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Fulbrighting in the Mano River Region
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The Kankan Research Team: Dr. Wenda Bauchspies, Facely Fourouma, Abou Traoré, Cecile Leno, Abass Keita, Alapha Oumar Dalaba Diallo. |
It all started with a simple inquiry to the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) office about a possible need for a sociologist or anthropologist in francophone West Africa. My initial question eventually led me to the University of Kankan in Guinea, West Africa in 2003-04 to teach sociology and to continue research on women’s participation in science in West Africa. I took leave of the Science, Technology, and Society Program at University Park to live in Kankan, Guinea for eight months. In the savannah I quickly adapted to the heat of my new home (perhaps too well because I returned in the Spring of 2005 on a renewal of my Fulbright Scholar grant). In fourteen months non-continuous residency in Guinea, my research reshaped itself from investigating the educational system (as it related to science and gender) to understanding how people address daily needs for water, electricity, communication, transport, and household supplies.
During my first academic year in Kankan, I taught social change and qualitative research to third- and fourth-year sociology students. My colleagues soon learned to expect to see apprentice researchers with notebooks in hand stationed around the campus “observing and recording.” Meanwhile I was observing the entrance of the internet into the campus community and watching its progression and effect on the lives of my colleagues. It was not always a smooth transition, but it was a highly welcomed one. The day that I helped several colleagues register at yahoo.com.fr for email accounts, I saw the world become a smaller place because they could now communicate directly without waiting for intermediaries, appropriate time zones, or spare money for a long distance call. My colleagues adapted to the new technology rather quickly within a framework defined by a limited number of computers, four hours of electricity during the day and five to seven hours in the evening, and an absence (or minimal amount) of computer training.
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University of Liberia, Monrovia Seminar on the Mano River Union Higher Education Cooperative Project. |
From my work at the university and conversations with public intellectuals it was obvious that Guinean professors wanted and needed more contact with other scholars. Frequently, most thought of going to Europe or the Americas for further contact, but unfortunately that kind of travel is available only to a small percentage. With the encouragement of the U.S. Embassy’s public affairs officer, Louise Bedicheck, I designed a project to explore the possibility of cooperation between two universities in the Mano River Union region (Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea). The two Guinean universities were very interested and spoke well of their former cooperation in the area of French/English student and teacher exchange. Through a State Department grant that was specifically designed for sharing Fulbright expertise with countries in the region who were not hosting a Fulbright scholar, I was able to travel to Liberia in the spring of 2005. My arrival in Liberia was an historical moment for the universities and the U.S. Embassy there because I was the first U.S. Fulbright to visit Liberia in more than a decade.
My visit was possible with the hospitality and support of the Embassy public affairs officers in Guinea and Liberia, as well as permission from the security officer, who allowed me entrance into Liberia for two weeks. I facilitated four in-service workshops for faculty from the University of Liberia and the African Methodist Episcopal University. Workshop topics included two three-day seminars on qualitative research, a two-day seminar on developing women’s studies curriculum, and a one-day seminar on the Mano River Union Higher Education Cooperative Project. In addition, I met with leading women in the community to discuss educational needs, realities, and goals for Liberian tertiary education. Several national radio programs interviewed me about my visit, the Fulbright program, and the need to educate women in a democratic society.
During the crisis of the last twenty years, there has been a major exodus of faculty members from Liberia. The Liberian universities are trying to rebuild after much destruction of facilities, resources, and community infrastructure. The faculty and student participants were receptive and appreciative of the chance to develop research projects that they hope will ultimately help them to understand the crisis and provide them with knowledge to help them to rebuild their community.
Every day, Liberian educators and students face issues caused by the destruction of infrastructures and resources. University bathrooms have barrels next to the toilet holding water that is either hand carried in or filled during the few hours when the city water might work. When the University’s large generator was supplying electricity to another region of campus, a small generator was plugged into our classroom to light the room, to provide air conditioning and to run the computer for my presentation. Everyone was quick to indicate that the loss of basic services was due to the Liberian crisis over the preceding twenty years. In Guinea, running water and electricity are rare commodities available on a limited basis in the capital, and both are non-existent or very limited outside of the capital. The two countries share different histories as to the cause of their current situations, but the challenges they face center on national and local infrastructure design, use and distribution of national resources, corruption, environmental management, growing populations, lack of educational resources, and health concerns from malaria to AIDS.
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Mangos, stories, and everyday life: doing research in Hauté Guineé |
It is my hope that my interactions in Liberia and Guinea will set the stage for linkage and collaboration in the area of higher education (particularly with regard to the challenges mentioned above) for the Mano River Union region of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. It is my goal to continue to find ways to aid this nascent project that would support university collaboration among neighbors and institutions.
This story was first published in the spring 2006 issue of Penn State’s International Mosaic, pp. 6-7.)
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