June 20, 2026

The language immersion courses we participate in are intense. Between in-class time, homework, language practice with assigned partners, cultural programming, and trying to keep my own research preparations moving forward, I am typically on campus ten hours a day, five or six days a week. When home, I help with cooking and cleaning while practicing my Swahili. My wonderful host mom and I also find a few hours a week to hike or run the maze of overgrown tracks and rural roads through the nearby forest, which provides a welcome release from my demanding workload.

The cultural experiences organized as part of the language program stretch my vocabulary and speaking skills to the limit, but are often enjoyable too. Today, we were kindly hosted by the Cultural Arts Center in Usa River, which is a hub of traditional music and dance from across Tanzania. From the instrument museum tour to the drumming lesson to the live performance by CAC’s own troupe of musicians and dancers, it was an incredible experience. It was impossible to sit in that auditorium and not be viscerally impacted by the palpable joy these artists share through their craft.

A brief clip from an electrifying live performance at the Cultural Arts Center on June 20, 2026, showcasing the incredible talent and joy of traditional music and dance.

It is moments like these that remind me of why I fell in love with Tanzania in the first place, and why all of the work I’m putting in to become fluent in a new language mid-career is so important. Shared language allows us to build bridges between people, developing shared understanding that would be impossible otherwise. As a social scientist, there is nothing that has more potential to deepen my relationships with rural communities and the impact of my research.

In a global view, I don’t think there has ever been a more important time to build bridges of understanding, mutual respect, and trust across differences. We are often raised (and influenced by the media) to think of far off places in reductionist terms. Good. Bad. Poor. Affluent. The more you travel, the more you see nuance and complexity. People thriving within a place that is currently struggling, or struggling within a place that is currently thriving. No one country is inherently "superior" or "inferior," and every culture has unique beauties and strengths to share with the world. We can only hope to address wicked global problems like persistent poverty, a changing climate, and precipitous biodiversity loss through mutual learning, free exchange of ideas and innovations, and a spirit of altruism. Shared languages make this kind of cooperation possible.

To join me on this journey, you can follow along with new posts in the Field Notes blog on this website or LinkedIn. I am in Tanzania on a Critical Language Scholarship for Summer 2026. My research is currently supported by the Center for Human-Carnivore Coexistence, a P.E.O. Scholar Award, and a Center for Collaborative Conservation Fellowship. I am actively fundraising for the next phase of my research, and welcome referrals to funders who are interested in supporting work on global challenges including human-wildlife conflict, poverty alleviation, biodiversity conservation, and the impacts of a changing climate on all of these issues.