Spring 2010

in the world Spring 2010

Emory University Since 1836 Atlanta, Georgia USA

This special double issue of Emory in the World delivers captivating stories from home and abroad. Heartfelt thanks to the many internationally engaged faculty, staff, students, and alumni who tell their stories in this issue. China, Korea, Turkey, Kenya, Ghana, Ecuador, Australia—these are just some of the countries whose people, as you will read, left lasting impressions on Emory visitors.

Today there are more possibilities for students to receive financial assistance to study abroad than ever before.

Discover more in the article by Kenya Casey, assistant director for the Center for International Programs Abroad.

There are also many opportunities at Emory for international engagement.

This issue features just a few examples from this year.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter described China-U.S. relations as “the most important bilateral relationship in the world” when he addressed Emory students on campus and met with leaders from the Confucius Institute in Atlanta—a partnership among Emory, Atlanta Public Schools, and Nanjing University. U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer visited Emory as the Turkish Lecture Series speaker this year and offered a powerful message about the importance of women despite the inequality they face in every country of the world. This issue contains the students’ Q&A with President Carter and highlights from Ambassador Verveer’s remarks.

South Korea’s Honorable Dr. Han Wan-Sang 67PhD delivered a compelling lecture at Emory, telling his nation’s history through his own life story; that piece is online for a global audience <www.youtube.com/user/EmoryUniversity>. This year, President James Wagner presented Dr. Han with the Sheth Distinguished International Alumni Award and Juliette Stapanian Apkarian with the Marion V. Creekmore Award for Internationalization. I urge you to read more about these impressive individuals in this issue.

To strengthen the ties between Emory and India, leaders in business, diplomacy, media, and health came together on campus just as we went to press. The Emerging India Summit is the brainchild of Emory students, who formed a coalition and garnered support across the University. Between panels, participants walked in the digital footsteps of celebrated author and Emory University Distinguished Writer in Residence Salman Rushdie, whose archive opened recently to the public in Emory’s Robert W. Woodruff Library, and visited the Michael C. Carlos Museum’s breathtaking exhibition on ancient Indian jewelry, which you can read more about in this issue.

Whether you are at home or abroad, possibilities for international engagement abound. Visit Emory’s international website <www.international.emory.edu> for more information about opportunities abroad and the many centers, programs, and institutes on campus.

Holli A. Semetko Vice Provost for International Affairs Director, Office of International Affairs and The Claus M. Halle Institute for Global Learning Professor of Political Science

(Top) Emory University Distinguished Writer in Residence Salman Rushdie addresses the audience at the opening of his multimedia exhibition “A World Mapped by Stories: The Salman Rushdie Archive,” currently on display in the Emory Library’s Schatten Gallery.

(Middle) The Honorable Dr. Han Wan-Sang 67PhD delivers a compelling lecture at Emory on his nation’s history through his own life story.

(Above) Nanjing University’s Associate Vice President Zhou Xian presents a work of art to Emory’s Provost Earl Lewis at the launch of the EmoryNanjing Visiting Scholars Program.

in the world Spring 2010

Contents

ASIA 12 A Semester at Yonsei University 22 Finding My Way in China

ATLANTA 8

24 Imagining a Smoke-Free China

When Gold Blossoms

16 Melanne Verveer: U.S. Ambassador-atLarge for Global Women’s Issues

EUROPE

18 A Dialogue with President Jimmy Carter 14 Following in the Footsteps of T. S. Eliot 36 Recognizing Excellence at 34 My Fulbright in Istanbul Was International Awards Night a True Turkish Delight 38 Scholarships for Globally Minded Students

26 ‘Jack from America’ 40 Serving Many Miles from Home

AMERICAS 6

Finding Clues in Ancient Soil

32 Exploring Shamanism in Ecuador

AFRICA 4

A South-South Success Story

30 A Face to the Numbers

AUSTRALIA 2

Evolution Down Under

28 Hearing Each Other at the Parliament of World Religions

Office of International Affairs | Box 52, Administration Building, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322 Tel: 404.727.7504 Fax: 404.727.2772 | www.international.emory.edu Cover: Red Chinese lanterns

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Emory in the World | 1

Evolutio Down Under

By Ant hony J . M a rt i n Inverloch Victoria, Australia

The dinosaur track was not the best I had seen.

Nonetheless, it had two well-defined toe prints and outlines of a fleshy foot and clawmarks, a vestige denoting the presence of a carnivore on that very spot more than 115 million years ago. Judging from the length of the footprint and some rough calculations, the dinosaur’s hip would have been at my head height, making it slightly smaller than Allosaurus, a formidable predator from the Jurassic Period of North America. As I started to describe the track, a summer breeze brought the briny scents of a nearby ocean. It was a very nice day to be in the field and doing paleontology.

Except that I was not in North America, nor was I looking at Jurassic rocks. Furthermore, the summer breeze was in February (2006), and the ocean-borne winds came from the Tasman Sea. I was at the Dinosaur Dreaming site, located on the southern coast of Victoria, Australia. Barely into the third week of a Winship Award sabbatical from Emory, I hobbled along on a still-healing fractured tibia, but was undeterred in my search for trace fossils: the tracks, trails, and burrows made by long-extinct animals. The aching injury, brought on by a biking accident near the Emory campus just the month before, seemed to mend miraculously when I experienced the excitement of sighting previously unrecognized trace fossils. I could hardly wait to teach Emory students about this very special place and share the research results with my colleagues. But wait I would, as more fieldwork, other finds, writing papers, and peer review stretched ahead of me.

I was in Australia at the invitation of Pat Vickers-Rich, director of the Monash Science Centre, and Tom Rich of 2 | Emory in the World

the Museum Victoria; both institutions are in Melbourne, Australia. Pat and Tom are a husband-wife paleontologist team whom I had long admired from afar, and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with them directly. Earlier that same day, and just hours before I saw my first Australian dinosaur track, Tom had driven both of us to the site from Melbourne, a modern, cosmopolitan city about the size of Atlanta. One of the biggest advantages Melbourne had over Atlanta, though, was its closeness to beautiful and extensive coastal outcrops of rocks from the Cretaceous Period.

These rocks were formed by rivers about 120 to 105 million years ago, when Australia was still connected to Antarctica and located at about 75° latitude, near the South Pole.

Fossil remains of the dinosaurs, mammals, birds, insects, and plants that once thrived in southern Australia thus provide important clues about Cretaceous polar environments.

The Cretaceous was also a time of extreme global warming, when average temperatures were about 10° F warmer than today, and sea levels were accordingly much higher.

Through their research, Pat and Tom had pieced together a previously incongruous scenario of dinosaurs living in forested river valleys near the South Pole. Although they were lucky enough to live near these fantastic and fascinating fossil sites, I was likewise privileged to be there with them to experience these fossil sites.

That day and the next at Dinosaur Dreaming yielded a few more insights, including what turned out to be the old-

est fossil crayfish burrows in Australia.

This discovery led to the realization that the oldest fossil crayfish in the Southern Hemisphere had been found at a nearby site nearly twenty years earlier, but had been sitting (neglected and unstudied) in the Museum Victoria.

