Rainy season has begun in Central Malawi, where Alexander Dunn sits on his steamy porch in Nkhotakota and reflects on the dramatic changes in his life since September 2018 when he moved there.
Following a 15-year career that included work in museums, environmental education and land conservancy, Dunn accepted a position with Peace Corps Response to share his expertise and to help develop exhibits, programs and communications for the newly-constructed visitor center at the Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve in Central Malawi. Unlike the traditional 27-month Peace Corps volunteer assignment, Peace Corps Response is a 12-month assignment designed for people with advanced careers who work on a specific project that has been identified by a specific partner organization.
Control of the reserve was taken on by the international organization African Parks, and after three years it is again home to elephants, zebra, antelope and “a wonderment of birds,” Dunn says. Beyond the natural beauty, Dunn is also experiencing firsthand the complexity of conservation in Africa.
Alexander Dunn (left) enjoys collaborating with park staff and is learning their approach to community work.
“Staff here have to deal with armed poaching operations as well as human/wildlife conflicts,” says Dunn. “All this while developing a tourism infrastructure that in many ways is based on a Colonial ideal, navigating international funding that can be problematic, and developing the community infrastructure that creates good will with the 300,000 people living in 534 villages surrounding the park’s boundary – people who rely on the landscape for bush meat, firewood and income.”
Dunn enjoys collaborating with park staff and is learning their approach to community work, a central tenet of his thesis that he completed while a graduate student at Lesley.
A Cambridge native, Dunn earned his master’s degree in 2010 through Lesley’s independent study degree program. The structure of the program enabled him to study remotely in different parts of the United States and to immerse himself in conferences, museum visits and interviews as he honed his thesis focus and conducted research. His thesis was titled, “Museums and Communities: A Place-based Perspective.”
“I wanted the opportunity to mesh real-world learning with an academic study of education,” he recalls. “Lesley really did come through for me, especially my thesis advisor, Marion Nesbit, who was a champion, mentor and friend in all aspects.
“I have always been drawn to the idea of how place is created by both culture and nature, and how the experience of place can be used as the basis for learning, museum programs and exhibits,” says Dunn.
Since graduating from Lesley, Dunn worked for regional museums and organizations such as the Massachusetts Audubon Society, which he leveraged into his current stint with Peace Corps Response.
As part of Dunn’s work for African Parks, he also assists in natural resource monitoring with the U.S. Forest Service, another project partner.
Through Peace Corps Response, Alexander Dunn is helping develop exhibits and programming at the Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve.
“This position is such a great fit for me because of the focus on developing exhibits and programs,” says Dunn, who also holds a certificate in environmental communications from Duke University (2018) and a bachelor’s degree in English from Western Washington University (2002). “It combines my museum, environmental education and land conservation skills.”
Dunn has learned some basic Chichewa language and made new friends as he navigates this challenging and exciting opportunity.
“I now know where to buy chocolate and potatoes, and I have mangos, maize and cucumbers growing in my yard,” he says. “So many of the preconceived biases that I arrived with have been destroyed. It has been humbling, eye-opening and a total joy to be part of this process.”