Speaker: Brian Geyer
Topic: “Peace Corp Experience in Kenya”
Date: Thursday, January 30, 2014
Time: 12:00 – 1:30 p.m.
Place: Room 201 International Center
Place: Room 201 International Center
Brian Geyer is in his second year of graduate studies at Michigan State University, where he is currently working towards his PhD in anthropology. Mr. Geyer completed two Bachelor degrees at Washington State University, one in music and the other in anthropology, before joining the United States Peace Corps. He served as a public health volunteer in Kenya from 2010 to 2012, where he was placed in a rural community located on the border of the famous Maasai Mara National Reserve. Upon returning to the United States, Mr. Geyer directed his studies to the topics of power and inequality, resource conservation, and ecotourism. He is a two-time recipient of the African Studies Center’s Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship.
About the talk:
Roughly one year after Brian completed his undergraduate education, he entered the United States Peace Corps and was placed in a rural Kenyan community, populated primarily with Maa-speaking people. From July 2010 to 2012 he served as a public health volunteer, spending the majority of his time developing relationships and learning the cultural practices of a community that is situated at the border of Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve. These two years served as Brian’s first long-term anthropological experience and piqued his interest in several topics, such as ecotourism, resource conservation, and localized systems of power and inequality. Brian has integrated these topics into his graduate and doctoral studies at Michigan State University.