Paul Kunoni, a Maasai scholar from Kenya, will speak Thursday at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.
Kunoni’s talk, “The Breaking Spears: A Culture at Crossroads with Modernity,” will take place at 6 p.m. in Rice Auditorium in Fisher Hall. The talk is free and open to the public.
An author of a book by the same name, Kunoni will speak about his life in Kenya and how his tradition and family background shaped his resolve to acquire modern education.
He will talk about the various stages of formal education in tandem with Maasai rites of passage and describe how colonialism influenced education in his country. He will also talk about Kenya’s gradual transformation to modernity.
Kunoni has more than 30 years of development experience in Kenya, where he worked with the Ministry of Health, the International Doping Testing and Management Organization, and as a consulting scholar with the University of Pennsylvania.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in medical parasitology and entomology from the Kenya Medical Training College in Nairobi, Kenya, and is currently studying for a Master of Arts degree in the School of Policy and International Affairs at the University of Maine.
While visiting Pitt-Bradford, Kunoni will also give a presentation, called “Environmental Development and Conservation – A Perspective from Kenya,” during the annual environmental studies retreat. Additionally, he will speak to students in Dr. Helma DeVries-Jordan’s Politics of the Developing World class about British colonialism and its effect on Kenyan culture and politics.
