Year 10 GCSE Geography Visit to Brunei Gallery

On 21st May 2008 the Year 10 Geography group was invited to a workshop at the Brunei Gallery, London to explore the lifestyle of the Tuareg people from northern Niger in Africa through the exhibition by Julia Winckler of the Univesity of Brighton that documented the lives and memories of this community of people. The Year 10 Geographers had been studying two units of work in Geography; People and Place in order to learn about where and how people live, how changes in environment affect people and their living conditions and secondly; Climate, Environment and People which explores how climate affects peoples’ culture and lifestyle.

Students were given an interactive lecture on the threatened lifestyle and traditional customs of the Tuareg and encouraged to interact with the photographs and artefacts in the exhibition.

They were able to explore the lifestyle of Tuareg through photographs by practicing their geography skills of analysis of visual material and their field sketch techniques annotating what they saw and also by hands-on of artefacts of the Tuareg.

This was also followed on by an additional visit to the Sainsbury Galleries at The British Museum where students where able to view and explore more African artefacts at the Museum. During the day the students were also given a glimpse of university life at the School of Oriental and African studies by some of the University Student Ambassadors. It was a very packed day but very informative and students have another very memorable case study to add to their revision notes in preparation for their final exams.

Comments from Connaught students included; "The day might have been short but it was packed with discovering fascinating things. One thing I personally loved was how Heinrich Barth recorded his journey through the Sahara desert and how Julia Winckler captured her impressions in her photos". "We might have been to the gallery to learn the skills needed for geography however we all came back with things to do with religion, history and different people". "I was fascinated with how people in Niger have adapted to their environment and climate and also their way of sustainable life. What also came to my attention was how the country is changing".