These fossils helped to fill a huge gap in the evolutionary history of crayfish, a problem first noted more than 130 years ago by nineteenth-century biologist Thomas Huxley, who was also known as “Darwin’s bulldog.”

So it was with much pleasure about “The aching injury, brought on by a biking accident near the Emory campus two years later—2008—that I coauthored a paper about this find with just the month before, seemed to mend miraculously when I experienced the Pat, Tom, and two crayfish biologists excitement of sighting previously unrecognized trace fossils. I could hardly from Charles Darwin University in Australia. Somehow this study and the wait to teach Emory students about this very special place and share the international cooperation it required engendered a connection with the disresearch results with my colleagues.” tant past of Australia as well as a more recent part of human history, in the nascent days of evolutionary theory.

(Above and About three months after my visit to Dinosaur Dreamtiful campus and facilities of James Cook University and opposite) Anthony ing, I went on an arduous hike with my wife, Ruth, and scouted many potential field-trip sites in tropical QueensJ. Martin at Knowla team of Australians to a remote outcrop west of Melland, including the Great Barrier Reef. Later in 2007 we edge Creek, a remote bourne, auspiciously named Knowledge Creek. We were in co-taught the program with fourteen students, followed outcrop west of search of more dinosaur tracks, but instead I noticed some the next year by a full program of eighteen students. AfMelbourne. (Photo odd structures that matched the size and form of small diter a hiatus of two years, Chris will resume teaching this

by Ruth Schowalter.) nosaur burrows. This made sense, evolutionarily speaking, successful program with his colleague Iain Shepherd, and I (Left) A track from as many modern polar animals dig burrows to escape harsh hope to return to it next year. a large theropod winter conditions. The paper reporting As for me, I am now hooked on dinosaur in Austrathese structures—the oldest dinosaur Australia, as research, teaching, and lia. Scale is about burrows in the world—was published public outreach have blended readily four inches (10 cm).

(Photo by Anthony in 2009 and received a good amount in the past few years. This year I once J. Martin.) of attention from the Australian meagain am flying over the “Big Pond” of dia. After a large number of radio and the Pacific Ocean, with grand plans to newspaper interviews, I felt like an adwalk along the Victoria coast for sevopted Australian, a sense boosted by eral weeks with some of my Australian my visiting the country six times, as friends in search of more trace fossils. well as by the forging of deep connecWho knows what Cretaceous secrets tions and friendships with Pat, Tom, and many other Auswill be revealed this time? One thing is for sure, though: tralian citizens. whatever we find, it will shift our perceptions about the However, not all of my sabbatical in 2006 was spent evolution of life in Australia, questioning expectations and scanning Cretaceous outcrops for fossils. I also worked bringing new wonders. with Chris Beck in the Department of Biology to develop the foundation for an Emory undergraduate study-abroad Anthony J. Martin is a paleontologist and senior lecturer in program in ecology and evolutionary biology. In March Emory’s Department of Environmental Studies.

2006 Chris flew over from the U.S., and I met him in Queensland, Australia. While there, we toured the beau-

on

Emory in the World | 3

Lagos Nigeria

Nairobi Kenya

Harare Zimbabwe

A

awarded by various institutions and retained by Kenya’s regulatory board for nursing but unlinked to an individual recipient’s professional file.

“For every nurse who went to school, took their exams, or received subsequent certifications or trainings, the information was filed separately,” said Patricia Riley, a certified nurse-midwife and senior technical adviser with CDC’s Global AIDS Program. As a result, if Kenya’s ministers of health wanted to know how many nurses were in the country, or what percentage of their workforce was available for rural deployment or even capable of providing increased HIV/AIDS services, government staff would have to update their staff census manually and individually assess current capability. Not only were these ad hoc efforts laborious and time consuming, but they also resulted in information that was potentially inaccurate. Most important, the lack of a system prevented the government from maximizing health workforce assets and planning their health care system in a more effective and efficient manner.

This finding from 2002 has resulted in an ongoing eightyear collaboration involving the CDC, the government of Kenya, and Emory’s Lillian Carter Center for International Nursing in designing and implementing a human resources information system (HRIS). Kenya’s HRIS has expanded and currently encompasses Kenya’s most critical health professionals: nurses, physicians, dentists, laboratory technicians/ technologists, and clinical officers (physician’s assistants).

The Kenya Healthcare Workforce Informatics System represents the longest-running and most comprehensive HRIS in sub-Saharan Africa. The project is currently funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and implemented by the Lillian Carter Center for International Nursing.

“This system represents a genuine collaboration with Emory, CDC, and the Kenyan government in which our Kenyan colleagues are full partners in learning how to implement and maximize this system’s information,” says Martha Rogers, current principal investigator and professor in the School of Nursing. Looking ahead, Rogers says the next few years will be critical for the project in terms of transitioning ownership and management of the HRIS to local stakeholders within Kenya’s professional regulatory boards and ministries of health.

Most recently, the Emory-Kenya project staff has been at the forefront in facilitating South-South cooperation between Nigeria and Zimbabwe. In March 2009, the project was featured as a best practice at the first Human Resources for Health Technical Consultation symposium, convened by PEPFAR in Pretoria, South Africa. Subsequent interest by participating countries was so high that the Emory-Kenya project team offered to host learning site visits to Kenya for any interested delegations.

In May and July 2009, the project team hosted two site visits for Nigerian and Zimbabwean delegations com-

South-South Success Story B y Stac e y N. J one s

South-South cooperation is a term typically

Martha Rogers (second from left), the project’s principal investigator, and the Kenya workforce team, including Agnes Waudo (far right), the in-country project coordinator, review the data entry program at the Nyanza Provincial Nurse’s Office.

4 | Emory in the World

used by policymakers and academics to describe the exchange of resources, technology, and knowledge among developing nations. The concept was first used by the United Nations in 1978, primarily to promote trade, but recently South-South cooperation has influenced areas such as global development. Emory’s work in Kenya and other sub-Saharan countries shows how this type of cooperation can advance global health.

In 2001, Kenya’s health leadership asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for assistance in developing a new baccalaureate nursing degree program to address public sector nursing shortages. Findings from a joint CDC-Emory School of Nursing assessment revealed that Kenya’s workforce challenges centered primarily on a lack of information on the number and deployment of nurses in the country. The situation was exacerbated by the plethora of professional nursing training certificates

posed of fifteen representatives from each country. Each site visit included tours and meetings of the Kenyan regulatory boards where the system was operational. There also were visits to a typical Kenyan provincial office, which afforded the visiting officials the opportunity to observe up close how the Kenyan system tracks workforce dynamics, including health worker vacancies, promotions, and even illegal health providers (i.e., those who lack proper creden(From right) Pat Riley, Agnes Waudo, and Rankesh Willy in front of the Nurses Council of Zimbabwe, which serves as the regulatory board for Zimbabwe’s nurses.

Waudo and Willy are Kenyan nurses.

Waudo currently serves as Emory’s project director, and Willy is the workforce data coordinator for Kenya’s Ministry of Health.

tials). The site visits also included a provincial data-training workshop in which the Kenyan team instructed provincial and district staff (from rural areas) on data usage.

