Oscar Baez, Amherst College
Language Activism: Safeguarding Linguistic Heritage in Multilingual Societies
Spain, Morocco, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, Singapore, Malaysia
Language is a tool of empowerment and oppression. As globalization and international migration threaten linguistic rights, minority groups are struggling to preserve their cultural heritage against language policies that institutionalize assimilation. By tackling the policy side, and learning about its effects from the people themselves, I will conduct a comparative study of government management of linguistic diversity. Language is the voice of a community's culture; I seek to explore how this unique voice is being silenced, and the best ways to make it heard.

Cedric Bien, Wesleyan University
Documenting the Chinese Diaspora: A Photographic Ethnography of Chinatowns
Peru, Paraguay, Brazil, Italy, Ethiopia, Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, China, Spain, United Kingdom
Chinatowns around the world thrive as cultural meccas and as testament to the Chinese diaspora. Often faced with discrimination, people of Chinese descent have turned inward to form vibrant communities and to carry on their cultural traditions. I will create a photographic ethnography of the diaspora, visually documenting Chinese communities in different parts of the world. I will explore the cultural topography of these communities, in order to understand and experience how others, who share my ancestral homeland, have established their roots in different soils.

Joseph Bornstein, Whitman College
Encountering Activism: Philosophies and Strategies of Environmental Justice
Honduras, India, Brazil Cost Rica, Guatemala, France, The Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom
Promoting environmental justice is the great task of my generation. But the strategies and philosophies of how we can best foster a healthy, safe and productive environment are still in contention. By examining the approaches taken at the local, regional, national and international levels of operation, I seek to understand the ethical and pragmatic advantages and disadvantages for each method.

Catherine Branch, Rice University
Disability and Art: Exploring the Possibility in Artistic Expression
Ireland, United Kingdom, Australia
As an individual with physical challenges, I am keenly aware of the unease and misunderstanding disability can evoke. Disabled people often need to utilize alternative methods of self expression and communication. Artistic expression is unique in that it allows for a universally accessible dialogue. Communication between the disabled and non-disabled has the potential to eliminate stereotypes, to allow people to embrace individuality as the stuff that adds richness to life. As a Watson fellow, I hope to explore and advocate the possibility in artistic expression.

Mary Childs, Washington and Lee University
The Eye of the Beholder: the Cartography of Faces
France, Rwanda, United Arab Emirates, China, Japan, Peru, Australia, Indonesia, Brazil, Ghana, Morocco, Switzerland, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, United Kingdom
Every location in the world looks different, but more interestingly, every inhabitant reflects those differences. How does a bone structure show a mountain range? Why do jawlines sharpen and nostrils flare depending on the ground from which they sprang? I will explore a new cartography: map-making with faces. I will trace cultures as they manifest themselves in their own people. I will articulate the topography of a land through portraiture, in pencil, ink, oil pastels, watercolor, or acrylic.

Megan Colnar, Rhodes College
In Peaces: Nonviolence and Reconciliation Movements
India, South Africa, Rwanda, Chile, United Kingdom, Ireland
Political Science teaches that reconciliation is secondary to the role of states and economics. The nonviolence movement believes that reconciliation is a crucial step to ending the cyclical nature of conflict. I plan to study the process of reconciliation as it seeks to heal individuals and communities ravaged by conflict. My goal is to interact with individuals who have endured oppression and violence to understand the role nonviolent reconciliation has played, and can play, in healing wounds. And, perhaps, reconcile the academic and the activist in me along the way.

Linn Davis, Grinnell College
Investigating the Investigators: Journalism in Two Developing Democracies
South Africa, India
I plan to study how journalists in India and South Africa use public-interest investigative journalism to hold government accountable. During a six-month stay in each country, I will shadow working journalists and editors at English-language news sources, work at media-freedom NGOs, visit journalism schools and participate in newsgathering hands-on. I hope to determine whether journalists feel free to pursue in-depth reporting. Crusading journalists aided both countries' independence and democracy movements with pointed government critique; do they still?

Zachary Devlin-Foltz, Macalester College
"Tú no sirves!" Sports Slang and the Meaning of Athletic Competition
Paraguay, Argentina, Mexico
Sports can be a form of communication, reflecting broader social issues. Sports also create their own words and phrases. My project studies the informal Spanish language used by players within baseball and soccer games, using it to examine the interchange between sport and society.

