Aby Sène-Harper

Aby Sène-Harper is a faculty of Parks and Conservation Area Management. She is a trained interdisciplinary environmental social researcher whose work advances socially and ecologically just approaches to managing public lands, natural and cultural resources in the US and in Africa.

Her research lies at the intersections of parks and protected area governance, livelihoods, nature-based tourism, and Race and nature. In the US her work interrogates how history and culture mediate African American relationships with nature, and cultural landscapes. In Africa, her work centers on the colonial structures of power in conservation, and integrative conservation approaches such as livelihood-centered projects, ecotourism and community-based conservation.

For over a decade, Dr. Sène-Harper has worked closely with government agencies in the US and Africa to inform and design integrated management plans for large scale conservation areas of international importance for biodiversity and socio-economic development (i.e., RAMSAR designated Wetlands; World Heritage Sites, National Parks). She has published multiple academic articles and technical reports on several topics including, community-based natural resource management, sustainable livelihoods, protected area management, ecotourism and relevancy, diversity and inclusion in US. Public lands.