Alice B. Kelly

PhD Candidate

Education

Connecticut College: Environmental Science and English Literature Double Major.  Graduated May 2004

Research Description

My dissertation, entitled "The Crumbling Fortress: Nature and Security in Waza National Park," looks at how a convergence of institutional failures, shifting regional and ethnic politics, economic crisis and mercurial NGO interests have led to both ecological decline and threats to the physical and food security of local populations.

I am interested in finding conservation solutions that leave space for social justice, human well-being and security but at the same time preserve biodiversity and ecosystem function.

During my eight months of field work in Cameroon, I used a  combination of sociological (oral histories and participatory observation), remote sensing/GIS (mapping and ground-truthing fires in the region over time), and archival research--looking at past ecological studies and counts, as well as historical management, political and economic documents relating to Waza.

Selected Publications

Kelly, A.B. “Property Vacuums and the Post-Primitive Accumulation Story. Paper Presented at the Association of American Geographers Conference, New York. February 27, 2012.

The Crumbling Fortress: Waza National Park, Cameroon.  Paper Presented at the African Studies Association, Washington D.C. November 2011.

Kelly, A.B. 2011. Conservation Practice as Primitive Accumulation. Journal of Peasant Studies 38(4), pp. 638-701.

Kelly A.B. “Against Hardin: National Parks as Commons?” Presented at the Bay Area Conservation Biology Symposium: University of California, San Francisco. February 20, 2009.Kelly, A.B., 2011.

Kelly, A.B. “People, Parks and Property in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Presented at the African Studies Association Annual Conference: New Orleans. November 21, 2009.

Kelly, A.B., Small, C.J. and G.D. Dryer. 2009. Vegetation classification and invasive species distribution in natural areas of southern New England. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 136(4), pp. 500–519.

Honors and Awards

• Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award - 2012
• Small Grant Competition Winner -Land Deal Politics Initiative - 2012
• Simpson Fellowship for International Studies - Institute of International Studies - 2010
• Rocca Dissertation Scholarship for African Studies - Center for African Studies and The Rocca Foundation - 2010
• Rocca Pre-Dissertation Award for African Studies - Center for African Studies and The Rocca Foundation - 2008
• Alexis Bansner Fund for Sustainable Communities - League of Women's Voters - 2008
• Honorable Mention, Graduate Fellowship - National Science Foundation - 2008
• International Affairs Graduate Student Summer Internship (declined) - The Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation - 2008
• Agroforestry Steering Committee - Peace Corps Cameroon - 2005

Recent Teaching

• Volunteer Instructor: Documenting Nature (ESPM 198)--Spring 2012
• Graduate Student Instructor: Political Ecology (ESPM 168)--Fall 2011
• Graduate Student Instructor: Political Ecology (ESPM 168)--      Fall 2009
• Graduate Student Instructor: Americans in the Global Forest (ESPM c11)--Fall 2008

Background Information

Before coming to ESPM I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Extreme North Province of Cameroon.

During my two years of service I collaborated with my Cameroonian counterparts, both national and local, to develop an ecotourism program in Mozogo-Gokoro National Park.

Together, my counterparts and I secured funds for, and implemented projects to: train local guides, create water sources within the park to reduce human-wildlife conflict, and build an 18km trail system within the park.

While in Cameroon I also worked on agroforestry, improved cookstove, and HIV/AIDS projects in the community in which I lived.

It was through my work with the populations displaced from this national park, seeing their discouragement, suffering, and anger due to lost land, rights and constant harassment from park wildlife with no compensation that I was inspired to come to the University of California, Berkeley to pursue a course of study dedicated to ameliorating such injustices.

Goals