Dadaab Life: Auto-photography from 2015

Last year, the Center on Conflict and Development at Texas A&M University helped support my work using autophotography. Most of the photos were taken by women involved in training programs in Dadaab who I asked to take photos of people, places, or moments in their lives when they felt powerful or empowered. Women were instructed to get permission from the subjects of their photos (most frequently their family members) and I shared the photographs that the women agreed to share publicly with TAMU. Below is the collection of photographs they curated to share. On June 24, 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda, I will attend a showing of these photos and photos from other projects funded by the Center on Conflict and Development. I’ll share details about the venue and times closer to the date.

How to effectively manage project risk

Here’s a guest blog post I wrote for American University. There are a variety of project management resources that discuss risk management. Here I will introduce some of those resources. In particular, I will consider risk management in international development projects drawing on my personal experience in Afghanistan and the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya […]

On Adult Education: The Classroom Experience 1

Common themes in adult education classrooms include: Collaboratively developing ground rules A staple of adult education classrooms, the Sexual and Gender Based Violence training which I have been recording, observing, and at times assisting with in the past two days in Dadaab is no different. The training began with “Group Norms” shared by learners and […]

Participatory research and pedagogy in Dadaab

Part of my work in Dadaab includes collecting data about youth led non- formal education. I approach my research from two sometimes contradictory perspectives, ethnographic and participatory action research (PAR). As a PhD student, I am interested in understanding how NGO workers and training intends to empower from an ethnographic perspective. As a visiting evaluator, […]

Why training for adults? Refugee’s systems and support for empowerment

Reposted from the Center on Conflict and Development As I began to discuss in my introduction post, I am using visual methodologies to understand empowerment in diverse adult education classrooms in Dadaab. The content of the training has thus far in the pre-dissertation process, been diverse. Last year, I spent two months in Dadaab and […]

#SMGP2014 in Dadaab, Kenya

Reposted from the Center on Conflict and Development at Texas A&M University. Late Thursday night, groggy and stiff from travel, I met RET’s driver who took me to the hotel in Nairobi where I’m staying for the weekend. I’ve worked with RET before so much of the drive at 11:00pm involved him catching me up […]

Connecting Comics and Photo Stories

In Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud presents an analysis of comics that relates to how we tell stories with visuals and words. His description of spacing, or gutters between images, presents a way of understanding how we space images not only in comics but in galleries and other photographic works. The slideshow on Internet galleries even […]

Refugee, Movement, and Immigration: Documentary Photo Stories

As I prepare to develop my own photostory from views and experiences of women learners in NGO training in Dadaab, I am looking for inspiration. I found two highly relevant photo stories that link to what I’m planning/hoping to do for my dissertation. Dadaab Stories Dadaab stories is a fascinating multimedia project conducted with the […]

Creating subjects: Response to “Let us now praise famous men”

For our photographic narratives course, we’ve been asked to respond to Let us now praise famous men by James Agee and Walker Evans. The book includes Evans photos (see below) and Agee’s writing which borders on poetry in syntax. Throughout my reading I hear Agee’s apology to the family and people he met while on […]

Bikram Yoga – Photographing stories from State College

For the photography class, we’re taking before (middle) and after photos. You can see my Americana post below for a window into my family and childhood home. This series is from a Bikram yoga class.

Ally Krupar

Educator – Researcher – Techie – Advocate