Professor: Steven Torres
Institution: University of Omaha
Location: Nebraska
Courses: “Sustainability and the environment in the Spanish-speaking world” (SPAN 3310) and “Culture and ecology” (SPAN 4960)
Special-topics seminar titled “Culture and ecology” (SPAN 4960) had the opportunity to collaborate with the Constellation of the Commons as translators. Students were divided into groups and asked to translate various interviews with climate activists in Spain who work within different grassroots initiatives (in areas such as cooperative ecological agriculture, ecological education and ecological activism and publishing). The purpose was to generate English translations so that the interviews could be published in the Constellation of the Commons, thus allowing climate activists in other areas of the world to learn from the experiences and challenges of their Spanish counterparts. After revision, these student translations were used both for video subtitles and for the published interviews online.
“Sustainability and the environment in the Spanish-speaking world” (SPAN 3310) had the opportunity to explore several environmental initiatives featured on the Constellation of the Commons in order to prepare group presentations. First, students were divided into groups and assigned a grassroots initiative to explore within the CC. Next, students were asked to find a comparable initiative in the US, at a local, regional, or national level, and to prepare an oral presentation for the class in which they addressed the similarities and differences between both initiatives.
