El Niño’ a phenomenon with opportunities? Inspiring the next generation of Peruvian chroniclers through education

An Environment & Climate Crisis Special Interest Group event

This presentation draws on UK AHRC funded research (2019-2022) on ‘El Niño desert livelihoods’ in northern coastal Peru. Part of a larger field-based interdisciplinary project with climate scientists and human and physical geographers, the original intention was for the research team to collect climate memories about the impact of El Niño on communities in the Sechura Desert using archival and oral history methods. When COVID-19 hit in March 2020 research in Peru took a new direction.

Working with the Sechura Schoolboard and Peruvian NGO PRISMA, research team-led oral histories were replaced with on-line classes teaching students how to conduct these themselves. The students learnt new digital, oral history and presentation skills which were integrated into the school curriculum. In the classical style of Peruvian chroniclers, they provided detailed accounts of how this important cyclical event has historically impacted their community over generations. The partner school went on to win prestigious national level education innovation prizes and their engagement fundamentally changed the course of the research.

The success of this shared experience and the co-produced outputs it generated suggest that the time is ripe to engage more seriously with school-based education about the climate crisis. In the hands of young chroniclers, oral history has much to offer this agenda.

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