Raising up African paleoanthropologists: An innovative Master's program at Turkana University College, Kenya

Abstract

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 studies 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