Course Syllabus

Kenya - Natural Resources and Sustainable Environmental Management

July 11 - August 6, 2002

Students are required to read the following articles and be prepared to discuss them in the context of the natural resource and environmental management issues encountered during their field trips in Kenya. (20%)

Aspaas, Helen Ruth. "Heading Households and Heading Businesses: Rural Kenyan Women in the Informal Sector." Professional Geographer, No. 2, 50 (May 1998): 192-205.

Akama, John S. "The Evolution of Wildlife Conservation in Kenya." Journal of Third World Studies, No. 2, 15 (Fall 1998): 103-118.

Castro, Alfonso P. "Sustainable Agriculture or Sustained Error? The Case of Cotton in Kirinyaga, Kenya." World Development, No. 9, 26 (Sept. 1998): 1719-1732.

Conelly, W. Thomas and Chaiken, Miriam S. " Intensive Farming, Agro-diversity, and Food Security under Conditions of Extreme Population Pressure." Human Ecology: An Interdisciplinary Journal, No. 1, 28 (Mar. 2000): 19-33.

Conelly, W. Thomas. "Population Pressure, Labor Availability, and Agricultural Disintensification: The Decline of Commercial Agriculture." Human Ecology: An Interdisciplinary Journal. No. 2, 22 (June 1994): 145-171.

Daniels, Lisa. "The Role of Small Enterprises in the Household and National Economy in Kenya." World Development, No. 1, 27 (Jan. 1999): 55-66.

Holmquist, Frank W. and Weaver, Frederick S. "The Structural Development of Kenya's Political Economy." African Studies Review, No. 1, 37 (April 94): 69-106.

Nguyo, Wilson. "Highlights of Kenya's Agricultural Economy." Lecture for the Visiting University of Georgia Faculty at Egerton University, Njoro, Kenya, June 2002.

Salvatori, V., Egunyu, F., Skidmore, A.K., de Leeuw, J., and van Gils, H.A.M. "The Effects of Fire and Grazing Pressures on Vegetation Cover and Small Mammal Populations in the Maasai Mara National Reserve." African Journal of Ecology, No. 2, 39 (June 2001): 200-205.

Weinreb, Alexander A. "First Politics, Then Culture: Accounting for Ethnic Differences in Demographic Behavior in Kenya." Population & Development Review, No. 3, 27 (Sept. 2001): 437-469.

Other articles may be assigned to complement the reading list.
Other course requirements are as follows:

Critical reviews of field trips to tea, coffee and dairy estates and environmental sites, etc. Six to eight visits in an around Egerton University. Reviews must be typed; one to two pages in length double-spaced. (30%)

A summary and review of each guest lecture at Egerton University is required. Six to eight lectures on natural resource, environmental, economic and cultural issues will be given by Egerton faculty. Summaries must be typed, one page each (20%)

Analysis of critical issues in natural resource and environmental management in Kenya selected by the student, five to 10 pages in length. (20%)

A power point presentation on the analysis of the critical issue in Kenyan natural resource management is required. It should complement the paper on the analysis of critical issues in Kenya. (10%)