Historically, Zanzibar has been a multicultural hub, with merchants and explorers stopping to trade on their way through the western Indian Ocean. Now, as focus shifts to tourism, people from more diverse backgrounds than ever are colliding here, with interactions facilitated by the open and welcoming Swahili culture. However, the exchange of information is not as simple as the exchange of goods between traders of old. Connotative meaning and vital cultural knowledge can be lost without caution. Despite the apparent cold objectivity of a STEM-based LiA, it is becoming increasingly clear that conservation efforts must adapt to accommodate differing worldviews.
At the beginning of this week, UTW hosted a school group from the UK to teach them about what the organization does, as well as overarching issues. Having discussions with them, it was interesting to compare perspectives between the students (little-no prior knowledge), myself (limited literature-based knowledge), and more experienced and local staff (extensive and experiential knowledge). Hearing everybody's potential solutions highlighted how differences in individual lived experience informs wide-reaching decisions, and how the same effect in government hinders the ability to create policies for the benefit of all citizens. It also emphasized how government absences due to corruption and poor public services (i.e. public waste collection) can trickle down into citizens' decisions and awareness of marine science and biology, regardless of socioeconomic factors preventing access to education.
I also began more practical work on my own LiA project, developing methods for data collection without precise equipment or materials. While I have done previous independent lab work (including my Laidlaw research project last summer), it is much more unclear when there are not established values or procedures to rely on. Despite broad scans of literature, there is no way to "sanity check" results beyond physical and chemical intuition. I have succeeded in initial proof of concept for determining salinity, pH, and particle size, but struggle to confirm that my results are scientifically significant. For example, for particle size, I have found reasonable results (that the sand I sampled is "medium" grain), but cannot confirm accuracy beyond assuming that both coarser and finer sand exist elsewhere. It has caused me to rethink methods and consider establishing a new, relative scale for particle classification (e.g.) which can be used by UTW for particle comparison. In the coming weeks, I plan to do further searching for established values and qualitative analysis methods, as well as refining the practical method to make sure it is as controlled as possible. For now, I am pleased with the progress I have made with the available materials and am hopeful that they will have some application in other NGOs.
As for personal development, I have become more comfortable in the routine here, including communicating with others and leading activities. At the beginning, I was unsure of myself in representing my project to my peers and representing the organization to the outside world. However, drawing from others' example, I have a deeper understanding of the work I am doing and how it fits in to the wider picture of UTW's objectives, and how best to explain this in varying cultural contexts. While there are still great strides to be made in my project, I now feel that is more important to prioritize understanding the broader goals and difficulties with conservation science and climate policy, and determining how to convey my motivations to different audiences.
With the first third of the LiA completed, I feel satisfied with my current work but still driven to do more, making the most of my time here. Analogous to the flow of both goods and information in historic Zanzibar, two facets must be developed simultaneously: capable management of process and performance will be necessary to complete my planned outputs, but focus on people must remain at the forefront, to ensure shared progress is not lost.