An update from Nairobi

From Father Michael Kirwen, director of the Maryknoll Institute for African Studies in Nairobi, Kenya:

Professional-Quality Field Research

“Since MIASMU students in Nairobi do an hour of field research for every hour of class, it is critical that they become professional researchers if they are to collect valuable data. To facilitate this, MIASMU offers workshops on field research principles and practices. Besides the theoretical training, the workshops enable students to discuss issues that they encounter in actual field research and do practice interviews showing the various methods and research techniques.
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“For example, in the workshop of Oct. 18, a focused group interview was done on bridewealth, the gifts given to the family of the bride. The student interviewer asked all the seven different types of questions during the event. The analysis afterward revealed that ultimately bridewealth legitimizes children into the family (lineage) of the father. Furthermore it demonstrated that the bridewealth payments can be any product, animal, service — anything that can be exchanged, even school fees and accommodation for the bride’s brother.

“The workshops are organized into foundational and advanced classes, each having three modules – one for each course — which are spaced throughout the semester. By the end of six courses a student is trained to do professional-quality field research and is awarded one credit.”