Emilie DeWulf, University of Puget Sound
When Wild Meets the West: Preserving Horse Breaking, a Diverse Art at Risk
Mongolia, Iceland, Morocco, Namibia, Brazil, Portugal
My immersion in diverse practices of horsemanship will provide me with a critical perspective on the revolution provoked by natural horsemanship in horse training. By observing horses in different settings and tasks, by experiencing the success or failure of traditional tack and training methods in the wake of western influence and tourism, and by learning these practices before they are lost entirely, I will establish a platform from which I can analyze the state of and help to preserve original horse knowledge.

Wren Elhai, Swarthmore College
Who Needs Instruments? Mouth Music and Vocal Imitation
Hungary, South Africa, Tuva-Russian Federation, United Kingdom, India, Belgium, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Denmark
Most often, the voice carries the melody of a song. But that's just the start of what it can do. I will spend a year studying traditions that stretch the capabilities of the human voice-using it as a rhythm section to support other singers or dancers, imitating other instruments or capturing the soundscape of the natural world.

Adam Forbes, Pitzer College
Crops and Cultures: The Preservation of Heirloom Varieties
Thailand, India, Italy, Ethiopia, Greece, Peru, Canada
The loss of traditional crop varieties is not only a loss of ecological biodiversity, but a destruction of cultures and farming systems worldwide. My study will investigate the cultural context of heirloom varieties, their propagation, and the range of efforts being taken to preserve seeds. I will run my fingers through piles of rare grains, watch the sun setting between the last corn varieties untouched by genetic modification, taste the uniqueness of heirloom vegetables, and explore how agricultural diversity relates to cultural and ecological preservation.

Gemina Garland-Lewis, Colgate University
Consume or Conserve? Cross-Cultural Differences in How We Value Whales
Portugal, South Africa, New Zealand, Japan, Norway, Tonga, Argentina
Whales are part of many cultural stories, and their presence is seen throughout history in religious texts, art, and even the night sky. Various countries have responded to the 1986 global moratorium on whaling in different ways, including continuing whaling through scientific and subsistence permits, increasing ecotourism and conservation research, and rejecting the moratorium and continuing commercial whaling. I plan to explore the differences in the cultural valuing of whales, both historically and environmentally, within a variety of pro- and anti-whaling nations.

Daniel Gessner, Oberlin College
The Choices We Make: Diverse Perspectives on Health Care
United Kingdom, Sweden, South Africa, India, New Zealand
In clinics and hospitals, and in universities and libraries, Dan studied the cultures, logistics, and practicalities of diverse health care systems. Through the eyes of patients, doctors, and academics, he saw how health care choices reflect the ethics, politics, and socioeconomics of a particular place, and explored whether government or market intervention improves the quality, allocation, and accessibility of health care.

Alexander Gibson, Berea College
They Call Us Dust Children: An Exploration of Biracial Identity
Japan, South Africa, Vietnam, Venezuela, India, Singapore
As a biracial person I've struggled with finding my place in a country preoccupied with black and white. However, when you are born gray you quickly realize that either you or the world around must change. I have always wanted to travel around the world gathering an understanding of how biracial people across the planet have dealt with their question of racial and ethnic identity/s, but I have never had a platform. Identity struggles manifest themselves most profoundly in former colonies, for that reason I want to travel to Venezuela, Vietnam, India, and South Africa.

Teal Greyhavens, Whitman College
Moving Pictures Around the World
United Kingdom, India, China, Tunisia
Movies today are at an unprecedented level of globalization, and their styles and societal roles are so varied that films from one country may be adored across an ocean but unknown in a neighboring country. I want to know what people all over the world have in mind when they go to the movies. If selected as a Watson fellow, I will make a documentary video about global cinema culture, in search of the shared experiences of filmgoers around the world.

Rachel Gross, University of Puget Sound
Mountain Hut Systems and the Meaning of Wilderness
Switzerland, United Kingdom, Finland, Chile, India, Tanzania, Norway
My goal is to hike the mountain hut systems of the backcountries of Switzerland, Scotland, Finland, Chile, India, and Tanzania and to converse with different groups of people who converge there in order to explore the way they define their presence and purpose in the wilderness. Exploring the actions as well as the philosophies that guide mountain hut visitors, up-keepers, and locals will give me insight into the larger question of how each group develops its own sense of what wilderness is and how to experience it.

