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Daniel Altschuler, Amherst College
Nascent Democracies Re-examined: Through the Eyes of the Homeless and Landless
South Africa, Chile
In countries where stable democracies have replaced brutal authoritarian regimes, homeless and landless communities continue to struggle for their economic rights and well-being. I will conduct an oral history project among the homeless and landless in South Africa and Chile in order to explore their experiences during the transitions to democracy. I hope to gain a more subtle understanding of their ability to survive daily hardship and to organize for the improvement of their standards of living.
Crystal Belle, Middlebury College
From Griots to Activists: The Evolution of Hip-Hop in Urban Communities
Ghana, Switzerland, England, Brazil, Trinidad
My project specifically focuses on the evolution of hip-hop culture in urban communities abroad, from African Griots to Brazilian activists. I want to study how each country creates their own version of hip-hop, stemming from common themes of poverty and social/political inequality. Along with observing and living within urban environments, I also plan to teach slam poetry/dance workshops which are directly influenced by hip-hop culture.
Iram Bilal, California Institute of Technology
Dance: Language of Emotion or Culture?
India, Kenya*, Ireland
I want to study the motives behind dance, whether they are based on religion, society, tradition or anything else. I want to know why an art form that is an essence of worship to some is a source of humiliation to others, and why music and dance are so spiritual that one loses their inner self to them. Using photography, interviewing, video coverage and writing, I plan to document my findings from the carefully chosen nations on my itinerary that begins in India (temple dancing), winds through Kenya (tribal dancing) and then ends in Ireland (social, fun dancing).
Jeffery Bishop, Rice University
Renewable Energy: Predicting Success by Analyzing Failure
Botswana, Uganda
What are the technical, organizational, personal and sociocultural factors involved in African renewable energy failures? Spending a year in Botswana and Uganda, I will attempt to answer this question by analyzing renewable energy failures at all stages, from design problems to construction failures to lack of reliable maintenance. As most rural African villages do not have access to affordable energy, renewable energy sources may be the key to future development. By discovering the failures of yesterday, I hope to help predict the successes of tomorrow.
Catherine Brinkley, Wellesley College
Designing the Ark: Zoo Architecture and Its Influence on Conservation
Madagascar, South Africa, Ukraine, China, Sweden
My project focuses on the impact of zoo architecture on the promotion of environmental awareness. I will visit zoos in three countries that encompass some of the world's most unique fauna: Madagascar, South Africa, and the Ukraine. I will evaluate zoo architecture, by interviewing caretakers, researchers and visitors, focusing attention on: architecture of cages; housing that encourages breeding and natural behavior of the animals; and zoo species composition and its effect on views of conservation in key habitats.
Justin Brown, Willamette University
Barter Networks and Local Economies in the Age of Globalization
England, Thailand, Australia, South Africa
In England I plan to work with groups organizing the TimeBank system, as well as working with other groups involved in local economics and its international advocacy. In Thailand, I will work with people organizing a local currency system and regional market, in addition to participating in unofficial non-monetary trading groups. In Australia, I will live and work on a farm in Maleny and immerse myself in the work of the various cooperatives and cashless trading groups in the area. South Africa is home to several fledgling community currency projects in which I plan to volunteer my time. This will all be done following in the anthropological model of participant/observer.
Adar Cohen, Wheaton College
Unraveling the Knot: Rugs and National, Ethnic, and Religious Identity
Turkey, India, Peru and China
Rugs communicate aesthetic values, cultural histories, and even personal life stories. But do they offer another layer of meaning that may exist between the warp and weft of these functional household items and priceless masterpieces? Are aesthetic choices and weaving techniques also expressions of national, ethnic, and religious identities?
Maria Coryell-Martin, Carleton College
Ties to the Land: An Artistic Exploration of Remote Landscapes
China, French Polynesia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chile, Japan, Canada
Landscape, our surroundings and environment, shapes who we are, directs the rhythms of how we live, and serves as a record of our actions and beliefs. People perceive the land from many vantage points: scientifically, through recreation, through oral histories and myths, and through art. As a Watson Fellow, I will travel to a series of dramatically different remote regions where the landscape remains an intimate part of life and discover how people's emotional ties and connections to the land are strengthened and expressed through art. Using my own sketchbook to create a dialogue between locals and myself, I will learn to see the landscape through their eyes, exploring how we as artists and diverse individuals perceive and are affected by the land.
