjoying the hands-on learning environment provided by Columbia’s earth science professors. Therefore, I did not take a Paula and Ted course until the spring of 2002 when I signed up for the team-taught Cultural Anthropology/Cultural Geography to fill out my schedule. Paula and Ted’s relationship and personal stories influenced me. I looked forward to traveling and teaching English as Paula and Ted had.
For the 2002-2003 school year I studied abroad in England, India, the Philippines, New Zealand and Mexico with the International Honors Program (IHP). Cultural anthropology was one of the key interdisciplinary components along with global ecology and political economy. We interviewed people from all economic classes and sectors of employment in five different countries regarding their traditions and hardships. These first-hand cultural experiences inspired me to learn more about my own family. I graduated from Humboldt State University with a BS in Environmental Science in 2004.
It took me three years and a lot of research to get to Latvia, where my maternal grandparents were raised. In 2007-2008 I had my first experience teaching English in Riga. I spent my free time meeting cousins, aunts and uncles for the first time, taking Latvian language lessons and reading books about Latvian history and culture. I often asked my students IHP-esc questions about agriculture and political economy. The issue students were most passionate about regarded Latvian milk, which was sold to Lithuanian processors and sold back to Latvian consumers as exorbitantly priced processed dairy products.
San Pedro, Guatemala (2006)
In 2009 I began a Master’s Degree in Diplomacy at Norwich University. I chose to focus my thesis on identifying the successes, failures and challenges of post-Soviet reforms to the Latvian dairy sector. I returned to Latvia in the summer of 2010 for three months of in-country research, including 10 face-to-face interviews. I also attended my cousin’s bachelorette party and wedding, made new friends, and explored more of the Latvian countryside. I graduated from Norwich University in 2011.
In 2012 I completed an internship at the Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal think-tank in Washington, DC, where I received 2 publications by Foreign Policy in Focus. I have traveled to nearly 20 countries, working or studying in many. I am now much more interested in people and culture as well as economics and the environment. Paula and Ted should take some credit for sharing their exhilarating travel stories and emphasizing the importance of cultural understanding in their classes.
University of Costa Rica Tropical Field Ecology Program
Humboldt State University – Environmental Science and Management
Norwich University – Diplomacy – Conflict Management
Institute for Policy Studies
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