Professors describe daily life in Congo and Ethiopia
In Ethiopia, people’s relationships with their animals or livestock are very important, said USU professor Layne Coppock, who has worked with the International Livestock Center for Africa (ILCA).
“‘A goat is life’ is frequently heard in the Lubero area (of the Democratic Republic of Congo),” said assistant professor of human geography Ann Laudati.
Both professors, who work in the College of Natural Resources, spoke in the Merrill-Cazier Library on Wednesday for the second installment of USU’s International Research Lecture Series.
Laudati and Coppock, both from USU’s department of environment and society, talked about their research efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Ethiopia, respectively.
DeeVon Bailey, who promotes international research and technical assistance activities and opportunities on campus, said he looks for speakers who have already done international research.
“I’m really excited about the lecture. We’re fortunate to have two outstanding faculty members that are doing work in Africa,” Bailey said. “Both are doing exciting things and are making great contributions.”
Bailey said one goal of the International Research Lecture Series is to have speakers who will help identify funding opportunities for university research. Another aim is to highlight the beneficial outcomes of USU’s international research programs.
“We’ve left a legacy of a completely different community than when we started,” Coppock said. “Frankly, that hardly ever happens on a research project.”
He said he met some “brilliant” people in the Borana Plateau area of southern Ethiopia. The majority of them were women who developed micro-finance groups that helped to develop economic stability within their communities.
Where Coppock’s lecture underscored many positive outcomes of international research, Laudati said her research is still exploratory and after a few years she should be able to share stories of successful innovations as well.
“Four million dead, seven million malnourished, three million internally displaced – Congo for most people is the greatest example of state failure,” Laudati said. “It’s even been called Hell on earth.”
The picture the United Nations paints is one of extreme violence in the DRC which is linked to natural resources like diamonds and gold, Laudati said. Other less “sexy” commodities such as goats, charcoal and hemp are also means of subsistence in the DRC.
The DRC’s under-resourced military, she said, is largely involved in the procurement of access to resources, specifically mining.
“The control over precious minerals and resources has been seen as the engine of chaos,” Laudati said, “the essential reason for the conflict in the Congo.”
Besides violence, Laudati said an intricate web of at least 17 different rebel groups control black markets and illegal taxation, which are also pervasive in the DRC. She said this economy is referred to as “subsistence criminality.”
These rebel groups set up roadblocks near border crossings all over the country and require a tax payment in exchange for passage. Laudati said she has even had to pay such taxes at certain roadblocks.
“If you go into Congo, everywhere you will know what threat level you are travelling around in,” Laudati said, referring to a picture of a painted threat level sign.
Just as rebel groups feed off of the common residents of the DRC, Coppock said village life is somewhat “parasitic,” as he showed the audience a picture of an Ethiopian girl sharing cow’s milk with a calf.
Coppock’s lecture focused on pastoral women in Ethiopia who have transformed impoverished communities into thriving small-business economies through micro-credit lending strategies.
Coppock said his research in Africa began in 1985 and has led to many lessons learned in applying cutting-edge transformational techniques in 21st-century Ethiopia.
“I had kind of an epiphany. I decided I really didn’t want to do the kind of work I was doing in the decades before, particularly, it was sort of top-down,” Coppock said. “I wanted to have more engagement with the people to figure out how to solve problems.”
Between 2001 and 2003 Coppock said his team started working with innovative pastoralists from northern Kenya who were willing to share their own solutions to poverty with the communities in Ethiopia.
“This is a story that it’s been the greatest professional experience of my life,” Coppock said. “I will never top this, and I’m just thrilled to be able to share it.”
Bailey said in future installments of the International lecture series, the areas of research will be a rotation of Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.
The next event in the series will be March 28 during Research Week, which is a university-wide focus on research. Bailey said several USU faculty members are currently doing work in different parts of Africa.
“In connection to that, we’re hoping that the inaugural university international professor of the year will be giving that lecture,” Bailey said.
– dan.whitney.smith@aggiemail.usu.edu