Gregory Hartt, Hamilton College
Looking to the Horizon: African Views of Climate Change and the Environment
South Africa, Madagascar, Tanzania, Cameroon, Senegal
Global warming and environmentalism have recently become popular topics in Western culture. In non-Western areas of the world, however, the exact perception of these ideas remains unclear. I will travel to five different African nations to study climate change and environmentalism. Through work with scientists and policymakers in urban centers, I will understand the scientific and political aspects of these problems. In rural settings, I will work with farmers to understand the changing effects of and responses to these ideas in agricultural practices and daily life.

Brian Hockaday, Colorado College
The Sum of Us: Sexual Identity and Gay Communities in the New Urban World
South Korea, Vietnam, India, Turkey, South Africa, Brazil, Japan, Thailand
Massive rural-urban migration in recent years has borne a wealth of new urban landscapes where local values meet a global way of life. As it becomes easier for same-sex persons to meet for sex and relationships, new queer communities are forming, influenced by their cultural background, individual histories, and an increasingly global gay community. In my Watson year I will investigate what it means to be a gay man in six major cities, what local and global factors have shaped this identity, and how these individuals have integrated it into their life stories.

Steven Holleran, Bowdoin College
Fading Into the Blue: Sustainable Fisheries in the South Pacific
New Zealand, Samoa, Chile
Last year, Americans alone consumed five billion pounds of seafood and spent forty-five billions dollars in seafood restaurants. The UN predicts that by 2030 there will be a 40 million ton global shortage of fish. What few seem to realize is that as expansive as our oceans are, fisheries will not continue to exist if we treat them as inexhaustible resources. I will explore this issue by shooting film footage that investigates methods for creating sustainable fisheries in the last un-violated but unregulated area of ocean on our planet, the South Pacific High Seas.

William Hunt, Middlebury College
Notes from the Underground: Unearthing the Stories of the Subterranean
France, Russia, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Poland, Laos, India, Vietnam, Egypt, Austria, Malta, Ukraine
The demon Mephistopheles tells Dr. Faustus, "mysteries are at home in the darkness." I want to explore the mysteries that are at home beneath the streets of cities around the world. The tunnels, grottoes and crypts of the urban subterranean are a breeding ground for stories that are waiting to be written. Armed with headlamp, notebook, and pen, I will descend into the underground as an urban spelunker-journalist to explore and write about these stories.

Huaising Cindy Ko, California Institute of Technology
Traditional Healing: Antithesis or Inspiration to Western Medicine?
Peru, Chile, China, South Africa, Ghana, Benin, India
Every culture has traditional way of healing that has been practiced for generations as part of a way of life. In the contemporary world, these traditional healing methods exist alongside modern Western medicine, which is often seen as an opposing philosophy. However, the relationship between traditional and Western medicine can differ greatly from region to region. On my Watson year, I will examine how patients navigate their healthcare in countries with varying levels of conflict, cooperation, and integration between the two medicinal methodologies.

Andrew Krauss, Union College
In the Pursuit of Speed: Evolution in Outrigger Canoeing
Tonga, Cook Islands, Samoa, Marshall Islands, New Zealand, New Caledonia
For my Fellowship year I will travel to the Cook Islands, Tahiti, and Tonga where outrigger canoeing has advanced from being a means of transportation and fishing to a racing sport. Due to limited resources designers attempting to advance the sport tend to employ a methodology that relies on adaptation or trial and error. I will work with the local builders and paddle with local clubs: testing the innovations they have made, learning about the thought process, and tracking the evolution of boat design.

Jesse Kremenak, Ursinus College
A Vehicle for Expression: The Customized Automobile
Japan, China, Australia, India, Czech Republic
In an age of global economies where products are produced uniformly in the millions, countries' traditions and cultures collide with globalization. People in these countries use automobile customization as a venue to express their individuality. These individuals are buying into a global phenomenon where local traditions and external influences alter the customized product. I will analyze how local culture influences these incredible products of self-expression.

Rebecca Littman, Wesleyan University
Victim and Perpetrator: Reintegrating the Former Child Soldier
Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Uganda, Rwanda
In many conflicts around the world today, governments and rebel groups abduct or forcibly recruit children into their armed forces. As conflicts come to an end, societies are faced with the challenge of reintegrating these children. During my Watson year, I will explore the factors contributing to the development of policies and programs aimed at reintegrating former child soldiers in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. I will look at the "hows" and "whys" of these policies and programs by talking to the people directly involved in shaping and implementing them.