The Nigerian and Zimbabwean delegations used these visits to network with members of Kenya’s Ministry of Health, and its regulatory boards and information technology professionals, to talk about key health workforce issues such as documentation of workforce shortages, worker migration, and data management. These discussions convinced the Nigerian and Zimbabwean visitors of the necessity and feasibility of launching a similarly designed system in their own countries. Upon returning home, each delegation obtained the support of their national health leadership and PEPFAR country team to do so.

In October 2009, Emory officials were awarded additional funding to design a similarly fashioned HRIS in Zimbabwe. Judy Wold, professor of nursing at Emory’s Lillian Carter Center, serves as the principal investigator for this project. Atlanta and Kenyan project staff traveled to Zimbabwe to establish a vision and four-year strategy for implementing a Zimbabwean HRIS. The session involved more than twenty Zimbabwean, Kenyan, and American participants and resulted in a palpable sense of camaraderie and partnership.

There were several components of the Kenya-led Zimbabwe technical assistance program: assessing Zimbabwe’s current hardware and software capability; visiting district, provincial, and national hospital and health office staff to discuss HRIS challenges; discussing with Zimbabwean leadership regarding the feasibility of launching a Zimbabwe HRIS; establishing roles and responsibilities for national stakeholder groups and the project team; and advising for

Zimbabwe’s program development of the system—for example, costs, contracting, data security, software and hardware development, and additional safeguard measures.

Findings from the Kenya HRIS already have influenced Kenya’s public policy. For instance, last year project data helped make the case for an increase, from fifty-five to sixty, in the Kenyan civil service retirement age. The Kenyan Parliament made the change after de“Most recently, the mographic data showed that the Emory-Kenya project number of youngstaff has been at the er workers entering the job market forefront in facilitating was inadequate to South-South cooperation replace its aging health care workbetween Nigeria and force. In addition, accurate informaZimbabwe. In March tion regarding Kenya’s health work2009 the project was force deployment featured as a best has helped Kenyan officials prioritize practice at the first health facilities for newly hired perHuman Resources sonnel—for which for Health Technical funding has been provided by exterConsultation symposium, nal global donors.

The information is convened by PEPFAR in also being used to Pretoria, South Africa.” pinpoint training needs and personnel whose skills either need upgrading or better alignment with their worksite location.

With Zimbabwe and other sub-Saharan countries facing similar challenges and restraints in health care delivery, the introduction of an HRIS will result in similar improvements in these countries’ human resources planning capabilities. With the increased focus on enhancing PEPFAR countries’ health systems—in addition to combating their diseases—there is finally recognition of this project’s longterm impact and importance in global development. Emory and the CDC will continue efforts to support the growing partnership that has formed among the three countries and remain committed to facilitating ongoing South-South technical assistance visits, dialogue, and exchange as part of strengthening HRIS infrastructure throughout subSaharan Africa.

Stacey N. Jones is associate editorial director of Emory Creative Group.

Emory in the World | 5

Finding clues in ancient soil

By Tara Essoc k-B ur ns

I still remember the opening day of first grade. We sat on little rugs in a circle and the always-patient Mrs. Watson asked us the age-old question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Amid shouts of “firefighter,” “ballerina,” and “doctor,” I raised my hand and responded, “marine biologist.”

Tara Essock-Burns exploring the geology of the Hanna Bay Member of the Rice Bay Formation while studying abroad in San Salvador, Bahamas. (Photo by Tony Martin.)

6 | Emory in the World

I am not sure if this seed was planted by Ariel from The Little Mermaid, Miss Frizzle from The Magic School Bus books, family vacations to the ocean, or some combination of all three, but the idea stuck with me. This idea grew into a curiosity and finally blossomed into a passion that I continued to explore through summer camps, my academic double major of biology and environmental studies, and research opportunities through the years.

So it is easy to imagine my excitement when I saw the course Modern and Ancient Tropical Environments in the Emory Course Atlas for fall 2009. I was not sure about the “Modern” and “Ancient” parts of the title, but I was certainly in tune with the “Tropical Environments” part. If that weren’t enough, I was sold when I saw “San Salvador, Bahamas” next to the field component aspect of the course.

Not knowing quite what to expect, but ready for anything, I lugged my carefully packed luggage, complete with bug spray, anti-itch cream, and plenty of Band-Aids, and dusted off my snorkel gear before making my way to Fort Lauderdale to meet my class. As I looked out over the ocean on the plane ride to our destination, I thought about my plans after graduation. I thought about the applications for fourteen PhD programs in marine biology that I just had mailed. I also thought about the fact I had absolutely no idea where I would be spending the next four to five years of my life and considered yet again whether I found these thoughts thrilling or nerve-wracking. I closed my eyes and secretly wished that this trip would give me the confidence necessary to assuage the anxieties I had about the unknown.

This train of thought was rudely interrupted as we screeched to a halt on the rugged, undeveloped island that we would be exploring for ten days. We deplaned and hopped on the back of a bright blue field vehicle. There was no need to wait at the nonexistent baggage claim area, as not one of our bags made it on the flight over. As we clung to the rusted bars, sitting on the back of a flatbed truck with hard wooden benches, I was distracted from

(Above) Caribbean sea fans and other soft coral in the waters off southern Eleuthera, Bahamas.

enthralled with our “terrestrial activities.” We meandered on a rocky road to nearby Hanna Bay and North Point on the island, which was oriented north to south. Despite the sideways glances exchanged by the students, we obediently followed our professor as we scaled down the sides of San Salvador Island The Bahamas limestone outcrops until we were walking adjacent to the rocks with waves crashing at our feet. We trekked along in single file, intermittently stopping to discuss features on the outcrop next to us.

In time, our eyes became trained to pick out indicator trace fossils that we previously overlooked. The ability to notice evidence of fossil ghost crab burrows in an outcrop became second nature. It was almost comical how concepts that I never had heard of prior to this course seemed simple after the first few days. We could all look at a Pleistocene or Holocene outcrop and find clues in an ancient soil that indicated a sea-level change or altered environments during the past ten or hundred thousand years.

I remember looking at a thin, reddish layer in one outcrop on the southern part of the island and recognizing that it was the “terra rosa” soil we had learned about back in our protected classroom at Emory. These soils were formed by dust blown over from the Sahara Desert and were red because of high iron content. But it wasn’t until that moment that I fully understood it, for I could feel the power of the opposite-seeming trade winds responsible for forming this layer of sediment during a stillstand in sea level. We then examined a gastropod (snail) trail identical to ones we had seen in modern sand. It was almost impossible to grasp the history and timetable of this delicate fossilized trail. Observing something like this, created more than a hundred thousand years ago, was remarkable. At that moment, I finally realized why professors get so excited about fossils.

After grasping the “ancient” aspect of the course, we were able to get back to the modern world around us, exploring living coral reefs juxtaposed with fossilized ones on land, causing “It was almost impossible to grasp the history and timetable of everything to come full circle. I felt completely at peace while floating this delicate fossilized trail. Observing something like this, created over Telephone Pole Reef in Fernanmore than a hundred thousand years ago, was remarkable. dez Bay on the west side of the island.

