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Fulbright Program for U.S. Students

Fulbright U.S. Student
Grantee Newsletter

Issue 1 | December 2006

Welcome!
table of contents

 Program Updates

Letter from London

by Ariana Green, 2006-2007, United Kingdom

Alistair Cooke, the man after whom my Fulbright journalism grant is named, was famous for his “Letter From America.” Every week, for over half a century, he described life in the United States for a British radio audience. And so, in thanks and admiration, I write a letter from London.

London is the repository for foreign news. Whereas New York and Washington headquarters monitor the United States, the major media networks rely on their London Bureaus to keep tabs on international events. As a Master’s student in International Journalism at London’s City University, I am attempting to comprehend my new home, this global information hub. Keeping up with the news of the world and those who track it is my number one challenge. Understanding context enough to scrutinize media coverage is the bigger goal.

Ariana Green, 2006-2007, United Kingdom 
Ariana Green, 2006-2007, United Kingdom 
My peers have been BBC correspondents in Iraq, reported on economic hardship in China, and covered corruption in Russia. I am the only American in the radio pathway. Having worked for a magazine and The New York Times in Puerto Rico, and then for ABC News in Manhattan, I have a sense of how editors and producers select stories, how media organizations look to each other when judging a story’s merit, and how it is sometimes a fight to get stories from small pockets of the world into the big, mainstream media. But the other students know this better than I. Many have grown up feeling their countries are misunderstood, which is not the same thing as lamenting my country’s image as trigger-happy and indulgent.

To learn how to shape a better media, we must all learn from each other. Those in the seats beside me who are from developing and conflict-ridden regions face far greater challenges: educating an ill-informed international community about local hardships and successes, all the while battling censorship and reprisals, for example. Their commitment to getting the story — even if that requires lying to neighbors about what they do for a living — reassures me about the future of journalism.

The Fulbright program has provided me with a venerable mentor and a network of kind people who have further enriched my time on this side of the pond. Thanks to Fulbright connections, I’ve had the opportunity to meet pioneering journalists, including an editor who started a women’s radio program in Afghanistan. I am interested in using the media to enfranchise women internationally, so this type of work particularly inspires me. I’ve also been given entrée into some of my favorite media operations. Yesterday I spent the morning observing a program and meetings at BBC Woman’s Hour, a show I have admired from afar for several years. Woman’s Hour has been around for 60 years, covering current events, culture and other topics through the lens of gender. The U.S. has no equivalent. It is my hope that this sort of niche radio programming will spread to my country (and others). It is also my hope that I may learn enough here to help make that happen.

London life includes of course, the thrills of big city culture, with a British twist. I went to the home of a Fulbright affiliate to experience the traditional baked beans and baked potatoes accompanying fireworks on Guy Fawkes Night, and I met Her Majesty the Queen when she visited my residence, Goodenough College. It’s been three months of stimulation and adventure. The rest is for a later report.

 



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Non-Fulbright Exchange Program Opportunties: CESRI Program


2007 CESRI Program Accepting Applications

The goal of the Central Europe Summer Research Institute (CESRI) is to provide U.S. graduate students in the sciences and engineering with a high-quality international summer research experience in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland or Slovakia. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the CESRI program sends enrolled U.S. graduate students in biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, environmental science, or mathematics for 8 weeks conducting a laboratory-research-based project.

The application form and program details are available online: http://www.iie.org/cesri

NSF Central Europe Summer Research Institute
U.S. Student Programs
Institute of International Education
809 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017
Phone: (212 ) 984-5442
E-mail: cesri@iie.org



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Ouidah Celebrates a New Vodou Supreme Chief

by Sarah Carlson, 2006-2007, Benin

As a Fulbrighter studying Vodou ritual dance, I was thrilled to witness the inauguration of the new Vodou Supreme Chief here in Ouidah, Benin. On November 4, 2006, Dagbo Hounon Tomadjlehoukpon Metogbokandji II was installed as the eleventh Vodou Supreme Chief after having been elected through Fa divination. The celebration was enormous, sprawling over several town blocks.

Sarah Carlson, 2006-2007 
Sarah Carlson, 2006-2007, Benin 
The main installation included a sacrificial altar and a large stage for speeches surrounded by a covered area for VIPs and what seemed like thousands of spectators. I was impressed to see government representatives from not only Benin but also various embassies based in Cotonou. President Yayi-Boni was still attending a trade summit of African leaders in China, so the Minister of Culture came instead and gave one of the most rousing speeches of the day. Gayleatha Brown, the U.S. Ambassador to Benin, was there as well as the Haitian ambassador. Many local kings were present seated beneath their royal umbrellas along with Vodou priests from around the country.

