Chet Cain Will Lead the Spring 2010 Botswana Program
Published: November 12, 2009
Dr. Chet Cain
Dr. Chet Cain, an anthropological archaeologist with extensive experience conducting research and teaching in Southern Africa, will lead the ACM Botswana: University Immersion in Southern Africa program for the spring 2010 semester.
The program introduces students to a dynamic nation as they live and take classes at one of the top universities on the African continent. As Program Director, Cain will teach a course, supervise the students' independent study projects, help them adapt to day-to-day life in Botswana's capital city of Gabarone, and participate in the program's many field trips.
Cain's course, "Looking at the Land and its People: Conducting & Assessing Research from Southern Africa," will use case studies to examine research methods in the social and natural sciences. The course also will survey research being conducted in Southern Africa and will support the ACM students as they develop and complete their independent study projects for the program.
Chet Cain works with at a student at the Middle Stone Age site of Sibudu (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa).
As a researcher, teacher, and consultant, Cain has spent several years in Southern Africa working on a variety of projects, mainly with the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has conducted research on the origins of culturally modern humans, trained undergraduate and graduate students in archaeological field methods, and supervised students in their Master's thesis. In the mountain areas between Lesotho and South Africa, Cain worked with the Maloti-Drakensburg Transfrontier Project to protect biodiversity and promote sustainable ecotourism. In that project, he taught local heritage technicians how to collect information on archaeology, rock art, and oral history.
Currently, Cain is in Africa directing the ACM Tanzania: Ecology & Human Origins program for the fall semester. He also holds research appointments at Washington University in St. Louis, where he received his Ph.D. in anthropology, and at Rice University in Houston.
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