A fish I had never seen before swam under me, showing off the iridescent blue, yellow, and green scales on top of its dark brown body. Evolution had done its job, and I was mesmerized by the electric blue stripes at the base of its dorsal and ventral fins. I was sure that any predator safety concerns by the view around me. Peeking through would have been equally in awe. branches of Australian pine and poisonwood was the most I thought back to my first-grade self, wearing Ariel picturesque, aqua-blue water imaginable. Chills went down T-shirts, reading The Magic School Bus books, and thinkmy spine, spurred by excitement and the goose bumps that ing about exploring the ocean for the rest of my life. Floatremained from the December winds that only recently had ing atop the most pristine reef I have ever witnessed, parabeen whipping around me. lyzed by wonder, I realized that I was exactly where I was Upon arriving at the Gerace Research Centre, we supposed to be. grabbed a quick peanut butter and jelly sandwich on homemade bread, then were off on our first adventure. Without our snorkel gear, we were confined to the land for the first Tara Essock-Burns is a graduating senior majoring in envitwo days. I forgot to be disappointed as I was immediately ronmental studies and biology.

At that moment, I finally realized why professors get so excited about fossils.”

Emory in the World | 7

8 | Emory in the World

When Gold

Blossoms Indian Jewelry from the Susan L. Beningson Collection

By P riyanka si n h a May all the divinities secure to us a life rich with gold earrings and a jeweled necklace!— R g v e da , a n c i e n t I n d i a n h y m n In many ways, the act of adornment has been at the epicenter of a culture’s self-expression—reflecting beauty, vital protection, and the power of the divine. Hammered gold florette earrings, enameled bracelets set with diamonds, a gold cobra head braid ornament, and ruby sandals forged for deities are only some of the treasures in this collection.

Beyond the objects themselves, the exhibition will focus on their social and cultural significance.

Joyce Flueckiger, faculty consultant to the exhibition and professor in Emory’s Department of Religion (with a focus in performance studies and anthropology of religion), notes: “While the exhibit visually displays the jewelry as art, it’s important to remember that many of the pieces are or have been used in everyday adornment, adornment that reflects the identity of and gives auspiciousness to its wearer. Adornment is also a mode of communication between those adorned and beholders of that adornment.” The exhibition and accompanying programming contextualize the exhibited jewelry within its symbolic and practical functions.

The exhibit includes 150 pieces from the nineteenth to the twentieth century, primarily from South India. The regional origins influence both the materials used and motifs

of design. A preference exists for gold in South Indian jewelry; North Indian jewelry, on the other hand, is known primarily for the use of precious and semiprecious stones.

Designs are strongly influenced by motifs from nature, from ear studs in the form of a lotus to armbands featuring petal-and-leaf weaving.

When Gold Blossoms includes spectacular rings, anklets, earrings, hair pendants, jeweled crowns, ivory combs, and an elaborate swing and gold throne for a deity.

Historically, men and Opposite page: women have worn jewelPair of gold ear covers (karnapatras), set with ry—sometimes adorning rubies and emeralds themselves literally from Orissa, India; late 17th or early 18th century head to toe—for the 7.4 x 5.4 cm sake of its beauty and Susan L. Beningson Collection auspicious nature. It offers Photo: Bruce White protection and promises prosperity.

This page: Beauty, in and of itself, is believed to Gold swaying earrings (jimki) with rubies hold immense power. “Even the jingle South India; 19th century of your ankle bells makes him long to 2.5 x 2 x 2 cm, each Susan L. Beningson Collection meet you,” reads a line of Indian poPhoto: Benjamin Harris B.S.K. etry. To the lover, jewelry enhances the beloved’s beauty, accentuating conEmory in the World | 9

tours while resting on the body’s curves or announcing the body’s movement with its many sounds.

Jewelry’s influence on a wearer’s fortunes is also understood to lie in the power of its materials. In early Vedic texts, gold and jewels are deemed sacred. In Indian tradition, gold purifies, while gems channel the energies of the planets. As for divinity, one only has to visit a Hindu temple to appreciate the care and tenderness given to the deities as priests bathe and dress them in elaborate clothing and exquisite jewelry. India’s religious practices have for millennia included the gift of gold and jewels to the gods—to ornament the deity is to love the deity.

Jewelry in Indian culture reflects and helps to create identities. Sectarian symbols and regionally specific designs often identify a wearer’s origins and beliefs. Gold anklets, double-strand pearls, and turban ornaments were once the prerogative of rulers. Forehead pendants, bracelets, marriage necklaces, anklets, and toe rings are still the signs of a married woman. Perhaps the best way to understand the significance of jewelry is to describe what it means to be without it. In the words of Molly Emma Aitken, noted art historian and author of the exhibition’s official catalogue of the same name: “In premodern India, a defiant warrior who was brought to heel expressed his submissions by removing his weapons and jewelry. An ascetic renounces jewelry as part of a larger letting go of worldly ties. And a new widow, if orthodox Hindu, breaks her glass bangles, gives up all or most of her jewelry, and adopts plain white clothing.”

When Gold Blossoms marks an important stage in the Carlos Museum’s work to enhance the use of art in multidisciplinary scholarship at Emory. Most important, this exhibition marks a keen interest in drawing more attention to the exGold bracelet with enamel work, quisite objects in the Asian galleries set with rubies, diamonds, and pearls and the connection Emory faculty South India; late 18th century has with them as teaching tools and 7 cm diameter artistic inspiration. Flueckiger hopes Susan L. Beningson Collection that this exhibit will help students see Photo: Benjamin Harris B.S.K. the significance of adornment in new Ivory and gold comb with ruby knob (front) ways, including adornment (or lack Karnataka, India; late 18th century thereof) in their own subcultures. She 10.5 x 7 cm regularly teaches the course Women, Susan L. Beningson Collection Religion, and Ethnography, in which Photo: Benjamin Harris B.S.K. several class sessions focus on cloth10 | Emory in the World

ing and adornment as sites for women’s identity, creativity, agency, and even subversion. She hopes that When Gold Blossoms will help to expand students’ imaginations, visually exhibiting a wide range of adornment possibilities. The Carlos Museum’s Asian collections date back to 1894 when Emory acquired a collection of Asian objects from a Methodist missionary in Japan. Various additions through the years included Korean ceramics, a Chinese Tang Dynasty horse, and Japanese armor.

When Emory inaugurated a program in Asian Studies in 1995, the Carlos Museum focused its collecting efforts to complement the new research interests and faculty strengths. Aided principally by support from the Nathan Rubin-Ida Ladd Family Foundation, the museum acquired works of art with a special interest in South Asia. The museum opened its first permanent gallery of Asian art in 2001, highlighting the art of India and the Himalayas. Featured works include a majestic latefirst- to early-second-century seated Buddha from Mathura, India, one of the most important such works in an American museum, and an eleventh- to twelfth-century sculpture of a rare, cosmic form of eighteen-armed Vishnu—a stunning example of the elegance and sophistication of Indian medieval sculpture. A tenth-century bronze Jain altar representing the Jina Rishabhanatha enshrined, a gift of Jagdish and Madhu Sheth, offers eloquent testimony to this great South Asian religious tradition.

In addition to its permanent galleries, the Carlos Museum also mounts special exhibitions focused on the art and culture of Asia. In 2006 the museum hosted the exhibition Domains of Wonder: Selected Masterworks of Indian Painting, featuring some of the finest examples of South Asian painting ranging from the fourteenth through the late nineteenth century. When Gold Blossoms will be the second major exhibition of Indian art at the museum within five years and will provide audiences with another in-depth exploration of Indian culture.

