Conference: Research Workshop on African Environments, 1999

The University of Kansas Geography Department hosted an international, interdisciplinary research workshop on "African Environments: Technology, Modeling, and Political Ecology," September 8-11, 1999.

The workshop received funding from the National Science Foundation Geography and Regional Science Program, as well as various University of Kansas sources. Twenty-four scientists, scholars, graduate students, and professional planners from seven countries participated in the workshop. In addition to the co-PIs on the project, Garth Myers and Johannes Feddema, three other Kansas faculty members and three Kansas graduate students contributed to the workshop. Other participants represented the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, the University of Zambia, Universite Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis in Senegal, the University of Lund, London School of Economics, Cambridge University, Texas A&M University, Central Connecticut State University, Clark University, and the Government of Zanzibar. Dr. William M. Adams of the University of Cambridge delivered the keynote address, entitled "Rich Political Ecology: The Definition, Dynamics, and Control of Nature in Sub-Saharan Africa."

The workshop involved two and one-half days of presentations and analyses of research at the cutting edge of several vital new directions. Participants developed the discussions around one crucial question: "how can geography's recent advances in technological sophistication, environmental modeling, and regional political ecology theory be integrated in future research on African environmental change?" The workshop fostered interdisciplinary discussions between biologists, geologists, GIS scientists, physical geographers, and human-cultural geographers, resulting in a diversity of presentations and a lively set of debates on African environmental research. Scientists and scholars from African institutions came together with those based in Europe and North America, in an effort to overcome the barriers and inequalities of access to ideas or technology between continents. A number of different types of proposals for future research will result from the workshop and the email/internet discussions that continue among its participants, who formed a Working Group on Research on African Environments. For further information, contact:

Garth Andrew Myers
Assistant Professor of Geography and African/African-American Studies
Chair, Cultural Geography Specialty Group of the AAG
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045 USA
Phone: 785-864-4291
Fax: 785-864-5378
email: gmyers@ukans.edu

Conference Images

Stewart Collis, Texas A&M University, demonstrating the Almanac Characterization Tool softward developed there.	From top left: Chris Raxworthy, KU, Ulf Hellden, U. of Lund; Peter Kyem, Central Connecticut St.; Serigne M. Fall, U. Gaston Berger de Saint Louis, Senegal; Stewart Collis; Amadou Coulibaly, Southern Illinois; Bill Adams, Cambridge U.; Dave Bennett, KU; Imasiku Nyambe, U. of Zambia; Camillus Sawio, U. of Dar es Salaam.
Kevin Price, KU, John Corbett, Texas A. & M.	Steward Collis, Texas A. & M, Imasiku Nyambe, U. of Zambia, Camillus Sawio, U. of Dar es Salaam.