WILLIS MATHEWS OKECH OYUGI Assistant Professor, Department of History Sam Houston State University Box 2239 Huntsville, Texas 77341 woo002@shsu.edu CURRICULUM VITAE EDUCATION Ph.D., History, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), June 2014 Dissertation: Wildlife Conservation in Kenya s Maasailand, 1850s-2000: Contested Histories of an African People and their Landscape. Degree Emphasis: African Environmental History (with a focus on traditional/indigenous environmental ideologies) Committee: Professor Edward A. Alpers (chair), Professor Christopher Ehret, Professor Vinay Lal, and Professor Judith Carney. Other fields: Geography, South Asia (British India) M.A., History, UCLA, June 2009. B.A., History (Magna cum Laude), Miami University, OH [USA], May 2007 B.Phil., Environmental Studies (Magna cum Laude), Miami University, OH, May 2007. TEACHING EXPERIENCE Sam Houston State University, TX (Fall 2017-present) Assistant Professor of History Courses taught: HIST 2311: World History to 1500 HIST 3389: Africa-Past & Present Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH (Fall 2014-Spring 2017) Visiting Assistant Professor Courses taught: HIST 115: African Civilizations to 1800 HIST 124: Food for Thought HIST 180: Global Environmental History 1
HIST 277: Africa & Environmental History, 1800s to present HIST 277-A: African Environmental History, 1880s-2000 HIST 313: Wildlife Conservation in Kenya s Maasailand HIST 385: Environmentalism of the Poor-Water HIST 483: Environmental History of the British Empire University of California, Los Angeles, CA (Fall 2007-Spring 2014) Teaching Assistant /Graduate Student Instructor Fall 2013-Spring 2014: Teaching Assistant: Introduction to Interpersonal and Mass Communication, UCLA Spring 2013: Teaching Assistant: South Africa since 1870, UCLA Fall 2008-Spring 2010: Teaching Assistant: African Civilizations to 1800; African History 1800-Present; Western Civilization; Colonial Latin America; I taught three 50-minute classes that each averaged between 15 and 25 students (for a total of 45 to 75 students), led discussions to recap lecture and reading material, held student office hours twice weekly, and graded exams & term papers, UCLA. Winter 2009: Course Reader/Teaching Assistant: History of East Africa: I assisted students with course material, graded exams and term papers, held office hours. Also, I was responsible for teaching two lectures: Paths to Independence: Kenya on 3 March 2009 and The Hazards of Ethnic Politics: Kenya & Rwanda on 10 March 2009, UCLA Winter 2010: Course Reader/Teaching Assistant: Indian Ocean Africa: I assisted in a class of 75 students with lectures and course material, held office hours, graded exams and term papers, UCLA. Fall 2007: Graduate Student Instructor: Intermediate Swahili, UCLA: I was solely responsible for teaching, grading weekly assignments and exams, and holding student office hours. Earlham College/Miami University (East Africa Program, Fall 2010) Guest Lecturer November 16-December 1, 2010: Guest Lecturer: Earlham College/Miami University 2010 East Africa Program; I taught and graded courses in Wildlife Conservation and African Environmental History (Maasai Mara, Kenya and Ndarakwai Game Reserve, Tanzania). October 16-November 2, 2010: Guest Lecturer: Earlham College/Miami University 2010 East Africa Program; I organized home-stays and taught an ethnography course on Luo culture (Siaya, Kenya). OTHER TEACHING (INFORMAL) & RELATED EXPERIENCE 2
November 2, 2015: Speaker: Oberlin College, Discussing the #ALLBLACKLIVESMATTER MOVEMENT in the Context of African Postcolonial Realities & Environmental Justice April 2, 2012: Guest Speaker: Biology Colloquium, Earlham College, Indiana, USA. December 27-29, 2011: Translator (Swahili-English): HBO s Witness: South Sudan 2012 Series. 