Kim Medley,
Geography Professor
CLIMBING TOGETHER AT MT KASIGAU, KENYA
The College of Arts and Science at Miami University tells faculty to integrate their research, teaching, and service in interesting ways. Good research should support a good teaching program, and all academic work should contribute to positive change. I would like to share some opportunities for collaboration that I am having with students and Kenyans as we explore relationships between humans and resources at Mt. Kasigau.
Mt. Kasigau is one of the oldest and most isolated mountains in Kenya, rising over 3000 ft (1000 m) from very arid bushland to a cloud-mist forest in one very steep climb. My first trip up was with my students during the two-week study abroad program “Biodiversity of Kenya. Dr. Susan Barnum (Department of Botany) began the program in 1996 while serving as Director of the Honors Program, and since that time students have seen an incredible diversity of wildlife and investigated many interesting conservation and livelihood issues across the country. I began leading trips in 1997, ran it every year from1999 to 2003, and returned again in 2005. This trip takes students to where I began doctoral research and lets them learn with the Kenyans who have been important teachers in my career. In 1999, the students began staying for five days at the Taita Discovery Centre in dense bushland between Tsavo West and East National Parks, and they began service activities with the Kasigau Taita who live at the base of the mountain. Over the years, we built and painted schoolrooms, laid the floor to a village shop, planted trees, and worked on road repairs. The villagers know Miami University and warmly welcome us to their communities.
So, I was teaching when I discovered my next research site. How could so much vegetation change be packed into one isolated mountain? I first received funding from the National Geographic Society (2002-2003) for a project that measured geographic patterns of forest diversity (forest ecology) and looked at how the Kasigau Taita use woody plants (ethnobotany). The mountain provides a sampling framework for comparison along village transects from firewood collection areas in the bushland, across farms and around homes, and on up the mountain. My research on the mountain continues with support from Conservation International (2005-2007) who recognize its value as part of the Eastern Arc and Coastal Forest Biodiversity Hot Spot. I am learning about the mountain from the Kasigau Taita—they are my teachers. In May 2005, two of my Kasigau field assistants joined the student group at the Taita Discovery Centre where they learned about field ecology (and U.S. life).
Also, Christine Mutiti, a Kenyan Ph.D. student in botany, began preliminary research for her doctoral dissertation on the Commiphora-Acacia bushland, and Dr. Jonathan Levy (Geology) surveyed the quality of Mt. Kasigau's water with his Zambian graduate student, Sam Mutiti. Together, we critiqued a draft guide to some Kasigau woody plants and their uses that I prepared collaboratively with villagers in Makwasinyi and Jora, a former Kenyan MA student, and a hired botanist from the East African Herbarium. At Mt. Kasigau, we really can define no clear boundaries between who are the teachers and who are the students, but our objectives are the same—positive change for resource conservation and sustainable livelihoods.
So, I was teaching when I discovered my next research site. How could so much vegetation change be packed into one isolated mountain? I first received funding from the National Geographic Society (2002-2003) for a project that measured geographic patterns of forest diversity (forest ecology) and looked at how the Kasigau Taita use woody plants (ethnobotany). The mountain provides a sampling framework for comparison along village transects from firewood collection areas in the bushland, across farms and around homes, and on up the mountain. My research on the mountain continues with support from Conservation International (2005-2007) who recognize its value as part of the Eastern Arc and Coastal Forest Biodiversity Hot Spot. I am learning about the mountain from the Kasigau Taita—they are my teachers. In May 2005, two of my Kasigau field assistants joined the student group at the Taita Discovery Centre where they learned about field ecology (and U.S. life).
Also, Christine Mutiti, a Kenyan Ph.D. student in botany, began preliminary research for her doctoral dissertation on the Commiphora-Acacia bushland, and Dr. Jonathan Levy (Geology) surveyed the quality of Mt. Kasigau's water with his Zambian graduate student, Sam Mutiti. Together, we critiqued a draft guide to some Kasigau woody plants and their uses that I prepared collaboratively with villagers in Makwasinyi and Jora, a former Kenyan MA student, and a hired botanist from the East African Herbarium. At Mt. Kasigau, we really can define no clear boundaries between who are the teachers and who are the students, but our objectives are the same—positive change for resource conservation and sustainable livelihoods.
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