The Environmental History of Africa
Group Project: Suggested Guidelines
A final evaluative exercise for this course could consist of a group oral report that involves joint research and preparation on a report on a particular topic. First, the class will be divided into working groups of 4-5 students, each such group to prepare an oral presentation addressing one of the two projects below.
Suggested Group Project #1
Group Project #1 for The Environmental History of Africa consists of a project design for an imaginary museum exhibit that demonstrates and explains the historical dynamics of a specific ecosystem change in Africa to a public audience. The model is the New England Aquarium's Lake Victoria exhibit that was open to the public in Boston from April 2000-April 2001. Each group's task will be to describe an African ecosystem and the nature of historical changes in it from the nineteenth century to the present. The project may include any or all of the following:
1) Floor plan layouts for sections of the exhibit (e.g. a walk-through mock-up of the ecosystem itself or sections on the "agents of change")
2) Descriptions of interactive stations that illustrate human choices in resource management
3) A project conceptual document that explains the rationale for the public exhibit and/or describe the dominant or emerging narratives that describe the dangers of or solutions for the problem.
4) A project website that describes the exhibit visually and conceptually and links an internet surfer to other websites that offer further information (good or bad)
5) Use of software such as Photoshop or clipart to illustrate exhibit layout
6) A bibliography or list of relevant internet sites related to the problem, its dynamics, or its potential environmental impact
Class presentation of the project should include participation by all members of each group fulfilling a determined role, e.g. bibliographer, layout design, researcher, internet search, etc. The final product will be a "virtual" museum exhibit that will include:
a) a layout design for use of up to three floors of a "virtual" museum.
b) content text and/or drawings of components of the exhibit to illustrate a specific African ecosystem (e.g. urban growth in a rainforest ecology) within a specific period of time (e.g. the 20th century).
c) An oral explanation of the ideas built into the exhibit itself for presentation to the class during the final class session.
d) A three to four-page paper that explains the individual student's role in the project, research done, etc.
Remember that each of the projects must describe and analysis the historical nature of the ecological issue, its movement through time, and address the public's need to know and understand the nature of the ecosystem and the terms of its change.
Suggested Group Project #2
Each group will address the question, form an argument, and present evidence to support their position by dividing portions of the preparation among themselves. Sources for the oral report can include the media, scholarly books and articles, or fugitive documents (unpublished reports, pamphlets, etc.)
Question
Is there dissonance between popular narratives (including media accounts)and historical evidence about the state of environmental resources in Africa in general and certain African countries in particular? What are the narratives specifically and what is the extant evidence to support or refute them? Key issues for analysis may include some or all of the following: overpopulation, deforestation, soil erosion, famine, loss of biodiversity, desertification. What is the historical background and current status of these issues?
To answer this question you may choose to analyze the history of one country or compare two countries. Choose from among Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Lesotho, Ghana, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and Somalia.
Group oral presentations (restricted to 30 minutes) will take place on April 22 and 24. Each student will prepare a one-page statement about their research for the group presentation.
Suggested Group Project #3
This project is one particularly appropriate for African universities and encourages cooperation to develop new course curricular materials. The project is to identify a particular issue of environmental management or history (forest management, marine pollution, urban waste, dam construction, water management, etc.) that directly affects the country in which the course is being taught.
Students in the course will be asked to:
1) Identify a particular environmental/ecological problem
2) Specify the historical dimensions of it
3) Collect published and unpublished material on the problem, its policy context, and potential solutions
4) Organize local materials (newspaper articles, NGO pamphlets, policy papers, photographs, interviews, etc.) into a unit for presentation to other countries involved in the course.
5) Requests for support materials from other students/institutions to complete the unit.
