When Alchemy calls in 2020...

When Alchemy calls in 2020 I see myself in one of two places - either teaching and conducting research at a university or doing the same at my field site in southern Mozambique.

Following my geography postdoc, I spent a little time looking for permanent position and finally found one. Because of my an interdisciplinary background in ecology and anthropology, extensive experiences in both teaching and research, and willingness to go wherever I am needed, it didn't take as long as some of my peers who are straight-up anthropologists or ecologists with more narrow research/teaching objectives. At some point, I picked up an online teaching job and my classroom in cyberspace has students all over the world.

I am also based in a real world classroom at University X. I teach students about the value of indigenous environmental knowledge, ethnohistory, socio-ecological systems, panarchy and a resilience framework, and successful blending of indigenous knowledge with what we can learn about the world through western science to adapt to change, create a good quality of life for all living beings, and transform the world for the better. It is a tall order, but this work, my students, and the need inspire me to keep on, keeping on.

I also have a special class for a select group of students, both undergraduate and graduate, to prepare for a summer field school at the Mozambican field site. The class begins with an overview of the socio-ecological system that is Maputaland (history, ecology, culture) and moves through some of the research we have conducted and would like to conduct. Students are required to "master" at least one social and one ecological research method. They are also encouraged to develop a small research project with another student not at their institution or community member. Students must take a year of Portuguese, as well as either isiZulu or XiRonga/XiChangaana. Undergraduate students come from all sorts of disciplinary backgrounds and through the application process, the committee choosing them for participation tries to get students that are highly motivated, open to really new and uncertain experiences, and possess skill sets they can pass along to community members. This committee is made up of myself, other participating faculty, and the induna, the community's council of elders. As part of the project, students teach lunchtime and early evening cla**** (not safe to walk around at night with lions and elephants) in subjects as diverse as literacy, accounting, web design, photography, business planning, alternative energy, fixing solar panels and wind mills, water, English, Chinese, Portuguese, current events, etc. We've even had a class called "What Ecotourists Want" which generated a lot of interest. The role playing exercises had the entire village laughing for days.

This class meets once a week, later in the evening so we can skype with our Mozambican and South African colleagues (researchers and students) who will join us. Occasionally I get applications from students in other countries and they are more than welcome to join us, learn and apply field methods, and participate in a long-term project. Community members at the field site are also involved in the cla**** and research, after all it is their home and we are collaborating with them to find sustainable, yet flexible, solutions to the problems they experience such as climate change (bigger, more frequent droughts), endemic poverty, changing culture, food insecurity, and disease. The cell phone coverage has vastly improved over the past 10 years, so cell phone contact during meetings isn't a problem. Last year, the project got laptop donations and they came with internet cards, so now our class skypes with community members!

If I am in the field with Alchemy calls, I will be surrounded by good friends in the community, my colleagues, and students. We will be doing participatory research - collaborative research where we work on issues of importance to the community. In the past decade, much of our research has focused on developing adaptive capacity and building resilience for future environmental change and is based on the work I did for my dissertation. Many of these changes are associated with global climate change - more erratic rainfall, increasing temperatures, changed season time.

This is a map of the Maputaland region (light grey) and the two rural communities where I work (Madjadjane and Gala). Maputo is the capital of Mozambique.

We have a field camp homestead built by the community. When we are not there, the community uses the main structures - the open lecture hall, the water pump/wind mill, laundry tubs, etc. A couple of our primary collaborators have keys to the equipment storage, library, and computer lab. They open the lab and library a couple of times a week after school for the children to do research, but also for community members to do business, keep in touch, etc.. The homestead is really full when everyone shows up for field school. People are coming and going and the air hums with activity. Many of the projects my colleagues, myself, students, and community members have collaborated on in the past 5 years are just starting to come to fruition.

Of course, there are long-term side projects that I am working on to deepen the understanding of how the people of this region are part of the landscape. One such project involves collecting oral histories. People enjoy talking about when they were young even if at the time they lived under colonial rule and weren't as free. One young woman in the community has been working on transcribing these in the local language, as well as translating them into Portuguese and English. Eventually, the materials will be published as a local history of this region - an alternative to the many colonial histories - and the proceeds will go towards maintenance of the local health clinic. They need a new roof. In the meantime, the stories help ground young people - show them where they come from , give people a voice who might not necessarily have had one in the past, and demonstrate where and how people have used the Maputaland landscape historically.

Where is my family in all of this you might ask? Family is very important in the culture in which I work. My brother, his wife, and their child are still in Oklahoma working. I see them at least once a year but we talk on the phone every week. I speak with my parents once a week as well. They live a little closer and I drive to see them every other month. As for myself, following my divorce 11 years ago I stayed single. I just never found anyone willing to put up with my crazy life, but I don't feel alone or without family. I have good friends all over the world, students I mentor, and many nieces and nephews in the community. I have made my own family and community. I love my life and I get up every morning excited to begin a new day, learn something new, and make a connection with another person.

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This was a fantastic exercise BTW. I have been thinking about all of this for some time - where I want to go and what I want to do. I apologize for the length, but once I got going it was really hard to stop. If I'm going to dream I might as well dream big.