7,000 MILES OUTSIDE HER COMFORT ZONE

SOPHIE BEAUCHESNE ’23 BRINGS HER STUDIES TO LIFE IN ZANZIBAR • BY ANNA DOWNES ’22

Sophie Beauchesne ’23 was drawn to Salve Regina because of its location along the classic coast of Newport and the opportunity to participate in strong academic and athletic programs. On campus, she is a member of the eld hockey team and president of the environmental club. An environmental studies major with minors in biology and anthropology, her studies on campus were a big part of her decision to study abroad.

“I’ve always loved traveling and going to new places, but what inspired me to do this were the classes I took at Salve in anthropology and environmental studies,” Beauchesne explains. “I was always learning about other places in the world and where people use their resources di erently, and various issues globally. Because of that, I really wanted to go see what it was actually like.” rough a partnership with the Vermontbased School of International Training, Beauchesne found a program that would bring her to Zanzibar, an island o the coast of Tanzania in Eastern Africa. ere, the topics she was studying with her professors came to life during the spring semester of 2022.

Fueling Curiosity Through Research

Beauchesne traveled more than 7,000 miles to Jambiani on the east coast of Zanzibar to conduct an independent study on ocean access of the small village.

“For the rst two months, I was learning the language, taking classes on coastal ecology and natural resource management, going out snorkeling,” she recalls. “For the third month, I moved to a remote village on the other coast of the island, and I lived there independently for a month.”

Her project was inspired by work she had done with Clean Ocean Access (COA), a Middletown, R.I., non-pro t. Beauchesne became involved with COA through an internship class with Dr. Jameson Chace, professor and chair of the Department of

Cultural, Environmental and Global Studies.

During her time with the organization, she learned a lot about how important it is for people to have rights to ocean access. In Rhode Island, this access is often for recreational purposes, but in Jambiani, people use the ocean as a resource in their daily lives, for both work and, essentially, to survive.

“Jambiani...is a coastal village and its biggest industries are shing, seaweed farming and tourism.” Beauchesne explains. “Fishing and seaweed farming are more traditional...and tourism is sort of new. In the village, although some people are involved in the tourism industry, it was mainly shing, collecting shells, boat building - the whole lifestyle depends on the ocean.” e scope of her study included researching the relationship between the area’s relatively new tourism industry and the locals’ access to the ocean. Having spent her rst months in Zanzibar learning Swahili, Beauchesne was able to complete approximately 40 interviews with villagers with assistance from a local translator.

“I interviewed shermen, seaweed farmers, people involved in the tourism industry,” says Beauchesne. “I interviewed hotel managers as well just to see the di erent perspectives … that data helped show the community feelings and attitudes toward this issue.” e project resulted in a 40-page paper and presentation, which Beauchesne hopes to formally publish. In addition to immersing herself in an entirely di erent culture and diving head on into environmental issues, she was able to build relationships with students from around the United States who were part of the study abroad program as well as with people in East Africa.

Beauchesne collected hard data by mapping access points to the ocean along the coastline with GPS coordinates. She measured the width of the access points and uploaded them to the database with photographs while also taking notes on erosion, the status of the environment in general, and whether there was debris blocking access to the ocean.

“What I ended up nding is that a lot of the access points are controlled by the hotels… my data showed that there were a few key issues with access. I didn’t really prove that it’s shrunk over time, but people have told me it was changing,” Beauchesne explains.

Beauchesne recently learned that she has been accepted to the Peace Corps for two years following graduation in May. She will serve as a community environmental promoter in Paraguay.

“I learned that it’s good to go out of my comfort zone,” she emphasizes. “I think it actually did change my perspective on the work and I want to keep traveling…I am happy that I went.

“I think the coolest thing academically about going there was nally understanding what I have been reading about and learning in class,” Beauchesne notes. “It’s di erent when you read about how the environment works and how people use their natural resources, and then you go there, and you actually see and understand what is happening.”