Professor of history to present new book about the Serengeti at the May 15 Afternoon Sabbatical Series

GOSHEN, Ind. – The Serengeti in East Africa has long been seen primarily as a place for wild animals, and the people who live on its borders have been mostly forgotten. These contrasting ways of thinking about this landscape have had profound effects on how the land was used and preserved.

Goshen College Professor of History Jan Bender Shetler will discuss this idea of historical memory embedded in the landscape itself and her new book, “Imagining Serengeti: A History of Landscape Memory in Tanzania from Earliest Times to the Present” in an Afternoon Sabbatical program on Tuesday, May 15, at 1 p.m. in the Goshen College Music Center in Sauder Concert Hall.

Shetler’s book is an environmental history about the people who have long occupied the Serengeti, five to six micro-ethnic groups who have inhabited the area surrounding the western borders of the park since 200 A.D., and how they have interacted with the environment. As natives, rather than visitors, these groups of people see the landscape and the park differently than others. “Their histories reflect an environment that they’ve created. They created a landscape that we think of as wild, but to them, it’s a human landscape,” said Shelter.

The second part of her book is about historical changes to landscape memory since the late 19^th century, including one chapter on Serengeti National Park and how it has affected the local people. Although the land has been protected since the 1920s, it was created in 1951. Officials at the park have an antagonistic view of these ethnic groups, viewing them as poachers. Likewise, the people feel the park has disfranchised them.

The research for the book came from Shetler’s doctoral dissertation; she researched and conducted oral interviews among these various ethnic groups for a year and a half. In 2003, with a grant from the National Endowment of Humanities, Shetler spent a semester in Tanzania to conduct further oral interviews and traveled to the capital Dar es Salaam and England to search various archives of the region.

Shetler hopes “Imagining Serengeti” will challenge people to think differently about environments, which would lead to fair conservation efforts. “I hope it says something to environmentalists and conservationists to rethink parks to include those who live there,” said Shetler.

Goshen College’s Afternoon Sabbatical program is in its 30th year of offering rich diversity in programs for the community. A committee of area representatives and college personnel look to the wealth of knowledge and talent at Goshen College and among Elkhart County citizens and selects programs that will appeal to a wide variety of interests. Programs have an integral connection to the college, either through subject matter or in ways in which the campus and community are interrelated.

For more information on the Afternoon Sabbatical series or to be added to the mailing list to receive the 2007-08 series brochure (if you don’t currently), call the Goshen College Relations Office at (574) 535-7565 or e-mail edutravel@goshen.edu.

The last Afternoon Sabbatical program for 2006-07 will be a May 16 bus trip to Chicago to see “The Color Purple,” which is already full with 112 participants.

– by Megan Blank

Editors: For more information about this release, to arrange an interview or request a photo, contact Goshen College News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S.News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit www.goshen.edu.