I am writing to express to Mr. Schull and Ms. Yang my sincere appreciation for the Schull-Yang International Experience Award which made possible my doctoral fieldwork in anthropology in Tanzania from 2019-2020. Without the funds, I would not have been able to carry out my ethnographic research, which will form the empirical basis of my Ph.D. dissertation. I am truly grateful for the opportunity that this award provided.
My Ph.D. project focuses on the relationships between communities and conservation areas in the Maasai Steppe, a vast grassland ecosystem in northern Tanzania that supports some of the greatest variety of wildlife in the world. The question that my research addresses is: what are the most appropriate institutional arrangements for managing a complex and interconnected social-ecological system in a manner that is equitable for people and wildlife? This question is particularly pressing in the face of convergent sociopolitical, economic, and climatic stressors.
My field activities involved 12 months of multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork in twelve administrative villages surrounding Manyara Ranch and Randilen WMA, two community-based conservation areas in the Maasai Steppe that protect vital wildlife habitat for numerous species. Each is distinct in its legislative and institutional frameworks for governance, thus providing an opportunity for analytical comparison of the efficacy of each’s respective approach to managing rangelands. My research involved a mixed methods assessment of community attitudes towards these conservation areas, local livelihood practices, conservation institutions, and people’s perceptions of human-wildlife conflict. This included 240 in-depth qualitative interviews with villagers (120 males and 120 females), 75 key stakeholder interviews with government officials, conservation practitioners, and researchers, a large-scale quantitative household survey (n=1059), and participant observation of everyday interactions between people and wildlife. Together, these methods have contributed to a well-rounded understanding of community-conservation relations in the Maasai Steppe.
My international experience has been full of highlights including close encounters with herds of elephants and spotted hyenas, sleeping in Maasai bomas in remote rangelands under the stars, listening to lions roaring in the night, and engaging daily with people who live in tune with their environmental context. This was wonderfully refreshing and helped to reshape my worldview in a meaningful way.
My academic background in psychology at the undergraduate level provided me with a foundation in quantitative statistics for the survey component of my research, and informed how I framed some of my research questions related to community attitudes. My ethnographic approach and qualitative interviews drew from my Master’s degree in anthropology, and my doctoral training as an anthropologist.
I am quite hopeful that this international experience will serve as a springboard for my career, as I ultimately aim to secure a tenure-track position as an assistant professor in environmental anthropology at a Canadian university, with specialization in the human dimensions of conservation in East Africa. I am confident that I will be able to write an excellent dissertation based on this research, and look ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ to entering the job market with my unique contributions to the field in hand.
The funds received through this award were instrumental in covering my international flights from Montreal to Tanzania, the costs of my local transportation to remote field sites, and the costs of my food and accommodation throughout my fieldwork.
Once again, I would like to express a heartfelt thank you for giving me the opportunity to carry out my field research. It was an experience that will surely have a great impact on the trajectory of my future academic career.
