I think that understanding the culture of developing countries is a key part
of avoiding colonial mistakes, and I have found the advice of
anthropologists very valuable. I suspect that this may be even more the case
for female scientists - for example, there are countries where most men are
unwilling to take instructions from a woman.
I recall an experience that my brother had many years ago running an
experimental station in Bangladesh. Shortly after he arrived there, two
fresh PhDs arrived whom I knew well, as they had received their degrees at
the university where I was teaching. They were a married couple, but while
he just barely made it through the program, she won every distinction the
department had to offer and graduated with highest honours. Even so, upon
arrival he immediately got a very good position, and she could not find
anything. I put them in contact and my brother hired her as a technician, a
job for which she was vastly overqualified. He of course was delighted to
have someone so good working for him, and she was satisfied that this was
the best job she could hope for (he didn't have any better jobs to offer).
On one hand, this could be seen as yet another example of colonial
exploitation. However, given the local culture it is hard to see any better
alternative.
Bill Silvert
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carissa Aoki" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2008 6:06 PM
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Perspectives on research in Africa (and elsewhere,
e.g., Nepal)
Hello: I am also a graduate student who is interested in starting a "from
scratch" research project abroad (in Nepal). I'm very interested in this
issue
of not "recapitulating colonialism through science," as Nathan says. My
project
idea includes doing ecology research in the context of community forestry,
and
my hope is that the research itself would in part be driven by the needs
of
community forest user groups--and of course I am also seeking Nepali
collaborators. Hopefully this would go some distance toward NOT having
weird
colonial overtones in the project.
Anyway, I'm still learning and reading more about all of this. I'd love
to
learn more from researchers who have dealt with this issue in their work.
Would
those of you who have experience in this area be willing to share some of
your
thoughts in this regard? (If you'd prefer to respond to me individually,
I'd be
happy to compile a summary of responses and post back to the list.)
Thank you!
Carissa