Visitors to this special exhibition will be able to experience many of the rich resources of Emory’s faculty. Events in collaboration with the Department of Religion will support a greater understanding of the religious and social aspects of Indian jewelry—from the sacredness of adorning the body to imagery describing the adornment of deities of the Hindu pantheon. Emory Dance Department artist affiliate and renowned Kuchipudi dancer Sasikala Penumarthi will explore the movement and sound inherent in much Indian jewelry. In a poetry and literature reading focused on adornment, members of the Emory faculty will introduce

“Jewelry in Indian culture reflects and helps to create identities. Sectarian symbols and regionally specific designs often identify a wearer’s origins and beliefs. Gold anklets, double-strand pearls, and turban ornaments were once the prerogative of rulers. Forehead pendants, bracelets, marriage necklaces, anklets, and toe rings are still the signs of a married woman.”

the riches of Indian literature, from the ancient Sanskrit Bhagavad Gita to modern classics by Salman Rushdie and others. Laurie Patton will give the lecture “Jewels of Authority: Adornment in Classical India,” and Joyce Flueckiger will speak on the everyday uses and significance of the gold wedding pendant. A spring break art week will provide opportunities for children in the Atlanta area to explore a variety of aspects of Indian culture, from adorning the body with printed textiles, henna decoration, and jewelry to savoring the sweetness and spice of Indian cooking.

As the Carlos Museum exhibition design team pulls all the objects together in a harmony of color, lines, and function, the Emory and Atlanta communities have another opportunity to build bridges between diverse cultures, tell old stories in a new way, highlight what is sacred and what is profane, and share what are common human experiences—the desire to adorn, create, and make meaning of our lives through art.

When Gold Blossoms: I n d i a n J e w e l ry f ro m t h e S u sa n L . B e n i n g s o n Collection Michael C. Carlos Museum March 18, 2010 through July 12, 2010

Gold necklace set with diamonds, edged with a border of seed pearls, and hung with emeralds and seed pearls (front) North India; 19th century 14 x 15 cm Susan L. Beningson Collection

Priyanka Sinha is the director of communications and marketing for the Michael C. Carlos Museum.

Photo: Benjamin Harris B.S.K.

Emory in the World | 11

A Semester at Yonsei University: ‘All That Was New and Strange’

By Noe l L e o E rsk i n e

Teaching and learning in a different (Top) Grounds of Changdeokgung Palace, Seoul, Korea.

(Right) Noel Leo Erskine preaching in Korea with Candler alumnus Guhyun Kwon, associate pastor of the Good Samaritan Methodist Church in Korea.

and strange context for both students and instructor requires imaginative and creative approaches to education.

That this is so was quite apparent during my time at Yonsei University in Seoul, where I spent fall 2009 as the Underwood Professor of Theology. My duties at Yonsei’s School of Theology, an institution with more than 500 students, included teaching Christology and Ethics and the graduate seminar The Christologies of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King Jr. Additionally, I presented a formal lecture, “Black Theology and Pedagogy,” to faculty and students in the graduate school and preached in community churches.

Both of my classes at Yonsei were in English, and I did not have an interpreter. However, my teaching assistant (TA), Wook Joo Park, was available to students after class to answer any questions they had concerning the subject matter. This experiment—teaching and functioning in a context where one is unfamiliar with the native language— was able to work not only because of the remarkable ability of students to think and communicate in English (for many, English is their second or third language), but also because of the availability of the TA to interpret and mediate between students and teacher.

It was obvious to all that I was a novice regarding Korean culture and language. My own lack of depth there

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meant that the students and I could be vulnerable with each other as we acknowledged our limits. Many students indicated that this was their first class in English and, for all the students, I represented their first black instructor.

Both sides had to come to grips with all that was new and strange in the classroom. We had to learn from each other and give attention to the questions our presence in class and at the university raised.

A breakthrough came when members of the class suggested that we watch a film depicting issues in Korean life and culture and that, before the semester ended, we meet as a class at a traditional Korean palace. The film, Secret

Seoul South Korea

Noel Leo Erskine and students on the grounds of the Gyeongbokgung Palace, located in Seoul and first constructed in 1394.

The palace grounds also house the National Palace Museum. (Photo courtesy Noel Leo Erskine.)

“What stands out for me as I reflect on my semester at Yonsei Sunshine, proved to be an excellent resource by raising issues in Christian University is the remarkable way in which both students and ethics. It portrays a single mother’s struggle to raise her child in Korea and faculty colleagues embraced me in spite of my difference.” depicts the role of friends, family, and the church as facilitators. What was especially important for the dynamics of the class was that it placed students in the role of interpresidents from twenty-eight Korean universities gathpreters of Korean culture and me in the role of facilitator. ered at Yonsei University’s natural forest, Chunsong-dae, The visit of the class to the traditional palace in Seoul to declare the start of the green campus movement. Walls had a similar effect on class morale and confidence, as enclosing the campus were gradually removed and transstudents made the arrangements, instructing me when to formed into green areas for planting trees with small pathdisembark from the bus, how to cross my legs as we sat ways between them. Students saw this as a cue to become for our meal on the floor, and how to hold chopsticks. involved in the community and affirm the larger commuAt the palace, they were bearers of the history of a proud nity as learning space. A goal of the green campus moveand great people. Both these experiences became points of ment is to cultivate future leaders who are aware of curreference for our class as students became invested in the rent environmental problems and seek a society based on teaching-learning process. Toward the end of the semester, sustainable development. With this goal in mind, Yonsei they acknowledged the profundity of the experience. offers the courses Life in Harmony with the Environment Another important insight that emerged for me was and Eco-Feminism. the way in which the wider culture served as our guide Other ways in which I gained a sense of place and culand teacher. In several classes students offered fresh inture were visiting and speaking at several churches, meeting sights into the future of the relationship between North and dining with Emory alumni, and lecturing at theological and South Korea. The war between North and South schools. What stands out for me as I reflect on my semester Korea was always a backdrop because, on the one hand, a at Yonsei University is the remarkable way in which both number of students served as officers in the military and, students and faculty colleagues embraced me in spite of my on the other hand, the hope for unification between the difference. As a black person and a stranger, my race and Koreas was always present. Several students informed the foreignness were both affirmed and transcended. class that their grandparents resided in North Korea, and this reality fueled the hope for unification. Linked with the Noel Leo Erskine is a professor of theology and ethics at importance of culture as guide and teacher was also their Emory’s Candler School of Theology. pride in their rich collective history.

It was not only the wider culture that aided the teaching–learning process, but also the more immediate culture at the university. On May 13, 2009, presidents and vice Emory in the World | 13

Following in the footsteps of T. S. Eliot By M iche l l e M il e s Between the three of us, we had one map and several books, but no umbrella. As we raced through the dusky streets toward the University of London, I laughed as my friends kicked off cumbersome heels to run barefoot and get there faster. Mud-spattered and smiling, we arrived just in time and hurried into the darkening theater as Seamus Heaney rose to take the stage. It was the end of June and the opening night of the inaugural T. S. Eliot International Summer School, and all faces were lifted in anticipation as Heaney began to speak.

