World
Class The Great Courses has selected Fairfield associate professor of anthropology Scott Lacy, PhD, to teach their course “Anthropology and the Study of Humanity.”
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by Tess (Brown) Long ’07, MFA’11
ust outside the village of Dissan in Mali, miles of sorghum fields stretch out into the distance, tilting toward the West African sun. Their lively green leaves catch the breeze, the sharp edges waving. Sorghum is a lifeblood grain for Malian family farmers and unpredictable rain patterns in this semiarid environment can threaten crop survival at any time. So, when Scott Lacy, PhD, a cultural anthropologist and associate professor of anthropology in the College of Arts and Sciences at Fairfield University, stepped in to work as a bridge between local farmers and plant breeders, everyone was surprised by the results. After months of research and successful test plots of a new, much shorter, dwarf variety of
high-yielding sorghum, the farmers were impressed by the new seeds’ yield potential. After harvest, Dr. Lacy asked the big question, “San were, jon be na si kura dan?” (“Who’s going to plant this variety again?”). Every single farmer had the same reply: “N’te.” Or, “Not me.” Why wouldn’t they switch sorghum varieties? At first the farmers’ response seemed baffling, but “the answers were hidden in the plain sight of daily life,” said Dr. Lacy. “It’s not uncommon for cows and bulls to break loose in rural Mali and enjoy an unlimited buffet. Farmers knew that the big and tasty seed head poised right at eye-level of passing cattle wasn’t likely to make it home to the family granary.” That’s what anthropologists do, explained Dr. Lacy: With a foot in both camps – science and culture – an anthropologist like Dr. Lacy
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engages in long-term culturally embedded research to “bridge the efforts and knowledge of disconnected experts who have something to gain from sharing knowledge and resources.” When The Great Courses, The Teaching Company’s prestigious line of audio and video college-level courses, was looking for a professor to teach a course on this kind of socially engaged anthropology, a colleague’s recommendation led them to the award-winning Dr. Lacy.
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he Great Courses selects only the top 1% of more than 500,000 college professors in the world — chosen for their strength as teachers — to be part of their series of audio and visual programs.
