Interview with Michelangelo "Mike" Lieberman, September 13, 2023

Interview Summary

Michelangelo Lieberman served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal from 2011 to 2013 in the Urban Agriculture Program. Mike participated in a study abroad program in Madagascar while attending Stony Brook University. While in Madagascar he met some Peace Corps Volunteers and decided to apply. Mike’s group attended training in Thies, studying Wolof language. He was assigned to the coastal town of St. Louis, where he worked with local counterparts in an urban demonstration garden that served to educate locals. Mike’s interest gravitated toward working the talibé, youths who reside and study at Quranic schools (daara), to develop gardens as a source of income. His relationship with the talibé became the defining element of his Peace Corps service. After returning home, and while in graduate school at Cornell University, Mike returned to Senegal to do research on the talibé for his master’s degree project. He currently works in the non-profit sector, and helped found the Carbon C.R.E.W. Project (Carbon Reduction for Earth Wellbeing).

Interview Keyword

Peace Corps (U.S.) Senegal (country of service) 2011-2013 (date of service) Peace Corps Volunteer Job: Urban Agriculture Peace Corps (U.S.) --2010-2020 Wolof (language) Stony Brook University study abroad, Madagascar Thies (training) St. Louis (assignment) urban gardens talibé Quranic schools (daara) Marabouts Cornell Univesity Carbon C.R.E.W. Project

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