Straight away, the poet put his audience at ease, confessing that it was not until middle age that he felt he “began to grow up to T. S. Eliot.” Referring to a 1988 Harvard lecture he had offered in Eliot’s honor, Heaney reminded us that his own initial encounter with Eliot’s poetry had London been fraught with wonder and anxiUnited Kingdom ety: “For a long time, [Eliot’s poetry] represented to me my distance from the mystery and my unfittedness—as

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reader or writer—for the vocation it represented. . . . One did not need to know any literary thing in particular in the 1950s in order to know that Eliot was the way, the truth and the light, and that until one had found him one had not entered the kingdom of poetry.” In the theater that opening night—despite our wet hair—we were indeed ushered into the kingdom of poetry.

The TSE summer program, as it is known, brought together scholars and aficionados alike, facilitating an atmosphere wherein Eliot’s oeuvre was explored from a variety of illuminating vantage points: each morning two lectures were offered by acclaimed literary scholars, including Denis Donoghue, Lyndall Gordon, Ron Schuchard, Jewel Spears Brooker, and Christopher Ricks; each afternoon, students gathered in smaller seminar

groups to discuss various aspects of Eliot’s poetry, drama, and criticism. The academic program was punctuated by pilgrimages to the varied landscapes of Eliot’s Four Quartets. These extracurricular journeys were a highlight for many summer school participants.

According to Emory undergraduate Clifford Clark, “The summer school’s attention to the relationship between England’s geography and Eliot’s work altered how I perceive literature. Exploring London and sampling the English countryside through Burnt Norton, Little Gidding, and East Coker allowed me to inhabit and experience the physical spaces that inspired Eliot to compose his masterpieces.

Through these excursions, I witnessed the sources of poetry and the roots of imagination. These various settings bring you into intimate conversation with an author and a history separated from you by death and decades because they are the places where Eliot was a human before he was a genius. We visited the locations of Eliot’s inspiration, the sites of his vulnerability, fear, and happiness. Experiencing the coarse emotion behind the polish of the printed page brought me to cherish an author I had dismissed as pretentious and unreadable. The school made Eliot human to me.”

Andrew Karas, a doctoral candidate at Yale—anticipating a response like Clark’s—has incorporated photographs from the summer school field trips into his Eliot pedagogy, explaining that his decision was made out of his desire “to remind students that this is a real place which Eliot visited.”

This down-to-earth mood extended to other aspects of the program as well. As Karas writes, “The summer school was a wonderful experience, a chance to meet and study alongside scholars at all stages of their careers, as well as other Eliot enthusiasts. I particularly enjoyed the plentiful opportunities to socialize with students and faculty informally after a day of lectures and seminars.”

One such enthusiast, Emory alumnus Ralph Chandler, was exuEliot’s inspiration, the sites berant in his review of the program: “The T. S. Eliot International Summer of his vulnerability, fear, and School in London was the highlight happiness. Experiencing the of 2009 for me. Big claim, but true.

Eliot wrote that ‘old men should be coarse emotion behind the explorers,’ and I guess that goes for polish of the printed page middle-aged advertising folks like me, too—and what a joy to explore brought me to cherish an Eliot’s work with a fun group of seauthor I had dismissed as rious scholars, poets, and students from around the world.” pretentious and unreadable.”

Emory graduate student Shan—Clifford Clark non Hipp was likewise struck by the eclectic spirit of intellectual collegiality that defined the program in general and her seminar in particular: “It was an unforgettable learning experience. Dr. Donoghue from the outset established himself as unafraid to disagree with colleagues and students alike, and I learned so much from his provocative style. My class included students from as far afield as South Africa and Wales and as local as another Atlantan who had attended Emory’s PhD program in the 1980s. In that small group as well as in the larger student and teaching community, I was able to make contacts that I know will continue to be beneficial and supportive throughout my dissertation work at Emory and job search beyond.” Inspired by the energy of this summer experience and the promise of a new wave of Eliot scholarship, Hipp has returned to Emory to embark (Opposite page, top) upon a dissertation that examines Eliot’s work.

T. S. Eliot.

It is not often that one gets to meet Eliot’s widow, Val(Opposite page, erie Eliot, at a reception, or share a bus trip to Little Gidbottom) Students at ding with Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney. Or sit ten yards the Little Gidding from famous British actors Jeremy Irons and Dominic Church, built by West as they recite “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”

Nicholas Ferrar and Or listen on the lawn of the Burnt Norton estate to Enghis family in 1625 lish poet Mark Ford, Irish poet Paul after the religious Muldoon, and Scottish poet Robert changes of the English Reformation.

Crawford discuss the influence of T. S. Eliot visited in Eliot on their work. Then again, it 1936 and wrote of was certainly a once-in-a-lifetime exthe church and its perience to attend the inaugural T. S. history in the last of Eliot International Summer School at his Four Quartets: the University of London—a magical Little Gidding. opportunity for which all who were (Photo by Andrew there, from twelve nations, will be Karas.) forever grateful.

“We visited the locations of

(Left, bottom)

Michelle Miles is in her sixth year as a PhD candidate in the Department of English at Emory University. For more information, visit <www.ies.sas. ac.uk/events/TSE/>.

Michelle Miles (second from left) and T. S. Eliot International Summer School students with Nobel Prize–winning poet Seamus Heaney.

(Photo by Shannon Hipp.)

Emory in the World | 15

Melanne Verveer: U . S. A mbassa dor- at- l a r ge for G l oba l Wo me n’s I ssue s

By L e s l ie King “The toughest challenges

(Above) Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer addresses the audience during the University’s Turkish Lecture Series hosted by The Halle Institute, Emory College, Turkish Honorary Consul General for Georgia Mona Diamond, and the American-Turkish Friendship Council. (Opposite page) Melanne Verveer and Mona Diamond.

(Photos by Wilford Harewood.)

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we confront today, really some of the hardest things we have to do, will not get done unless women are fully participatory and are really at the heart of so much that needs to happen. So the solutions that will come will be for the betterment of the world, not just for the betterment of women, as important as that is.”

That was the message Melanne Verveer brought to an audience as part of Emory University’s Turkish Lecture Series, cosponsored by Emory College, the Turkish Honorary Consul General for Georgia Mona Diamond, and the American-Turkish Friendship Council. The first–ever ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues, Verveer travels the world checking women’s status, particularly in the developing world. The creation of her position by President Obama “reflects the importance of women’s progress around the world through our own foreign policy,” said Verveer, who works out of the State Department.

She just had returned from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where she got an update on this year’s gender-gap report. “That report has come out now for several years and someone would say why would a forum of economic experts and leaders around the globe want to look at the gender gap? And it is because the disparities between men and women in countries have a lot to say about the country’s prosperity and competitiveness,” Verveer said.

The gap—which measures equality between men and women (“or lack thereof”) in health survivability, access to education, economic parity, and political participation—shows that while it is closing in education and health, it remains stubbornly wide in politics and economics. “In no country are men and women equal,” Verveer punctuated.

“The potential of women as an economic force has yet to be realized,” Verveer said, noting, “Women are still significantly outnumbered in the chambers of parliaments, boardrooms, at negotiating tables, where conflicts are often being resolved in ways that will affect them and their families and their communities.”