Stefani Crabtree, Scripps College
Medicinal Matriarchs: Women and Traditional Medicine in Oceania and Asia
Samoa, New Zealand, India, Vietnam
I will be studying the roles of Women in Traditional Medicine in Samoa, New Zealand, India and Vietnam. In India, Ayurveda has been established in a national network of hospitals. Vietnam is currently trying to develop a nationwide network of hospitals offering Vietnamese Traditional Medicine to the population. Fiji has recently decided to integrate traditional medicine in to the national healthcare system, creating a large-scale effort to record the knowledge of tribal women. In New Zealand, the disenfranchised Maori people carry on traditional medicine. Each of these countries offers a different perspective on traditional medicine as well as women's roles concerning such.
Katherine Cummings, University of the South
Compassionate Service as Religious Practice: Photographing Engaged Buddhism
Vietnam, India, New Zealand
Religious tenets like mindfulness and understanding are cultivated by one's actions as much as they are by sitting in silent meditation; the act of serving others therefore becomes a religious practice in itself. With the use of photography, I want to internationally explore how Buddhists' religious practice is manifest as service to others. By discovering the many ways that Buddhist communities are actively working to alleviate the suffering of people around them, I hope to learn how I can be a compassionate artist and engaged member of any culture into which I enter.
Kelly Cutchin, Berea College
Traditional Buildings and Their Application to Modern Ecological Design
Turkey, Tunisia, South Africa, Japan
In each of these distinctly different places, I will observe the traditional building systems that have evolved as a response to ecology and culture. Wherever possible, I will work with local builders to learn the craft of traditional building methods. In addition, I will work with people developing modern natural building methods in response to the specific current needs of their societies.
Elaine Denny, Williams College
Reaping Sustainability: Risks and Promises of Genetically Modified Crops
Mexico, India
I will visit India and Mexico as a scientist and global citizen, engaging with people both positively and negatively affected by genetically modified crops. Experiences shared with farming communities, NGOs, and research institutions will increase my awareness of agricultural biotechnology while shaping my plans for future work in sustainable development. A core component of my project is the creation of a photo documentary; I will combine images with facts and stories from my experience, educating viewers about the relevance and the complexities of GM agriculture.
Lesanna Dobrahner, Carleton College
Sometimes You Fall In: Mucking Around in Mingei
Scotland, Wales, New Zealand, Australia, Japan
A fall into a farm ditch nearly fifteen years ago ignited my love for clay. During the last three years at Carleton my passion for clay has endured and expanded to include my interest in sustainability. In a fusion of my love for both pottery and simple life, I will weave myself into the lives of functional potters in the countries of Scotland, Wales, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan. The most valuable aspect of my quest lays hidden in the personal connections with the individual potters, as they strive for functionality, form, and sustainability in the face of our commercial society. I seek the light of craft that can sustain not only in its use but also in its creation.
Jeffrey Dyer, Hamilton College
The Soul of the Khmer: Music of the Khmer People
Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam
I will learn the music of the Khmer, investigate the continuing effects of the Khmer Rouge on musicians and explore and participate in the revitalization of traditional, specifically folk Khmer music. The Khmer people have an ancient tradition of folk music that was devastated in the 1970s by the Khmer Rouge. Today, this music is entwined in the lives of the people but is still in danger of extinction. The time for resurrecting Khmer music is now.
Scott Ewart, Oberlin College
Tents, Stilts and the Primitive Hut: The Architecture of Extreme Climates
Mali, Russia, Bangladesh
I will travel to Mali, Russia and Bangladesh to work with builders in some of the hottest, coldest and wettest places on Earth. From the tents used by the nomadic Tuareg of Mali to the cities built on stilts above permafrost in Siberia and the structures in Bangladesh designed to be destroyed by yearly floodwaters, cultures in each region have developed unique architectural responses to their harsh environments. Studying everything from aesthetics to the social role of design, I will experience architecture unlike anything I know from a classroom or a construction site and gain new insights into building as I look ahead to a career as a designer and builder.
Yishay Garbasz, Bard College
In My Mother's Footsteps: A Journey Through the Landscape of One Holocaust
Germany, Holland, Czech Republic, Poland, France, Greece
In this project I will trace 13 years of my mothers life. She grew up in the Holocaust. I will trace those years in contemporary Europe by following in her footsteps 70 years later. This journey will take me to the places she was during these 13 years, yet this project is not about trying to recreate her past or relive it -- this is about using her path to explore and experience the land and terrain.
