Mount Allison University Highlights El Salvador Field School and Community-Based Learning

An article published in Mount Allison University's Summer 2026 Record, by Melissa Lombard, titled “Connecting with culture and community,” highlights the university's inaugural El Salvador Field School and its connections to the Surviving Memory in Postwar El Salvador research partnership. Led by Dr. Morgan Poteet, Associate Professor of Sociology at Mount Allison University and a longtime collaborator with the Surviving Memory in Postwar El Salvador project, the field school offered students from different academic disciplines an opportunity to learn directly from Salvadoran communities. 

Modelled after a field school developed at Western University, the course included an eight-day visit to El Salvador, where students engaged with community leaders working toward environmental and social justice. Through conversations with residents and community groups, students explored connections between historical memory, environmental challenges, migration, and contemporary social movements. The experience also encouraged students to reflect on their learning through daily journals and creative projects. 

Read the full article: “Connecting with culture and community” — Mount Allison University, by Melissa Lombard. 

The Surviving Memory in Postwar El Salvador research initiative is supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Western University, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, and the Ontario Research Fund.