History assistant professor Dr. Lewis-Nang’ea brought along a group of Geneseo students to study in Madagascar during this past winter intersession. While there, students studied the area’s social and environmental history, as well as engaged with the locals (courtesy of creative commons).
Over winter break, assistant professor of history Amanda Lewis-Nang’ea and a group of Geneseo students traveled to Madagascar for an environmental history course. The program consisted of a three-week course designed to introduce students to the social and environmental history of Madagascar.
According to Lewis-Nang’ea, the course’s aim was to understand the complex relationship between people and the environment from a historical perspective. Students observed various landscapes as they moved throughout the southern half of the country and were also educated about how people have adapted to diverse environments. Additionally, they learned about how climate change is affecting the Malagasy way of life.
“We learned that over the past 20 years the climate has decreased productivity,” said Lewis-Nang’ea. “As a result, people have lost good jobs, forcing them to find alternatives—which sometimes includes charcoal production—or moving to Antananarivo, the capital, in hopes of opportunity there.”
Students traveled by bus around the country with the help of a Malagasy guide, Dani. He enthusiastically answered the students’ questions and helped translate when speaking to locals.
“We were able to interact with the locals everywhere,” political science and history double major senior Camille Montalbano said. “As we drove down the national road through each village, the locals would smile and wave to our bus yelling out ‘Bonjour vazaha,’ their most common greeting for Americans.”
The group stopped at various locations for hikes, village tours, factories, workshops and research center visits. They also went on hikes during the night to see nocturnal lemurs, amphibians and insects. In Manakara, they learned about how overfishing and competition with Chinese fishing boats affected people’s lives.
During their travels, the group learned about the role the endangered lemur species has served in Malagasy history and what is being done to preserve their habitat. Many of the parks the group visited were protected areas for endangered lemurs. For example, Andasibe National Park is a protected area for the indri lemur. It is now taboo to kill them, but the animals remain highly endangered due to the loss of their habitat. Community-based organizations, such as Mitsinjo, also continue to work on education and development to slow and reverse deforestation.
Deforestation has affected the entire country. More intensive uses of the land for agriculture and extractive purposes have had destructive consequences. People hope to get rich quick by mining sapphires or gold. Other countries have taken over the mining and timber industries. As Madagascar’s population increases, forested areas are being converted to agricultural land to meet the need for food.
“In short, it is complicated. People need charcoal to cook and sell for money,” said Lewis-Nang’ea. “But the consequences further impoverished communities once the trees are gone. They also suffer the environmental consequences of deforestation.”
This interaction between people and their environment has continued to affect the Malagasy way of life. The impact of climate change was also evident to the students, who insist that as a society we must make better efforts to preserve wildlife.
“I realized how little I knew about Madagascar prior to the trip, and how critical it is to enact on climate change now more than ever,” psychology major senior Abby Goodrich said. “Such a beautiful place is being affected severely and needs our help.”
Overall, the experience of traveling and studying in Madagascar appeared to be fun, informative and eye-opening for the students. They described the gratitude they felt to be able to visit the country and highly recommend it to others.
“I think it’s important for young people to experience different cultures and ways of life, even if it’s uncomfortable,” Montalbano said. “I think I can speak for everyone in the group when I say that our experiences in Madagascar will stick with us forever.”