Tashinda Glover, Spelman College
Perceptions of Inequality: Expanding Justice to Include the Underprivileged
South Africa, Japan
I plan to research criminal justice in South Africa and Japan. I will specifically focus my study on the effect that the legal system has on the poor, i.e. how they defend the poor and how much access indigent citizens have to their rights. In Japan I also plan to focus on the death penalty and how indigent citizens are disproportionately affected.
Lauren Graber, Wesleyan University
Understanding Cross-Cultural Health Care for Refugees
Thailand, Egypt, Norway, India
Faced with different languages, resources, and lands, refugees and asylum-seekers are inherently vulnerable. Understandings of health and health care become challenged in these anxious, new situations. I want to understand how interpreters transcend the different health ideologies of their refugee patients and their providers in order to ensure more holistic care. In Kenya, Egypt, Thailand, and Norway, I want to interview interpreters, patients, and health-care providers, observe their interactions and assist with their care in a culturally sensitive manner.
Daniel Head, Rhodes College
From Messenger to Masochist: Cultural Motivations of Marathon Runners
Greece, Australia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Tanzania, South Africa
Very few people can explain why anyone would willingly subject themselves to the pain and agony of running a marathon, yet millions of runners, each year, throughout the world, participate in 26.2-mile races. By speaking with runners in six countries, I hope to learn about their motivations. Are motivations similar in different societies, or do they create a sub-culture that transcends national boundaries? This project will help me gain insight into my own motivation to run while exploring some puzzling questions associated with the intriguing paradox of marathoning.
Rachel Hoerman, Lawrence University
The Art of Isolation: Traditional Arts in a Modern World
Bhutan, Japan, Australia, China
A comparative study of printmaking and painting in several countries, this project will focus on artistic traditions that have survived in various forms to the present day, and how geographic isolation, cultural factors and various modern institutions have altered or aided the development of traditional art and artists.
Angela Jackson-Castain, Spelman College
Education for All?: A Comparative Study of Educational Disparities
Brazil, India, Egypt, Dominican Republic
My project is a comparative study of educational disparities within developing nation states. Through oral interviews in Brazil, India, Egypt, and the Dominican Republic, I intend to examine the emergence of educational disparities and unequal educational access and the ways in which they impact the lives of the people experiencing them.
Sarah Jacobson, Hendrix College
Heritage Management and the Search for National and Ethnic Identity
England, Spain, Mexico, Peru, Ukraine
This project examines heritage management policies and their relationship to national and ethnic identity. It creates a dialogue between practitioners of heritage management by looking at how England's imperial past affects its understanding of heritage, conducting a survey of sites to determine how the past is used to confirm ethnic identities in modern Spain, considering how differing policies of integrating indigenous peoples shapes archaeology in Mexico and Peru, and exploring the myriad of issues facing Ukraine's "Slavic Pompeii."
Sachin Kale, Swarthmore College
Power of Hope: Exploring the Socio-Religious Influences in Hospice Care
South Africa, India, Thailand
My desire to explore hospice care around the world stems from my belief that hospices, those sanctuaries where people with terminal illnesses come to die with dignity, are places full of hope. I will research hope - its origins, its expressions, and its revelations. In particular, I intend to explore how cultural outlooks on death and how religious traditions (both ritualistic and scriptural) create a sacred atmosphere in which patients and their nurses are able to interact with a sense of purpose and hope in the face of death.
Nathaniel Keller, College of the Atlantic
On and Off the Pitch: Exploring the International Language of Soccer
Croatia, England, Argentina, Brazil
I will investigate soccer's cultural and environmental influences in Croatia, England, Argentina, and Brazil. Growing up playing soccer on the street and watching soccer with international friends, I discovered the game's ability to bring people from diverse backgrounds together. Combining a love for soccer with my land-use and environmental studies, I will explore how and where soccer is played and the roles of race, class, religion, politics, ethnicity, land use, and geography by immersing myself in these soccer cultures and communities.
Megan Kennedy, Earlham College
Conscious Margins: Social Justice and the Discourse of Global Hip-Hop
France, Spain, Tanzania, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Dominican Republic
I will explore the relationship between hip-hop music and culture and movements for social justice among young people around the world. I will explore how hip-hop can be an effective tool for social transformation by appealing to and educating youth of privelege while engaging and empowering marginalized youth. I will also explore how hip-hop might silence local voices through cultural Americanization or homogenization.
