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Brenau President Ed Schrader, Ph.D., signed a
three-year, renewable cooperative agreement with George Bey, Ph.D., a
representative of Kaxil Kiuic, a non-profit association that manages the
4,500-acre, south Yucatán-based Helen Moyers Biolcultural Reserve, in
anticipation of the university's students and faculty pursuing research
projects and intercultural studies at the location.
"I'm very excited about Brenau becoming a
participating partner in the project," said Bey, Kaxil Kiuik Board member
and associate professor of anthropology and archeology at Millsaps
College. |
The ecological reserve is a long-time passion
of both Schrader and Bey, who founded the Kaxil Kiuik nonprofit group,
along with archeologist Tomás Gallareta Negrón and former Millsaps
President George Harmon. Rare plant and animal life abound in the
sanctuary, which is located on private lands historically known as Rancho
Kiuic that surround the prehispanic Maya ruins of Kiuic.
"Helen Moyers Biolcultural Reserve is a
unique environment where students, teachers and researchers from around
the world can share experiences and ideas," Bey said. Current research
projects underway include pre-Columbian Maya culture; biology of the dry
tropical forest; contemporary regional culture and history; and soil
geology and chemistry.
"The way to learn about international
cultures is not to learn about them in books, and look down on these
people as though a different culture is somehow beneath our own," Schrader
said, "but to experience their life and traditions on an equal level, eye
to eye - learning mutual respect for one another's diversities.
"Through cooperative agreements between
groups such as Kaxil Kiuic and colleges and universities - and the
government of Mexico - education and research will help in the fight to
preserve and explore archaeological treasures from age-old cultures, and
protect the fragile ecosystem of the world's precious rainforests."
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Photo: Bey(L), Schrader(R)
Photo: The Yucatan Peninsula from space
(NASA) |
