‘I Can't Eat That, It's Purple’: a Geography Field Course in Vanuatu and Fiji

Abstract

AbstractA month‐long field course in the Pacific island states of Vanuatu and Fiji focused on development issues, involving lectures, seminars and much informal interaction. Students completed daily journals as a means of learning, a form of self‐assessment of learning, a way of evaluating their participation in the course and their perception of its value. Journal themes reflected an evolution from unsettling rhetorical questions towards notions of discovery, autonomy, reflexivity and emerging cultural sensitivity. Students developed valuable social skills, and gained first‐hand experience of various concepts of development and social justice. Grading the journals was difficult because of the extent of subjectivity and diverse personal experiences. The course, and the journals, emphasised the diverse values and roles of courses both on, and particularly in, developing countries, despite the substantial costs.