Raising up African paleoanthropologists: An innovative Master's program at Turkana University College, Kenya
Raising up African paleoanthropologists: An innovative Master's program at Turkana University College, Kenya
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培养非洲古人类学家：肯尼亚图尔卡纳大学学院的创新硕士课程
DOI：
10.1002/evan.21933
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发表时间：
2022
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Nengo, Isaiah
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Rowan, John;Akwee, Peter Edome;Feibel, Craig;Harmand, Sonia;Henkes, Gregory;Hildebrand, Elisabeth;Lewis, Jason;Princehouse, Patricia;Taylor, Nicholas;Nengo, Isaiah
肯尼亚以其非凡的化石和考古收藏而闻名于世，这些收藏对我们了解人类起源和进化做出了不成比例的贡献。虽然肯尼亚的大学和博物馆拥有一小批训练有素的科学家，但相对而言，很少有肯尼亚公民受益于与该国世界知名的科学遗产相称的先进科学培训。这种不平等部分源于许多东非机构缺乏古人类学（广义的，包括与理解人类起源有关的地质，化石和考古记录）的相关研究生课程。数十年来，由西方科学家领导的研究项目更倾向于采用剥削性的“数据挖掘”方法进行实地和实验室研究，而不是那些旨在与肯尼亚当地研究人员接触和培训的研究项目，这是另一个促成因素。排斥性研究做法的后果进一步放大的事实，大多数主要会议和几乎所有的研究生课程在古人类学目前主办的北美或欧洲，在那里的国际旅行，签证采购，文化障碍，肯尼亚机构对古人类学研究和培训的投资很少，这一点可以从该国少数获得古人类学博士学位的公民中得到证明。从长远来看，这将对整个古人类学有害，因为根据2010年《肯尼亚宪法》的规定，博物馆下放到县级后，肯尼亚的博物馆网络预计将大大扩大。因此，迫切需要培训当地科学家和遗产管理人员，他们将负责保护和管理数千个不可替代的化石和文物，这些化石和文物虽然为肯尼亚合法所有，但却是人类历史和史前史的国际重要组成部分。培养一批具有科学和文化知识的遗产管理员将有助于防止效率低下或短视的策展做法，并倡导政府和民众支持该国的博物馆网络。这将是保护肯尼亚化石和考古记录的关键，并确保这些宝藏为子孙后代保存下来。考虑到这些因素，在2018年初，科学硕士（M。Sc.）人类进化生物学（MHEB）
Kenya is world-renowned for its extraordinary fossil and archeological collections that have disproportionately contributed to our understanding of human origins and evolution. Although Kenya boasts a small cadre of trained scientists at its universities and museums, relatively few Kenyan citizens have benefitted from advanced scientific training commensurate with the country's world-renowned scientific heritage. This inequity stems, in part, from a lack of relevant graduate programs in paleoanthropology (broadly defined, including the geological, fossil, and archeological records relevant to understanding human origins) at many eastern African institutions. Decades of research projects led by Western scientists favoring exploitative ‘data-mining’approaches to field and laboratory studies1 over those that aimed to engage with and train local Kenyan researchers is another contributing factor. The consequences of exclusionary research practices are further amplified by the fact that most major conferences and almost all graduate programs in paleoanthropology are presently hosted in North America or Europe, where the expense of international travel, visa procurement, cultural barriers, and other issues present additional impediments to Kenyan participation.The legacy of minimal investment in paleoanthropological research and training at Kenyan institutions is evinced by the small number of the country's citizens that have obtained doctoral degrees in paleoanthropology. This will be harmful to paleoanthropology as a whole in the long run, as Kenya's museum network is expected to greatly expand following the devolution of museums to the countylevel as mandated by the 2010 Kenyan Constitution. Thus, there is a pressing need to train local scientists and heritage managers who will be tasked with the conservation and curation of thousands of irreplaceable fossils and artifacts that, while legally owned by Kenya, are internationally significant pieces of human history and prehistory. Generating a pool of heritage stewards who are scientifically and culturally knowledgeable will help to prevent inefficient or short-sighted curatorial practices and to advocate for governmental and popular support of the country's museum network. This will be key for safeguarding Kenya's fossil and archeological records and ensuring that these treasures are preserved for all future generations. With these factors in mind, in early 2018 a Master's of Science (M. Sc.) program in Human Evolutionary Biology (MHEB) was
影响因子：
16.8
作者：
Z. Alemseged;J. Njau;Briana L. Pobiner;E. Ndiema
通讯作者：
E. Ndiema