Dagbo Hounon’s official investiture kicked off the festivities in a smaller ceremony apart from the main crowd. Fellow Fulbrighters, Toni Pressley-Sannon, Yanick St. Jean, and I joined the crowd as the assembly progressed dancing and singing to the main staging ground. Once the new supreme chief was seated surrounded by his entourage, a goat was sacrificed to the Vodou spirits to bless his reign.

One street over, we were bombarded by not one, not two, but five different drum choruses. Each drum chorus had its own circle of dancers and singers representing different Vodou communities throughout Benin. The atmosphere was festive but chaotic with spectators milling about, organizers directing, dancers dancing, drummers drumming, vendors selling and the press snapping it all up.

Benin kings, 2006-2007 
Dagbo Hounon Tomadjlehoukpon Metogbokandji II, Vodou Supreme Chief 
At one point, I wandered over to a group of dancers who were engaged in ritual blood play. Using knives and cactus thorns, they sliced their flesh to show the strength of their possession. Physical pain is nonexistent in the face of the overwhelming power of the spirit. Wearing full grass skirts, both men and woman were bare from the waist up and repeatedly doused themselves with an orange substance called “Veve,” in order to calm the power of the spirit. This group was the most wild and disturbing of the bunch, appearing downright ferocious at times with the vehemence of their ritual performance. Moving on to another more sedate group, I started swaying to the drums and some older women invited me to join them. Without hesitation, I tossed off my sandals and jumped into their midst. What a treat to put my dance lessons to the test! I basically did my best to imitate my ritual cohorts but it was a hoot and the crowd cheered generously in support of my effort.

The entire event lasted about five hours at the end of which we were famished. Toni, Yanick and I walked over to The Calabasse, a French restaurant on the Route des Esclaves, that has become a favorite place to splurge. After standing in the sun for hours on sensory overload taking in all the festivities, I tell you, cold beer has never tasted so good!



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Submitting Photos to the Fulbright Student Photo Gallery


We are now collecting photos from the entire current cohort of Foreign, FLTA and U.S. Fulbright grantees.

-- The first time you submit photos, please send an email with your contact information to sallen@iie.org or tclaudino@iie.org. This email should not include any attached photos, and is simply to notify us that you will be submitting photos to a specific gallery.

-- Please indicate your grant year and the country in which you are engaged in your Fulbright program.  Photos from non-U.S. Fulbrighters are organized by home country; photos from U.S. Fulbrighters are organized by the country in which they are conducting grant activities. When in doubt, please send us an email with your questions.

-- With all submitted photos, you must include a caption that clearly indicates your name, country and a brief description  (i.e., the title of the event attended, location where the photo was taken, etc.) of the content of the photo. 

-- If you would like to create your own gallery of photos instead of submitting them to a country gallery, please notify us and we will create a personal gallery for you. Again, please make sure to add captions to each photo you submit.

-- You can only add photos, not delete them. If you need to delete photos, please contact us.

-- Click on the link below to enter photo gallery's home page:

http://photos.fulbrightonline.org

Enjoy using the Fulbright Photo Gallery!



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Photo of the Month


Photo of the Month:
Allison Shaw, 2006-2007, Chile
Allison Shaw, 2006-2007, Chile


We encourage you to submit your photos for consideration for the 'Photo of the Month' contest for the next issue of the U.S. Fulbright Student Grantee Newsletter. Photos will be reviewed and selected exclusively from the online Fulbright Student Photo Gallery.



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Fulbrightweb.org E-mail Addresses


All Fulbrighters have been set up and registered with Fulbrightweb.org lifetime e-mail addresses.  If you have not received an e-mail regarding Fulbrightweb.org e-mail addresses, there is no need to re-register -- please contact us instead. 



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A Call for Articles -- with Photos


We welcome articles with accompanying photos for future issues of the U.S Fulbright Student Grantee Newsletter.  Articles should ideally be about your experience of being abroad as a Fulbright ambassador, and any relevant and/or unique musings you might want to share with your fellow Fulbright grantees and others interested in the Fulbright Program.  The length of the article should be no longer than 500 words and not require much editing in order to be published.  The accompanying photos should show you engaged in program activities, or be illustrative of your article's content.  Please submit your articles with photos within two weeks of the release of this newsletter.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.  We look forward to receiving your articles!

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