Members of the Department of Anthropology—Professor Agustín Fuentes, Lecturer and VizE Lab Director Jeffrey Himpele, and Manager Joseph Capizzi Jr—recently visited Mpala Research Centre in Laikipia County, Kenya, along with colleagues from the Provost’s Office and faculty from other academic departments.  

The primary goal of the trip was to deepen engagement with the Centre and explore research and teaching opportunities. Mpala, an independent Kenyan non-profit wildlife conservancy, encompasses 48,000 acres of private land managed by the University in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museums of Kenya, and the Kenya Wildlife Service.

Mpala's vision is to strengthen its work in science and conservation, further engage scholars in the humanities, social sciences, and engineering, and increase educational and research opportunities for Kenyans and scholars from other parts of Africa. 

The Princeton group met with the Centre's senior management and visited several projects, including the Kenya Long Term Enclosures Experiment (KLEE), the Seismic Project, and the Lion Project. The group also had the opportunity to meet with Kenyan students to learn more about the research they're conducting at Mpala.

The group also listened to first-year Princeton students’ experiences and research from FRS 129 Visualizing Nature: Techniques in Field Biology taught by CST Assistant Director, Dr. Craig Marshall.

Based on the visit, the VizE Lab is exploring the possibility of teaching a field course at Mpala, such as one on multi-species documentary filmmaking and data visualization methods organized around concerns about biodiversity and the climate crisis. Ideally, some version of the course would include Kenyan students and be taught in collaboration with an anthropology class from a campus in the capital Nairobi.

Finally, the delegation was invited to a dialogue at the United Nations campus in Nairobi. The meeting was hosted by UN Resident Coordinator Stephen Jackson, a 2003 Princeton anthropology Ph.D. graduate and a member of the Department’s Alumni Advisory Board. The session on land tenure, carbon credits, and species restoration brought Princeton visitors into dialogue with experts, policymakers, and practitioners, and provided an opportunity to forge new connections with Kenyans concerned about global biodiversity.

All wild life photos by photographer Daniel Niño.