Anna Kurien, Wellesley College
Creole in the Caribbean, Créole dans la Caraïbe
Jamaica, St. Lucia, Martinique, Haiti* or Guadeloupe
I am interested in studying the French-based Creoles of Haiti and Martinique, and the English-based Creoles of Jamaica and St. Lucia. I will be living primarily in villages and learning Creole informally as I am interested in subverting traditional formal forms of language education that rely on the written word, such as those that take place in schools and classrooms. This method of learning will be very people-based and will depend to a great extent on the relationships that I form within the host culture. I hope to further my understanding of the politics of the Creole language as it functions as a subaltern language in the context of French or English as the dominant languages.
Sarah Lawrence, Whitman College
Rafting and River Conservation on the World's Biggest, Wildest Water
Russia, Zambia, Chile, Peru, Ethiopia
I am going to explore rivers that are still wild and raging at the bottom of awesome canyons, before they are gone. I will train on technical whitewater with rafting companies, become intimate with the indigenous cultures, and volunteer for local river-conservation organizations. By living and working with river guides, local people, and conservationists I hope to fully experience the river communities and issues that surround each river. I will write about and photograph my unique experiences to share what I find in the spirit of the river. My Watson year will be a personal investigation, guiding me in the investment of my life in a future of international river conservation.
Richard Lechowick, Macalester College
The Ramayana: Cultural Expression Through Music and Dance
Thailand, India, Laos, Cambodia
I will learn the dance, drama, and music associated with the Indian epic, the Ramayana. Along the way, I will study how variations in nuance and performance express the values and beliefs of the local culture.
Grafe Lyons, Davidson College
Staff of Life: Bread and the Baker
France, Hungary, India, Vietnam, Trinidad
I was raised in the Deep South where cornbread and buttermilk biscuits are a mealtime staple. These breads remind me of home and comfort me when I am away. I have made bread for many years as both a hobby and a means of preserving a part of my upbringing. I look forward to meeting other people who identify themselves by bread as I do. I am excited to study their bread-making techniques and the nutritional aspects of bread consumption. This project will lead me to several countries including France, Hungary, India, Vietnam, and Trinidad to investigate the baking techniques and cultural characteristics of a variety of breads, including the baguette, bagel, matzo, chapati, rice cake, and banana bread.
Tara Martin, Harvey Mudd College
Finding the Inner Beat: Cultural Expression Through Movement
Brazil, Argentina, Cape Verde
Cultures are created and defined by their art, their music, and their dance. Whether to the beat of a single drum, or a full orchestra, movement is a universal mode of cultural expression. Social dance is a unique inlet to a culture. I will explore the cultures of Brazil, Argentina, and Cape Verde by learning about and participating in their dances.
Ellen McGehee, Willamette University
The Mountain Ethos: A Search for Commonality Through Music
Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, China, Papua New Guinea
Searching for a common thread in the music of mountain peoples, I will travel to the Andes, the Himalaya, Southwestern China, and the Pamir. In each of these places, I will investigate both the structure and the cultural context of the music, through listening and learning an instrument.
Devan McGranahan, Grinnell College
Sustainable Grazing and the Management of Native Mammals on African Ranches
Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya*
My project melds my empirical agricultural experience of growing up on a small family farm with a passion for ecologically sound farming alternatives sparked by my strong liberal-arts education. The practice of managing native animals on natural vegetation in southern Africa offers a crucial change in the philosophy of range management. By experiencing first-hand the grazing operations in Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, and hopefully Kenya, I will be in a unique position to introduce a new and successful methodology to agriculture in the U.S.
Selina Morales, Oberlin College
Creole Cupboards: Improvisation and Strength in Local Kitchens
Mexico, Guatemala, India, Brazil
Food tells stories in a way nothing else can -- it appeals to sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. This makes food a very important cultural element. Through food we can discover people and their tradtions which can include their belief systems, values, family structures, gender roles, work habits and daily lives. This project explores how the complex pasts of Mexico, Guatemala, India and Brazil have shaped food and the stories told about food.
Nguyen Nguyen, Bard College
Innovation and Tradition: Today's Young Vietnamese Musicians and Artists
Vietnam, Australia, France, Germany, Russia
I will explore how the emerging generation of musicians and artists in Vietnam and the Diaspora are expressing their unique perspectives through music and art and how they relate to traditional Vietnamese art forms. As I play with musicians, collaborate with young artists, and see live performances and exhibitions, I will develop an understanding of the new paths young Vietnamese artists are taking, and how they are using traditional Vietnamese art forms in innovative ways.