In addition to speaking about the forum, Verveer referenced parallel research from organizations including the World Bank, United Nations, Goldman Sachs, Ernst & Young, and McKinsey “that correlate investments in women with favorable outcomes for poverty alleviation, good governance, and democratic progress. Yet, despite notable gains—and there have been gains, for sure—women still constitute the great majority of the poor around the world, girls make up two-thirds of the unschooled, vio-

lence against women is a global pandemic.” Verveer continued, “As The Economist noted in an article, it’s not the Internet, it’s not China, it’s not India, it’s women who drive GDP and as women’s small and medium-sized businesses can grow . . . so too will come greater economic prospects for our world.”

Asked by a member of the audience what is holding back women’s progress, Verveer attributed it largely to lack of political will. “Women’s leadership is critical, and all around the globe there are women who are blazing new trails and triumphing over long-entrenched obstacles in the pursuit of creating a better world for everybody,” she said, giving examples of women making headway over laws and forces that work against their gender, such as honor killings, human trafficking, child marriage, domestic violence, often by the efforts of one woman taking a stand.

Verveer has experience on the front lines of fostering economic opportunity. Prior to her ambassadorial appointment, she was the chair and co-CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international nonprofit she cofounded. Vital Voices invests in emerging women leaders

and works to expand women’s roles in business, politics, and human rights.

At The Halle Institute luncheon, Verveer emphasized the importance of “creating the spirit of possibility in business.” She continued, saying, “It struck me that Turkey still has a relatively small percentage of women engaged in its economic sector, [but] that is growing.”

Verveer has a history with Turkey, giving anecdotal “snapshots” of the country from her trips there. Having been chief of staff to then-first lady Hilary Clinton, she traveled there with Clinton in the mid-1990s, meeting with religious leaders from the great faith traditions. “I think of Turkey as a great crossroads of where the great religions have been able to come together and make a difference,” Verveer said. She returned to Turkey in 2000 with President Bill Clinton, right after the earthquake that devastated Istanbul. She lauded the Turkish people for “such graciousness, such welcoming spirit that they made to all of us Americans—so illustrative of the great hospitality and warmth that I always associate with Turkey.”

Verveer quoted Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey, who said: “A society, a nation, consists of men and women. How is it possible to elevate one part of society while neglecting the other half and expecting the whole to progress?” Verveer concluded, “So progress happens when there is pressure for change both from those still too few high-profile women in power but also from those very many accidental activists, the not-so-ordinary women

“Women are still significantly outnumbered in the chambers of parliaments, boardrooms, at negotiating tables, where conflicts are often being resolved in ways that will affect

them and their families and their communities.” of strength and resilience who find themselves in a situation and do something about it by transcending it. It is the power in numbers of these not-so-ordinary people that we need to switch all over the world and harness.”

Leslie King is a contributor to Emory Report and a writer and editor for University Communications.

Emory in the World | 17

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A Dialogue with

President Jimmy Carter December 2009 marked the thirtieth anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between the United States and China.

To commemorate this milestone, Emory University and The Carter Center held a series of events to engage the community and foster discussion about the history and future of the relationship between the two nations.

President and Mrs. Carter attended the grand opening of the photo exhibit “Looking Back after Thirty Years: Marking the Thirtieth Anniversary of China-U.S. Diplomatic Relations.”

Highlights of the exhibit were on display at the Jimmy Carter Center Library and Museum as well as at Emory’s Woodruff Library. Beyond the presence of the Carters, the exhibition opened with several important guests in attendance, including Beverly Hall, superintendent of

Atlanta Public Schools; Xu Kuangdi, president of the China-U.S. People’s Friendship Association; Li Xiaoling, vice president of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries; Consul General Gao Yanping of the People’s Republic of China in Houston; Zhou Xian, associate vice president and professor, Nanjing University; and Cheng Aimin, dean and professor Nanjing University.

President Carter also visited Emory and spoke to students from political science, international studies, and Chinese language and literature classes. He recalled highlights from his candid conversations with Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping that led to the normalization of U.S.-China relations in 1979. After his lecture, he took questions from the students.

Q: Hi, President Carter, my name is Xu Huajiao. I am a China native and a graduating senior at Emory. Right now there’s a lot of pressure on the Chinese government to appreciate its currency to make trade between the United States and China more balanced. What’s your perspective in terms of how fast the Chinese government should allow its currency to appreciate and how much freedom should there be?

value of its currency, but I doubt that China’s going to do it under pressure: this is a decision for China to make, and this means that we will continue to be deeply indebted to China. As you know, at this moment the United States owes China about 800 billion dollars. That is a tremendous amount of money, and China is our number-one creditor.

Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, when President Obama goes to China, in the back of his mind is always “we owe you 800 billion dollars!”

A: Well, as you know, the yuan now is tied to the dollar, and as the dollar has decreased in value, the yuan has also gone down. There’s a tremendous trade imbalance between China and the United States, in that we buy a lot more from China than we sell to China. A lot of pressure is placed on the president and on the United States government to try to induce the Chinese to increase the value of the . . . yuan, which would make their products more expensive in China and also would make it possible for Chinese to buy more products from the United States.

So, I think the answer is that it would be better for the world economic community if China would increase the

President Carter speaking with Emory University students about a range of topics associated with China. (Photo by Wilford Harewood.)

Q: My name is CiCi. I was born in China and now live in Atlanta.

In your opinion, Mr. President, does the United States have grounds to push China to observe human rights considering the Guantanamo Bay and wiretapping incidents in the United States?

A: No. If we based our commitment to human rights on the recent performance of America, in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib Prison, and the abuses that have been perpetrated against American citizens under the George Bush adminisEmory in the World | 19

can Party, who still had an affinity for Taiwan. At first, Reagan, during the campaign against me in 1980, condemned my reaching out to what he called “Red China.” So, there was kind of a stalemate then.

In the meantime, though, China continued to take advantage of the reforms internally. At least we maintained peaceful relationships with China—we didn’t have any real confrontations concerning Taiwan. So, I would say that in the last thirty years, it’s kind of been up and down about how much cooperation we had with China. I think now as we understand China more clearly, and become accustomed to China’s dominance in trade and commerce, and begin to share with them a common problem with environment, we’re going to grow together, as well as grow apart in some measures.

(Right to left) Consul General Gao Yanping of the People’s Republic of China in Houston, President Carter, Xu Kuangdi, President of the China-U.S. People’s Friendship Association, and Li Xiaolin, Vice President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.

(Photo by Wilford Harewood.)

tration, we would not have a right to criticize anyone else.

But there are international commitments—the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was adopted by China and others when they became members of the United Nations. So, China has signed the same very high standards for international human rights observance as the United States, and just because the United States has violated its international commitments in recent years doesn’t mean that China ought not to treat ethnic groups, particularly the Tibetans and the Uighurs, with great care and attention.

So, I think it’s good for the United States to remind China, and remind other countries as well, and remind us, that all aspects of human rights need to be observed and violations need to be pointed out and corrected. But based on what happened in the previous eight years, we don’t have a right to criticize anybody. Thank goodness President Obama is correcting those crimes.