4 December 2010: Consultant: Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute (KWSTI), Naivasha, Kenya & Kenya National Examinations Council, Nairobi, Kenya; I contributed towards the development of an Environmental History Curriculum. February 17, 2009: Guest Speaker: Into Africa: Kenya's Wildlife and the Impact of Human-Wildlife Conflicts. Lecture presented at The National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson Hole, Wyoming. July 2006: Volunteer Instructor: Community Conservation/Ecotourism Project, Koiyaki Guiding School, Maasai Mara Game Reserve, Kenya June 2006: Naturalist Guides Trainer: Kampi Ya Kanzi, Kuku Group Ranch, Amboseli, Kenya 2004-2007: Peer Science Tutor: School of Interdisciplinary Studies, Miami University, OH: I assisted fellow students with undergraduate science course work and organized events such as petting spiders, iguanas, and snakes for the larger school community and public to enhance their understanding of natural history. Jan 1992-July 2003: Professional Naturalist/Safari Guide: Origins Safaris formerly East African Ornithological Safaris, Nairobi, Kenya; 2004-present: Freelance Naturalist/Safari Guide (part-time). ACHIEVEMENTS and AWARDS Dissertation Year Fellowship (History Department), UCLA, 2012-2013. Hans Roger International Pre-Dissertation Fellowship, UCLA, 2011-2012. Hans Roger International Pre-Dissertation Fellowship, UCLA, 2010-2011. Millennium Endowed Graduate Fellowship, UCLA, 2009-2010. Hans Roger International Fund, UCLA, 2008-2009. History Department Chair Fund, UCLA, 2007-2008. Non-Resident Tuition Fellowship, UCLA, 2007-2008. Kenya Professional Safari Guides, Gold Certificate, August 2007. Provost s Academic Award, Miami University, 2006. Marguerite Smith Scholarship Award, Miami University, summer 2005 (to research Kenya s wildlife conservation history). Elizabeth S. Turner Scholarship, Miami University, 2003-2007. New York Institute of Photography, Diploma, 1999. Birdlife International/Earthwatch Fellowship, Ocsa, Hungary, 2-14 August 1998 (Participated in banding songbirds). OTHER POSITIONS & MEMBERSHIPS 3
American Historical Association Member, 2013-present. African Studies Association Member, 2012-present. American Society for Environmental History Member, 2010-present. PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS [SCHOLARLY/POPULAR ARTICLES] Book review: Marti S. Shanguhyia, Population, Tradition, and Environmental Control in Colonial Kenya (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2015), for Environmental History, mx061, https://doi.org/10.1093/envhis/emx061 (June 2017) Power and the Title: Maasai Group Ranches, Indigenous Rights, and Wildlife Conservation, 1980-2010. Paper to be presented at the American Society for Environmental History Annual Conference, March 29-April 2, 2017. Chicago. Upcoming. Book project (provisional title): The Last Aces? Maasailand and Kenya s Wildlife: Contested Histories, 1900-2000. In progress Co-Chair: Five Decades with Africa and African Diasporas: Edward A. Alpers and Global African History-Local and the Global Circuits in East Africa Panel at the African Studies Association Annual Conference, December 1-3, 2016. Washington D.C. The 1956 Game Policy: Ambivalence and Conservationist Contestations over Kenya s Maasailand. Paper presented at the African Studies Association Annual Meeting, December 1-3, 2016. Washington, D.C. Maasai-British Relationships and Maasailand Ecology in Colonial Kenya, 1900-1960: Complexities and Contradictions. In Edward Alpers, Awet Weldemichael, and Anthony Lee (eds.), Changing Horizons in African History (Trenton: Africa World Press, 2017), 173-204. Historicizing Ethnicity and Slave Trade Memories in Colonial Africa: The Cases for Rwanda and Northern Cameroon, Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies, Vol 35, 1 (2016). Wangari Maathai: Women, Politics, and the Challenge of Environmentalism in Kenya. Paper accepted at the American Society for Environmental History Annual Conference, March 18-22, 2015. Washington, D.C. International NGOs, Indigenous Rights, Development, and Human-Wildlife Contestations in and around Kenya s Maasai-Mara National Reserve, 1980-2000. Paper accepted at the American Society for Environmental History Annual Conference, March 12-16, 2014. San Francisco. Wildlife Conservation in Kenya s Maasailand, 1850s to 2000: Contested Histories and Narratives of the African Landscape. Paper presented at Oral History Methods Graduate Workshop, Department of History, UCLA as part of the Oral History Cluster, UCLA on May 28, 2013. Human-Wildlife Conflicts, Wildlife Conservation, and Maasai Group Ranches in Kenya, 1890-2000. Paper presented at the American Society for Environmental 4
History Annual Conference, 28-31 March 2012, University of Wisconsin, Madison [USA]. A Kenyan in America Looks Home in Anguish, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 15 February 2008. Ecotourism in Costa Rica. In Anil Varma (ed.), Emerging Trends in Tourism (Hyderabad: The Icfai University Press, 2007), 215-222. 5