Filiberto Nolasco, Pitzer College
Education on the Margins: Pedagogy and Agency in Marginalized Communities
Guatemala, Brazil, South Africa, Northern Ireland
I will explore how culturally marginalized communities shape education discourse to negotiate agency. I plan to visit places where there are diverse approaches to challenging education to be inclusive. I will look at how reforms to education by marginalized communities support and shape larger social changes. I plan to actively engage in community throughout my research by working in schools, living with host families and meeting with different members of the community.
Janie Ondracek, Lawrence University
The Corners of the Table: An Exploration of Culinary Customs and Techniques
France, India, Japan
I plan to travel to France, India, and Japan to investigate: the pedagogical methods chefs use to instruct students; the technical and visual preparation of meals; and the habits, customs, and etiquette found in the social consumption of a meal.
Aaron Paige, Wesleyan University
Framing Culture: Sharing and Transmission of Arabic Rhythm
Egypt, Morocco, Ghana, United Kingdom
I propose to conduct a comparative study on the Arab/Arab-influenced frame drumming traditions of Egypt, Morocco, Ghana, and the United Kingdom. Using percussion as a vehicle to explore the construction of Arab identity (at home and abroad), I will examine and illuminate the ways in which complex cultural/musical boundaries are understood, negotiated, and enacted within different music cultures. By investigating the processes of musical change, influence, and transmission, I hope to better understand how these related drumming traditions interweave, intersect and resonate with and against one another.
Timothy Perkins, Rice University
Present-Day Bird Extinction in Latin America
Costa Rica, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela
South America, the continent with the highest avian diversity, is also home to over 150 endangered bird species. Sadly, many of these species are hovering on the brink of extinction, while the status of others remains uncertain. I will be carefully following a select set of species, ranging in various habitats across five Latin American countries, with the goal of adding to our knowledge about their conservation status. I am also interested in learning how the economic incentives created by touring birders affect the sustainability of these populations.
Karen Prager, Colby College
Faith Under Fire: Women of the Russian Orthodox Church
Russia
I will travel around Western Russia and interview Russian women over the age of sixty. I will ask them about their experiences with religion while Russia was under Communist rule. Through these interviews, I plan to learn what made these women decide to stay faithful to their church, even when the government said it was illegal. I also hope to discover how much control the government had over the Russian Orthodox community. To do this, I plan to conduct my interviews in cities and towns of different sizes and distances from Moscow, the government center.
Ethan Roland, Haverford College
Multi-Gene Cuisine: Tasting/Assaying the Apple's Global Diversity
Sweden, Kazakhstan, Japan, New Zealand, Chile
Apples, family Rosaceae genus Malus, are "extremely heterozygous." Each seed contains a shuffled version of its parent's genetic material, causing enormous variation from one generation to the next. This enables apple trees to thrive in numerous geographical and climatic situations, establishing an extensive pool of diversity around the world. To research, explore, and understand the apple I will study two distinct aspects of its diversity: Traditional morphological genetics and regional culinary traditions. As I travel I will create a map of the globe's apple-science and apple-food, layering seeds and recipes into a delicious understanding of natural diversity.
William Roush, Middlebury College
Envisioning a Changing Alpine Environment Through Repeat Photography
Canada, New Zealand, Norway
Working independently and learning from local scientists I will use ground-based repeat photography and tree-coring to measure the change in tree-line position, density and composition in the mountains of Canada, New Zealand, and Norway over the past 140 years. I will search archives for historical photos, locate and re-take these photos, and analyze the photo-pairs and tree cores. Collaborating with researchers studying botany, ecology, geology, Geographic Information Systems, climate change and photography I will examine the effect climate change has on alpine areas. This project will allow me to learn from local experts and pioneer the use of repeat photography as a way to study alpine ecosystems.
Paul Seifert, Washington and Lee University
Where Fishing Is Life: Recording Angling Cultures With Paint and Poetry
Cameroon, Mozambique, India, Malaysia, Peru, Brazil
I want to engage myself with people whose livelihood hinges on fishing. I want to live in small coastal angling communities in the tropics where a reliance on catching fish--a constant struggle with sun, salt, and surf--causes fishing to seep into other parts of the culture: into everything from art to religion, architecture to education, clothes to cuisine, lore to legend. Moreover, I want to document that struggle--the daily routine around the water--and its cultural influences with poetry and with paintings, drawings, and prints.