Jessica Lockard, Sarah Lawrence College
"THE BEST LAID PLANS": Exploring Modernist Architecture and Planned Cities
Ethiopia, India, Tanzania, Brazil, Russia, Mongolia
I want to explore the lived realities of modernist planned cities and study their role in the formation of national and individual identities. Basing my study on local struggles for architectural preservation, I will examine the ways in which the cement forms and utopian visions of these cities express both a global "international style" and a local heritage. By making site-specific artwork and interviewing people who live their lives in, alongside, or in resistance to these cities, I hope to record an unofficial history of modernism's most ambitious projects.

David Kit Martin, Bard College
Miniscule Wonders: The Effect of Four Ant Species' Behavior
Brazil, Jordan, Tanzania, Senegal
I have always wanted to know how the system inhales and exhales: all the parts moving together to make an integrated whole. In this project I will observe four species of ants and photographically document their lives, and share the result with their human neighbors in an attempt to redefine the confrontational nature of the relationship between two of the most successful species on the planet. All this will be done to better understand how dynamic systems relate to each other, by placing two in a closer relationship.

Brendan McCollam, Pomona College
Coding the Revolution: Discovering a Radical Philosophy in Free Software
The Netherlands, Germany, France, Croatia, Slovenia, Argentina, Chile, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Brazil
I will examine the intersection between free software and social activism in techno-activist communities. I will explore the free software community around the world and contribute to the activities of groups involved in providing free access to technology and information.

Jennifer McKenzie, Willamette University
"...Women echoed each other": Breaking Silence With the Vagina Monologues
Mexico, India, Spain, South Africa, United Kingdom, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Thailand, Cambodia
I will explore empowerment and community forged among international casts of the Vagina Monologues. Through observing the process of college, community, and professional productions I will experience how actresses have indigenized the American themes to make the play their own. I will explore cultural and linguistic translations of shows in Mexico, India, Spain, and South Africa. I will gauge its reception in the press and through interviews. Photographs and film will render my personal reflection in visual terms which have ethnographic and personal significance.

Matthew Mohorovich, College of the Holy Cross
All that Jazz: Feeling the Beat in the Balkans
Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bosnia, Slovenia, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, Ukraine
Jazz is not just a form of music. Jazz is a way to envision a community beyond ethnic and religious divides. It is a state of mind that values difference and diversity; individualism and yet community. It is something that gives life meaning when it seems to have none. Jazz offers a way of responding to suffering in life. There is something about Jazz that speaks to people who suffer. There is something about people who suffer that speaks to Jazz. I want to experience this something, as a Jazz musician myself, in the Balkans.

Juan Navarrete, Earlham College
The Cartoonist's Pen is Mightier than The Sword: Exploring the Impact of Political Cartoons
Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Uruguay
Cartoons are a widely accessible form of communication which deliver their message through laughter. They shake us physically with laughter and can simultaneously rock our understanding of the status quo. They can be highly educational, and many political cartoons raise issues which otherwise receive little attention from the press. Latin America provides a superbly interesting site to research the impact of such cartoons due to the numerous movements of liberation which have shaped the region. Cartoons are cheap to print, and a predominately Spanish-speaking Latin America provides an enormous audience for the enterprising cartoonist with social transformation on his agenda. Exploring their tradition will educate me on strategies for social change, bring me in contact with socially conscious artists, and expand my knowledge of Latin America's struggle for liberation.

Sean Noonan, Carleton College
Breaking Away: Competitive Cycling Culture in Australia, Africa, and Europe
Australia, Morocco, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Luxembourg
I will look at how culture shapes athletic competition and performance across the world by participating in mountain bike stage races in Australia, Africa and Europe. I will train and live in these locations in preparation for each race. These local cultures will have a large impact on each race, from teamwork and competition to food, lodging and spectators. The best way to see a new place is from behind the handlebars.

Hector Pascual Alvarez, Macalester College
Social Acupuncture: The Theater Director in Community-Based Performance
Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, United Kingdom
I will explore the role of the theater director in different community-based performance settings. By participating in the rehearsal and performance process I hope to understand how theater directors work to make extraordinary links between theater and their societies, illuminating their community's condition and creating relevant and inspiring art.

