St. Lawrence University's semester-long study program
in Kenya has for thirty-four years offered a remarkable, multifaceted, intensively
cross-cultural opportunity that intertwines classroom instruction and field
learning. The program's home base is in Nairobi, the capital, but students
spend many weeks on various field components, including homestays in a rural, agricultural
community and two long field trips during which students explore the interconnectedness
of issues such as culture, environment, rangeland ecology, wildlife conservation and
development. Students also have a three-week homestay with a family in urban Nairobi .
Through direct interaction with several of the many ethnic groups who make up Kenya and
with Kenyans from many different walks of life, students learn to appreciate the diversity
and the creativity of Kenyans as well as the complexity of the challenges they face.
The program serves majors from a number of different disciplines. Some of the issues considered are: conflicts between sustainable development and democratization; cultural development, westernization and the maintenance of indigenous traditions; economic growth and equity; the balance between conservation, biodiversity, and ecological change.
The academic program includes two required courses and two electives. Study of Kiswahili, the national language of Kenya, is required of all students. While English is the language of instruction and government, Kenya also has over forty different languages which are the mother tongues of distinct ethnic groups; Kiswahili was developed by early traders as a hybrid language which facilitated communication among the different groups. It is spoken by about 45 million people in eastern and central Africa. Although prior study of the language is not required, learning Kiswahili is one of the most important ways of gaining access to the people and their cultures.
The second required course is titled Culture, Environment and Development
in East Africa. This course integrates the field components --
including the final, four-week-long independent field study
or field-based advanced topic -- and the home
stay experiences,
providing a context in which students reflect on their varied experiences
through analytical perspectives drawn from several disciplines.
Lying on the Equator, Kenya is a unique and varied land. The tropical Indian Ocean belt gives way to vast, semi-arid savannas that dominate 70 percent of the country and support several pastoralist populations. Central and western Kenya are characterized by well-watered fertile agricultural zones which are densely populated. Cutting a swath through the center of the country is the Great Rift Valley, flanked by magnificent escarpments, volcanic massifs and the snowcapped peaks of Mount Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest summits.
To the west the country is bounded by Lake Victoria, source of the Nile River. The cosmopolitan capital city of Nairobi, rising from the plateau of south-central Kenya, is the home base of our program. Students will also gain familiarity with many of the rural areas, in which approximately 85 percent of the country's population resides.