Nathan Senner, Carleton College
Journeying to the Ends of the Earth: Searching for Hudsonian Godwits
Canada, Panama, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Mexico
I will search for and camp alongside Hudsonian Godwits on their yearly migration from the Canadian arctic to Tierra del Fuego. The exact stops that make up the migration remain a great mystery, so my trip will be a combination of exploring known sites and discovering new stops, all the while experiencing the birds' amazing twice-yearly journey. By following the godwits to the ends of the earth and back I will not only fulfill a great longing to travel with the birds, but also discover how I am able to live, work, and learn in this vast world.
Caroline Shaw, Rice University
European Gardens as Music: Walking Through Western Aesthetics
France, Italy, England, Spain, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Greece, Sweden
I will explore Western musical aesthetics through the great European gardens and compose a series of works for string quartet based on a translation of the aesthetic elements of the garden into music. This perception of the gardens cannot be achieved through viewing pictures, since the garden is an art existing in time as well as space, and it is conceived with different perspectives and sensual elements in mind. Both the objective, aerial view and the subjective, ground-level experience of the garden will contribute to the consideration of the dynamic and static elements of music. The project is as much about my existence as a performer (violinist in a string quartet) as it is about my composing, since the creative act grounds my understanding and interpretation of music.
Eric Studt, College of the Holy Cross
Latin American Liturgical Music: Let the Dance Begin
Mexico, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil
I will explore how dance rhythms are expressed in the liturgical music of South America. The project will include visiting musicians and musicologists, attending liturgical celebrations, participating in religious processions, and observing the folk music and dance in Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil. It will be interesting to see how the various instruments used in liturgies, such as guitars, percussion instruments, and the organ, highlight dance rhythms in their own ways and how this varies from country to country. Attending concerts will allow me to experience how the earlier forms of liturgical music influence modern composition.
Tony Tiu, Pomona College
Chinatowns Around the World: Chinese Diaspora Through Stories and Photographs
Germany, England, France, Peru, South Africa, Australia
I will visit Chinatowns around the world and explore "place and identity" through stories and photography. I will interview Chinese immigrants and members of the community around them. How has this new country changed them, and how have they changed this new country? How do they perceive themselves, and how do locals perceive them? Through photography, I will then document conditions and environments of each Chinatown and identify differences and commonalities among them, such as the integration with local community. I will also see how Chinese food has changed to accommodate local customs.
Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez, Pomona College
Needing to Know: An Exploration of Curanderas, Fear, and My Grandmother
Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia
Through a chance encounter at my grandmother's funeral, I discovered that there are several curanderas in my lineage. Curanderas are women healers who perform treatments that range from healing illness to cleansing the soul, reversing the effects of curses, and even predicting the future. My grandmother purposely hid that part of her family history, because she feared curanderas and considered them evil. My project is an experiential study of curanderas, which involves interacting with and learning about curanderas in Latin America. I will study them as individuals and study their role in their respective societies, and try to figure out why my grandmother feared them.
Sarah Zarrow, Vassar College
Musical Reinventions: Exploring the "Klezmer Revival" in Europe
Italy, Hungary, Germany, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova
I will study the revival and revitalization of Klezmer music in Eastern Europe (Moldova, Poland, Hungary), Germany, Italy, and the Former Soviet Union (Russia and Ukraine) using ethnographic, photographic, and music performance-related and historical research methods.
Qi Zheng, Grinnell College
Magic Bullet or Water Gun: Perception and Use of Antibiotics
Ireland, The Netherlands, Singapore, Thailand
I plan to investigate people's attitudes toward antibiotics in Western Europe and Southeast Asia and examine how cultural traditions, economic development and social regulations influence the clinical use of antibiotics. Through participant observation, shadowing and interviewing health professionals and patients, and studying local policy regarding antibiotic usage, I will explore the influence of human interactions on medical practice.
Christopher Zink, Colorado College
Learning the Ancient Language of Nonviolence
Mali, India
My objective is to become fluent in the language of nonviolence, as captured by the Sanskrit notion of ahimsa and the healing rhythms of Mali. To live these languages, to create harmony through communication, I will spend four months in Mali and eight months in India. While in Mali I will learn healing rhythms with master drummers and participate in ceremonies both in Bamako as well as in more rural regions. In India I will study the Bhagavad Gita in Sanskrit at an ashram in Rishikesh and travel to the southwest of India exploring the life of Gandhi and the use of nonviolence in grassroots activism.
*Travel to this country is permitted only if the U.S. State Department lifts its travel warning, in place as of March 10, 2004
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