Community engagement course brings students to Zanzibar
By Stephanie M. McPherson
Nine representatives from Boston College traveled to Zanzibar, 与桑给巴尔州立大学(SUZA)合作，协助进行社会和环境太阳城官网。, the NGOs Milele and Mwambao, 以及坦桑尼亚蓝色经济部，这是席勒太阳城官网所“为社区工作和与社区合作”项目的一部分.
七名本科生和两名导师采用民族志方法进行了访谈，以更好地了解性别是如何产生影响的, religion, and tourism interact with and affect climate change adaptation, in order to better support policy and action frameworks in Zanzibar.
“桑给巴尔岛确实是气候变化对环境和人类影响的太阳城官网, 考虑到当地的经济，如渔业和海藻养殖，即使是轻微的水温变化也很容易受到影响. On top of that, the tourism industry has boomed unsustainably in recent decades, 造成紧张的文化冲突，经常剥夺当地人的土地和进入海滩的权利,” says Caitlyn Bolton, Assistant Professor in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, and the faculty lead on the course.
Working For and With Communities is offered by Schiller every spring semester, with travel to locales around the world for three weeks during the summer break. 2023年夏季，8名学生与耶稣会难民服务中心一起在柬埔寨工作. 今年在桑给巴尔的项目是由博尔顿与席勒太阳城官网所合作举办的. 博尔顿在该地区的工作可以追溯到她的博士太阳城官网，她与该地区的专业人士保持着密切的友谊. This reflects the ethos of the class, 是什么教会了学生们，与当地人一起工作比试图强加自己的外部想法更有成效.
“How you relate on an individual level I think is as important as the project itself, because it sets the tone for how you interact and conduct the project,” says Kaley McCarty, Assistant Director of Programs at the Schiller Insitute and a co-lead on the class.
学生们在春季学期通过一系列讲座为这次旅行做准备，这些讲座教他们如何进行民族志伦理太阳城官网, 它强调理解他们即将进入的文化，并在那里建立真正的联系. 演讲嘉宾讨论了桑给巴尔的历史及其与非洲大陆国家的关系, 旅游业的迅猛发展如何破坏了当地的生态系统，危及依赖环境的生计.
The group spent their first week in Zanzibar Town, meeting with representatives from NGOs, SUZA, and Dr. Zakaria Khamis, 蓝色经济部(BEM)下属的桑给巴尔渔业和海洋资源太阳城官网所(ZAFIRI)所长。蓝色经济部是一个致力于提高环保意识的经济增长的政府实体. 学生们听到了他们如何帮助BEM收集所需的数据，以制定影响沿海社区问题的解决方案. They then set off for two weeks of interviews and research conducted in the village of Paje.
Zanzibar is a Muslim-majority region. 当地人和游客之间的一个争论点是，当来自其他国家的人离开度假胜地访问城镇时，他们的穿着不够得体. 博尔顿和麦卡蒂确保他们的学生穿着得体，在村子里走来走去时戴着头巾，以此来表达对这种文化的尊重.
“我很高兴看到他们欣赏桑给巴尔的文化，每当他们去村庄和会见社区成员时都戴着围巾. I didn't count on this,” says Mary Khatib, 他是桑给巴尔州立大学地理系的讲师，也是席勒在当地的合作伙伴之一.
The students were given full control over their interview days. They visited the resorts and talked with managers and employees, to understand their needs and motivations. 他们在村子里走来走去，见证了日常生活，采访了那些见证了世界变化的居民. For example, 一群学生走近一位正在休息的老妇人，询问她在村里成长和变老的经历.
“我真的很感激她在我们完全陌生的时候花时间和我们分享她的故事,” says Julia Wowkun, a junior Environmental Studies major with a minor in Finance. “我真的很紧张，因为我觉得我要给她带来负担, asking to hear about her life. 但是能够和她建立这种联系，通过倾听和倾听她的经历来建立联系，真的很有意义.”
Students followed wherever interviews took them, giving them a broad, strong understanding of the situation on the ground.
“The topic of tourism in Zanzibar, 通过观察社区成员(老人和年轻人)的意见，学生们有了一个独特的视角。, 旅游部门的外国人，如马赛人，甚至外国人和政府官员的意见. This was able to provide a real picture of Zanzibari tourism from different perspectives,” says Khatib.
By the end of the trip, 他们掌握了足够的信息，起草了两份政策简报，提出了有助于弥合当地人与旅游经济之间差距的倡议建议. They presented their initial ideas to Dr. Zakaria before returning to the United States. The students met again in early September to finalize their policy brief, and will formally present it to the Blue Economy Ministry later this fall.
他们的想法包括教当地人如何利用旅游业带来的新经济机会. 他们还建议制作一份文件，帮助游客了解如何在村庄里受到尊重，以及对附近海藻床的破坏会影响当地妇女的生计.
他们还发现，缺乏沟通是该地区许多冲突的根本原因.
“We found that, 假设一个在村里工作的人认为酒店可能从政府那里得到了不公平的好处, 但酒店觉得政府给他们造成了不公平的负担，他们想尽力帮助社区，但不知道该怎么做,” says Wowkun. “They're all kind of saying the same thing, but they don't realize it.”
因此，他们建议在村庄建立一个地方蓝色经济部理事会，以帮助利益相关者之间的沟通, to see if they can come to mutually agreeable solutions to their issues.
The Schiller Institute will offer Working For and With Communities again in the spring. Some students will travel to Chile to embark on a new collaborative community-inspired project, while others will continue the Zanzibar project. 桑给巴尔州立大学的学生代表将在今年夏天来太阳城网赌平台进一步开展工作, and another cohort of BC students will travel back in the summer of 2026.
“I'm thankful that Schiller is committed not only to outcomes, but also, fundamentally, to process,” says Bolton. “To reciprocity and a deep, meaningful collaboration that will be impactful on many levels.”