International Dialogue: Barack Owuor/Lucas Othuon Lecture (Nov 17th)

This Friday, November 17th, at noon in OB210, visiting scholars Barack Owuor and Lucas Othuon will talk about their published paper, "Inventory of Community Cultural Artifacts and Priority Plant Species Found in Sacred Sites in the Lake Victoria Wetlands of Eastern Africa." Here is a description:


"In the recent past history of traditional communities, and in virtually every clan or village in the wetlands of the Lake Victoria basin of East Africa, there were reserved places of worship to God where elders and community sages petitioned ancestors. The place usually under a tree, a rock edifice or some forest cover was reserved and revered as a sacred site where elders regularly convened to offer prayers and sacrifices to appease ancestors to intercede with god either for delaying rains or other needs.

This paper presents the results of reconnaissance surveys and participatory community inventory of cultural artifacts and priority plant species found in sacred habitats of the wetlands of the Lake Victoria region of Kenya and Uganda. The inventory includes use by communities, status of conservation and variation encountered with these artifacts and plant species in these habitats in the wetland. The paper urges documentation of the artifacts as well as domestication of the endangered plant species to mitigate the unbearable pressure of unsustainable exploitation of these resources as a means to ensuring their conservation."

We hope everyone will find time to attend and learn about this fascinating subject. The first two sessions were extremely interesting and informative, and we are sure this one will be no exception.

Who: Barack Owuor and Lucas Othuon, visiting Kenyan scholars (Iddah Otieno moderating)
What: International Dialogue Series #3: "Inventory of Community Cultural Artifacts and Priority Plant Species Found in Sacred Sites in the Lake Victoria Wetlands of Eastern Africa"
When: Friday, November 17, noon
Where: Cooper Campus, OB210