Off The Beaten Track

The Off the Beaten Track Summer School offers both budding social scientists and more advanced scholars a rare opportunity to do ethnographic research on an island with 7,000 years of history.

The school is held annually on the islet of Gozo, one of the three inhabited islands of the Maltese Archipelago in the heart of the Mediterranean. Surrounded by crystal clear waters, the island enjoys year-round sunshine and is home to numerous natural and cultural treasures. Rural Mediterranean traditions intersect with foreign influence in small fishing villages, and climate change poses new challenges to the local farming and fishing communities. Possible research topics abound.

At the crossroads of maritime routes between Europe, Africa and Asia, Malta has always been strategically important, and thus many influences have contributed to the Maltese and Gozitan culture. This can be seen for example in the Maltese language – a fusion of Arabic, Italian and other languages. Today, the Maltese also speak English, which facilitates access to the field for foreign researchers.

Participants of the Off the Beaten Track program get the unique opportunity to acquire ‘in the field’ experience. We facilitate and monitor the progress of each project, and guide interested participants through the process of publishing peer-reviewed research results. The program is built through extensive experience. With its first edition in 2006, the school is now the longest standing cultural anthropology field school in the world.