Graciela Paz Arias, Grinnell College
Into the Young Mind of a Cultural Revolutionary: Retracing Che's Travels
Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia
My proposal entails retracing Che's travels and compiling photographic essays of my travels. Just like Che, I will travel to many different sites, mostly in rural areas, by whatever means possible and establish connections with the people and the places. The purpose of the photographic essays is to make a direct comparison between Latin America in the 1950s to what is now based on Guevara's photographs and descriptions from his book The Motorcycle Diaries.

Ana Maria Rey Martinez, College of the Atlantic
Testimonials of Former Coca Growers
Peru, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Morocco
For decades illegal drugs have been destabilizing Colombia. For the highly profitable cocaine millions of Colombians have been killed and 3 million have been displaced from their lands. Drugs have been a force that has made a mockery of all our agonizing hopes for peace. This situation has been shared by other countries in Latin America. I will embark on a search for life histories and testimonials of former coca growers in Bolivia and Peru.

Valeria Rojas-Infantas, Lawrence University
Ethnic Discrimination and Social Exclusion in Latin America
Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador
Discrimination against indigenous people is a widely accepted practice in Latin America. Both my personal experience with discrimination and the cultural heritage I share with the indigenous people allow me to personally understand their situation. I will study ethnic discrimination and social exclusion by living with the Mapuche, Aymara and Quechua indigenous communities in Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Ecuador. I will engage in a personal discovery of cultural identity, while fighting for my ideals of equality and justice in Latin America.

Sanna Ronkainen, Rice University
Developing Diabetes Education in Developing Countries
South Africa, Tanzania, Argentina, India, Tonga, Hong Kong, Belgium
To gain a comprehensive understanding of diabetes in developing countries, I will explore diabetes education with three foci: First, I will partner with diabetes associations to investigate public health initiatives such as diabetes prevention and awareness programs. Second, I will shadow doctors and other local health care professionals who educate patients on diabetes management. Third, I will engage in structured, qualitative, one-on-one interviews with diabetic community members as well as their families about the education they have received about diabetes.

Morgann Ross, Spelman College
On Pointe: Curves, Color and Colonialism
United Kingdom, South Africa, Bermuda, France, Guadeloupe, Senegal, Egypt
On Pointe: Curves, Color, and Colonialism is a project that will explore if the traditional ballerina body images affects ballerina women of color internationally. Also, by studying ballet in former European colonies in Africa and the West Indies I will learn if the different company's methods mimic that of their European colonizers or if there has been a transformation of traditional ballet, and the traditional ballet image, for aesthetic and cultural purposes.

Dane Roth, Vassar College
Characters on the Wall: Grafitti, the Search for a Political Voice in China
China, Japan
The purpose of my project is to examine the use and development of graffiti in China as a means for politically disenfranchised groups to spread their political and social messages. The political and cultural history of China provide the basis for a unique interaction with graffiti, both as a means of political protest and as an artform. For my project I would travel to various locations in China meeting with graffiti communities and artists to discover their motivations and attitudes about graffiti.

Nikolas Sherrow-Groves, Harvey Mudd College
The Impact of Structural Failure in Earthquake-Prone Countries
Japan, El Salvador, Peru, India
Earthquakes are one of the most catastrophic causes of structural failure. As a student hoping to be a structural engineer, I believe the best way for me to understand the true impact of my work is to examine the personal, human impact of this type of disaster. I will travel to countries where earthquake damage has been especially severe, and investigate this damage from the perspective of both survivors and local engineers. I hope to come home from my project with a fundamental, gut-level understanding of what my work as a structural engineer will mean.

Ryan Shields, Amherst College
Investigating Healthcare in Post-Genocidal Societies
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda, Cambodia, Kosovo, Uganda
My project will examine healthcare and its relationship to societies during and after genocide. I will look specifically at the transformative role of doctors and patients and what methods work to heal and rehabilitate destroyed medical systems. Through interviews with medical professionals and volunteer work in hospitals, I hope to discover a better understanding of how people can treat patients in post-genocidal countries.

