James K Munene

Those familiar with archaeological research in East Africa will agree that although research has been carried out in the region for over 100 years, there are just a handful of East African professional archaeologists. Professionals’ training remains underdeveloped in many countries, including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Burundi. Although archaeological field schools have remained one of the most crucial avenues for students to affirm their interests in the discipline, there are not as many opportunities for East Africans because most of the ones running are quite expensive for East African students. To increase the community of East African professional archaeologists and allow them to equally contribute to telling stories about their past, I propose a pilot student-centered field school in the Lake Naivasha Basin this summer, targeting East African students at no cost to them. This field school aims to expose students to many aspects of field research while deviating from the traditional top-down model, where researchers make most of the decisions, and students are not given much room to contribute. This initiative will create a pipeline for East African scholars to pursue master’s and PhD programs that lead to future projects and new leaders in the discipline.