Anthropology Field Course - Fuerteventura

Fuerteventura is the second largest of the canary islands, sitting about 60 miles off the coast of Africa, it has been a UNESCO protected biosphere reserve since 2009. Fuerteventura has a population of c. 124,000, the primary industry is now tourism (supplemented by fishing and agriculture) and its official language is Spanish (Canarian Spanish).

The tagline of the Fuerteventura Field Course is “local footprints.” This can be interpreted in various ways: as a reference to the podomorphic (foot-shaped) engravings left by indigenous Canarians on Mount Tindaya; it also speaks to the island as a transitory location for indigenous people, conquistadors, tourists, (north African work) migrants and(European and South American) immigrants, as well as a new wave of digital nomads.

These migrations may be seen as successive waves that have broken over the coastlines and landscapes of the islands, shaping the territory and the possibilities of life for the islanders as much as the makeup of the island’s population.

The idea of footprints also invites us to think about our relationship to the ecosystems we are part of, including our use of vital resources: food, air, and water.

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