Cecilia Sibony, Colgate University
Muslim Voices on the 20th Century Jewish Migration
Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, France, Spain
The 20th century witnessed a mass demographic phenomenon as over 800,000 Jews left their homes in the Muslim lands of the Middle East. While the Jewish and Western account of this emigration is well documented, I have found that the Muslim point of view is less prevalent in English. I will explore and compare the Muslim perspectives on the sociopolitical circumstances of each country before and during the migration, in order to obtain a more complete picture of the factors affecting the Jewish decisions to emigrate.

Michael Stout, Pomona College
Transitions of Sport Culture: Win at All Costs Versus the Spirit of the Game
Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, Australia, Canada, Brazil, Thailand, India, China
Modern sport culture places such a high premium on winning at all costs that often the spirit of competition and camaraderie are subjugated by the lust for victory. I seek to examine the rapidly expanding sport of Ultimate Frisbee in countries where it is still in its infancy and surrounded by a hyper-competitive sport culture in order to see how the self-officiating and conflict resolution is implemented. I want to determine if international rivalries and entrenched behaviors can be overcome enough to play the sport in accordance with the spirit of the game.

Lukas Strickland, Reed College
Through the Net: Artisanal Fishing Communities in a Climate of Change
Morocco, Cameroon, Mozambique
As oceans become warmer and the fingers of globalization reach further into traditional lifestyles, fisheries are particularly vulnerable to change. I will venture to rural fishing communities and join the locals in pursuit of anchovies, squid, and other sea life in a hands-on exploration of the relationship between fishermen and their changing environment.

Chris Tolles, Rhode Island School of Design
I Am Safe Here: A Survey of Emergency and Post-Emergency Shelter Designs
Switzerland, Norway, Liberia, Honduras
Working closely with multinational aid agencies, I will travel to a number of different countries hit by different humanitarian crises - natural disasters, civil wars, and others. Using an anthropological approach to design evaluation, I will develop a deep understanding of each culture for the purpose of studying the way different emergency shelter designs are implemented. What are the various strengths and weaknesses of current shelter designs? How can they be improved upon by employing a greater cultural specificity to each location?

Magdalena Wierzbicka, Hamilton College
In the World of Words: Exploring Creole Culture through an Oral Lens
Guadeloupe, Martinique, Seychelles, New Caledonia
French Creoles are primarily oral languages of limited official recognition, but whose examination brings new light to cross-cultural sociolinguistics. By engaging in social and cultural activities, I will examine French Creoles speakers' cultural and demographic diversity. Participating in daily activities and traditional festivals, and working with Creole cultural preservationists I will examine the importance of oral cultural transmission in the modern world.

Ru-Shyan Yen, Wheaton College
Paths of Molten Wax on Volatile Cloth: A Journey of Transformation
Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, United Kingdom, Ghana, Mali, The Gambia, Indonesia, Senegal
The transformation of a blank piece of fabric into a work of art using wax and dye is the definition of a batik. The end creation is a reflection of the artist, and the cultures and ideas that influenced them. As an artist, I will travel to study the different techniques of batik-making and in each country, create my own designs on cloth. From all corners of my vast canvas will materialize the rich variety of cultures that I find. This meeting and merging of different designs and patterns is how both my art and I will be transformed.

Mackensie Yore, Wellesley College
Cleft Lip to Clubfoot: Cultural Constructions of Congenital Anomalies
Argentina, China, Ghana, India, Ireland
Congenital anomalies are often attached to considerable social stigma that encumbers ability of people who have them to lead healthy, productive lives. I seek to explore, and learn how to change, stigmatizing attitudes towards people with birth defects. I will focus on how attitudes, culturally-engendered, affect access to medical services that detect and treat cleft lip, spina bifida, and clubfoot. I will interview people with birth defects and use photography to capture their interactions with their communities.

John Zirkle, Colorado College
Singing through the Staves: Choirs and Vocal Ensembles in Eastern Europe
Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Estonia, Croatia, Bosnia/Hercegovina, Russia, Ukraine, Japan
From the first time a piece of sheet music is put into a chorister's hand to the final performance, the journey of a part-song, motet, or chanson from the stave to the stage is nothing short of a death-defying roller coaster ride. During my year abroad, I intend to fully submerge myself in the vocal ensemble music of one of the most chorally dense regions of the world: Eastern Europe. By listening to, observing, and singing with different groups in each nation, I hope to discover how Eastern European choirs approach this magnificent and highly expressive artform.