Petrostate Seizure of the Serengeti
Kang-Chun Cheng | Tanzania, United Republic of
Organization: Freelance, The Wall Street Journal
Photographer: Kang-Chun Cheng
Organization: Freelance, The Wall Street Journal
Exhibit Title: Petrostate Seizure of the Serengeti
Location: Tanzania, United Republic of
One of the world’s most iconic wildlife tourism destinations, Tanzania’s Serengeti national park and its adjacent conservation areas, are facing some of the most brutal human rights violations against the indigenous Maasai population––all under the name of ‘conservation.’ 9 million hectares of land–ancestral Maasai grazing lands– are slated to be converted into carbon credit projects.
Tanzania has had close ties and covert business deals with the United Arab Emirates’ royal family since the 1980s. As Emirati businesses further encorach across Tanzania in the form of carbon credit projects and luxury tourism ventures, Maasi residents residing close to national parks face renewed eviction risks.
“Climate goals are being pursued at the expense of the rights of the indigenous communities,” said Rob Williams, a law professor and the faculty chair of the Indigenous people’s law and policy program at the University of Arizona. “These so-called conservation plans are mainly driven by foreign interests, with little regard to rights of the people.”
KC 鄭康君 (b. 1995) is a Taiwanese American photojournalist based in Nairobi, Kenya for over 4 years, covering how environment change impacts one's sense of belonging, foreign aid, and outdoor adventure. Her work began in the Arctic and extends globally, including unfriendly places like Western Sahara, northern Mozambique, and South Sudan–she can work in any environment with ease. She's the editor-at-large at The Xylom, the only AAPI science newsroom in the US.
In her work, KC examines themes of belonging and nostalgia against our shifting relationships with the natural world. As overwhelming as both manmade and natural catastrophes may seem, it’s the tenderness of human connections that makes survival possible.
KC has herded reindeer in Finnmark, roasted lamb with pastoralists in the mountains of Xinjiang, hitchhiked through Tunisia, photographed from the back of a motorbike in the Karoo Desert, spoken to former insurgents in Cabo Delgado, walked the Camino de Santiago, and free-dived on the south Sinai peninsula. She loves big landscapes and can be found climbing rocks whenever possible.
kangchun.cheng@gmail.com
+1 781 626 0010 (whatsapp)
instagram @takeme.north
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