An Autoethnography Exploring Local Versus Universal Definitions of Academic Excellence in Environmental Science

• In Event: Meanings and Conceptions of Environmental Education

Abstract

Kenyan scholars argue that the Western world and Kenya conceive of educational quality differently. Engaging in a Kenyan graduate environmental science course, I explored this discord through conducting an autoethnography. My purpose was to interrogate my own suppositions as well as contribute to greater social understanding. From reflective journals five major themes emerged: 1) sit and listen, stand and listen; 2) frustrating and unclear; 3) the Kenyan way of doing things; 4) I wonder how this pans out in Kenya?; 5) we actually got to explore. Further questions for exploration were raised, centering on one overarching question: Why should we, in the West, assume that pedagogical practices in Kenya are “behind” because they use more didactic instruction than we do?

Author

• Nicole Beeman-Cadwallader, Indiana University