Professor creatively reaches out to educate
With a few camera shots, the people of the Samburu tribe in North Central Kenya are shaping the way their people learn about and view conservation, partially due to the efforts of Adam Beh, a visiting assistant professor at Utah State University.
A semi-nomadic people, the Samburu mainly inhabit a large area that is home to several wildlife parks, including the National Samburu Reserve, which is home to giraffes, hundreds of bird species, zebra, lions, and other African animals and plants. Despite such proximity to the parks and their wildlife, however, Beh, who studies human dimensions of natural resources, noted a disconnect between the people and the reserves nearby them.
Beh’s advisor, Brett Bruyere, an assistant professor at Colorado State University, said the Samburu tribe has a low literacy rate and consists of a population that doesn’t have much opportunity for formal education or to develop good learning habits, and their knowledge of park activity and conservation is minimal.
He said, “The teaching approach hasn’t been effective. They haven’t asked, ‘What is the learning scope? What do people already know about conservation in their area?'”
Informally titled the “Samburu Photovoice Project,” Beh’s plan was designed to educate and inform tribal peoples of the environmental needs in their communities by putting the research in their hands in a participatory way.
“We gave cameras to park rangers, school teachers, and other citizens in the community and asked what changes they would like to see in conservation,” he said. “The study was done by them.”
Conducted for six months in 2009, the project consisted of distributing cameras to six different groups, traveling back and forth to locate them, organizing times and places to discuss the photographs taken by them, and asking questions about what they learned through photographing their lives and environment.
“I was also doing interviews to get a sense of how the community views the parks, whether they see the social benefits, environmental benefits, or if they just see the impact that tourism has,” Beh said.
Beh, who began working in Kenya in 2004 under the direction of the US Forest Service and African Wildlife Foundation, said having that trust established with the people played a major role in getting the project moving.
“They’re putting themselves out there. They had to know that I’m not going to abuse their work in any way,” he said.
His work had three main focuses in an effort to inform the Samburu people. First, he wanted to focus on the re-evaluation of the conservation curriculum in Samburu schools, teaching kids about their parks and environmental topics, such as deforestation.
His second focus was to teach scientific concepts to park rangers to give them the ability to connect to the community and relay information about the role of conservation and the wildlife reserves they work in.
Finally, he aimed to incorporate the tribal Elders. Since the Samburu tribe operates under an oligarchy, staying connected by tapping into leaders and involving them was a very important part in allowing all voices to be heard.
“It’s a very culturally appropriate method of research that respected everyone involved,” Bruyere said.
After giving the people the chance to take photos, two galleries were set up in January to feature their work. Government officials were invited to not only view the photos, but hear the people voice their concerns, something that rarely happens in a rural community such as the Samburu’s.
“It’s a way to say ‘here’s where we are,’ ‘here’s where we need to be,’ and ‘here’s how you can help us get there,'” Beh said.
One of the best results of the study was the unification of the community, he said.
“We got people talking together that have never talked together. There were park rangers sitting down with high school students, leaders together talking about conservation.”
One teacher was so moved by the project that his eighth grade class planted a tree nursery of 300 sapling trees for the students to take care of, Beh said.
“The people involved in taking the photos have given the best results. They were given a voice, someone asked what they thought. A few said, ‘Nobody has asked me my opinion before,'” Bruyere said.
Nov. 1-4, Beh’s photovoice project will be on display for students and faculty in the TSC International Lounge. It will be part of a feature titled “Sustainability Abroad” as part of Natural Resources and Sustainability Week, said Jason Carlisle, ASUSU Natural Resources Senator.
Beh aims to return to Kenya in December to further assess the results of the project and how story-telling through photography has impacted Samburu conservation efforts.
–ariwrees@gmail.com