CSUEB Students to Present Findings from Rio de Janeiro Study Abroad Program

A group of Cal State East Bay students who studied the lead up to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics this summer will share their findings and experiences with the campus community on Monday.

Dr. Sukari Ivester and 20 students spent two weeks in Olympic City learning about why local residents referred to the Rio Olympics as the “Exclusion Games.”

Through classroom learning and activities all around the city, the summer program “Continuity and Change in the Olympic City ”explored Brazilian society through the lens of social inequality, modernization and globalization. The students visited several museums, went to the favela (slum) communities, and visited Vila Autodromo in the west zone of the city where Ivester says the “most egregious examples” of the difficulties caused by Olympic development are located.

“While there is no way to cover the entire city in a couple of weeks, students were able to get a full Rio experience,” Ivester said. “Each student remarked that exploring the city for these weeks allowed them to make memories that will last a lifetime.”

Ivester’s interest in the effect the Olympics had on what she calls the “Divided City” stem from an international faculty development seminar she took in Rio two years ago through the Center for International Education and Exchange.

“I essentially [modified] what I did with CIEE. Because it was such an amazing learning experience for me, I wanted to pass it on to my students,” she said of the study abroad program.

The students and Ivester will speak about what they’ve learned and share photos and stories from their trip on Monday. The event, which is sponsored by the Center for Sports and Social Justice and the Office of Diversity, is scheduled for 2 to 4 p.m. in the New University Union Multipurpose Room B.