Q: Hi, President Carter. My name is Kevin Sotterman. I am a senior from Warner Robins, Georgia. In your opinion, since the normalization and since you left office, what period has been the most successful in U.S.-China relations, and what policies on the U.S. side and what policies on the Chinese side facilitated that?

A: Well, there was a problem after I left office with both President Reagan—particularly him—and also before I became president with Nixon and Ford. Nixon announced there was one China, but he wouldn’t really make clear which one we had normal relations with, and Ford was also under pressure from the right wing of the Republi20 | Emory in the World

Q: Hello, Mr. President. My name is Christina Yang. I am a junior in the College from Connecticut. What is the feasibility of a Chinese democracy in the future, especially with regard to the size of the nation and the variety of minority groups?

A: Well, I have to admit that when China first began to have village elections under Deng Xiaoping, I was very hopeful that if the village elections were successful, that that process might be moved up one step to the townships, and if that was successful move it on up, and eventually have free elections, with everybody having a chance to vote to choose their ultimate leaders at the national level. That process . . . has been terminated more recently, I would say under Hu Jintao. It’s been stopped. Jiang Zemin was much more inclined toward more liberalization with democracy than the recent leaders have been.

I think the likelihood of China moving toward national elections for a president or prime minister would be in the far distant future. My hope is, though, that the little village election process will be maintained and will continue. There is a move in the National People’s Congress right now to update the little village election law, and so that’s an encouraging sign. The election process has been condemned by some of the right wing—some of the more conservative Chinese political leaders; they think they ought to be back the way they used to be many years ago. But I think the little village elections now have a life of their own.

Q: Good afternoon, Mr. President, my name is Alex O’Reily. I am a political science and philosophy major from Boston. I was wondering if you think that China has the commitment

and the resources to develop clean technologies in the future.

Do you think that the United States needs to support them?

A: I’ve talked to Hu Jintao and all his predecessors about environmental issues in China that have been very apparent to Chinese people, as I mentioned about the smog and streams and so forth, long before global warming came to the forefront of the international discussions. The Chinese have long ago decided that they had to do something about the environment in China for the benefit of their own people. Air pollution was horrendous and, as you know, when China had their enormously successful Olympics, one of the things they did for weeks, even months ahead of time was to make sure that the air over Beijing

“I believe that the future of international relations is going to . . . focus around U.S.-China relations.

I think it’s the most important bilateral relationship in the world.”

is a global problem, and what happens in China affects the people in America and vice versa. What happens in the rainforest of Brazil affects both countries. What happens in India, with their rapidly increasing use of burning of fuel and automobiles, affects both of us.

Q: Good afternoon, President Carter. My name is Chris Wollett. I am a junior political science major from Florida. Given that a lot of the legitimacy that the Chinese Communist Party gets is from the fact that they’re able to foster a lot of economic growth, and given that that economic growth has sort of created disparity in China, what do you think are the prospects for there being a lot of domestic internal strife in China?

Hypothetically, if there were ever to be an internal struggle in China, how should the U.S. respond?

A: Well, I think the Chinese leaders are very sensitive about the prospect of what you just described, and very deeply committed to make sure it never happens. So, there are two ways, obviously, to address that threat. One is to remove the causes of the dissension, by making every effort to equalize the economic benefits from the boom that China is enjoying. I don’t have any doubt that China has made a lot of efforts to do that. They have seen for many decades that the economic advantages on the Pacific coastal area of China are much greater than they are in the far west. And you have to remember that China touches a lot of countries, including Afghanistan—it’s hard to imagine. They have made every effort to change that.

So, the other way, in addition to sharing the wealth, is to make sure that dissension is restrained. And I don’t think there’s any doubt that the Chinese will exert whatever authority they consider to be necessary to prevent any sort of violent disruption of their society or challenge to the central government.

Q: Hi, Mr. President. My name is Andrew and I am from Roswell, Georgia. What are your thoughts or suggestions for students looking to make an impact on U.S.-China relations?

President Carter and representatives from the Confucius Institute, Atlanta Public Schools, Nanjing University, and Emory University come together after Carter’s lecture to Emory students.

(Photo by Wilford Harewood.)

was fairly clean during the Olympic period, and it was. We were there not too long before the Olympics took place and saw that.

So, I’m not sure that the United States is in a position to be of great assistance to the Chinese—I wouldn’t put the United States ahead of China in the technological developments concerning clean fuel consumption. But to answer the other part of your question, if I understand it correctly, I think the United States ought to be fully supportive. If there are scientific discoveries or anything else that we can share with the Chinese to help them in the effort that I’ve just described to you, I think we ought to be eager to do it, because now we know that environmental quality

A: I believe that the future of international relations is going to . . . focus around U.S.-China relations. I think it’s the most important bilateral relationship in the world. There’s no doubt in my mind that if a student were contemplating studying a language, or becoming acquainted with a foreign economic and political system, that China would be the best choice. I don’t think there’s any doubt that trade relationships with China are going to expand, and I think it’s very important now and in the future for knowledgeable people about China and politics to hold prominent places in the U.S. government, and also in major corporations. So I think that, to answer your question, those students who have already chosen to study Chinese languages and culture and economics and politics are making a very wise decision.

Emory in the World | 21

Finding my way in

Yanjiao Hebei Province, China

China

By Al l is on L i p p s

(Left) Lipps at the Hanging Monastery.

Built in 491, the Hanging Monastery stands at the foot of Mt. Hengshan on the west cliff of Jinxia Gorge, more than fifty meters above the ground. (Photo courtesy Allison Lipps.)

After spending my junior year at Emory studying in Prague, I returned to Atlanta invigorated by all things international. With this new direction, I spent the summer before my senior year as a student adviser at Emory’s Center for International Programs Abroad (CIPA) and, with great excitement, decided to look for a postgraduation job abroad. After a long, extensive search, China seemed to be a good possibility given that jobs were plentiful and there weren’t any language requirements.

Nonetheless, I thought it would be counterproductive not to study Chinese before I left; thus, I enthusiastically added a Chinese class to my schedule.

During my senior year, I spent months researching my options. Through a combination of talking to expatriates and looking online, I found a good job teaching English at a university outside Beijing in Hebei Province. I spoke with an Australian teacher at the school before accepting the position to make sure it wasn’t a scam—not an uncommon occurrence in a country with 300 million people studying English—and once I felt reassured, I bought my one-way ticket to China.

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My employer, the North China Institute of Science and Technology, was located in Yanjiao, a small town about an hour east of Beijing. I was given a furnished apartment near campus, as well as half of my roundtrip airfare, two months’ paid vacation, and a reasonable salary of roughly $560 a month.

Yanjiao was a mishmash of incongruous Chinese development. An industrial area including a nuclear power plant stood adjacent to the university, which also had nearby techno-pop fashion stores and hair salons. Abutting this crazy patchwork was a farming village with traditional hutongs (small alleys) and communal toilets, which then merged into a mostly uninhabited, government-subsidized nouveau-riche area filled with half-built million-dollar homes, a Novotel (a chain of hotels), and a small town center modeled after a German village but painted in bright primary colors. All were within walking distance of my apartment, making Yanjiao an adventure to explore.

Despite my best preparation stateside for speaking Chinese, my skills were shaped by necessity—eating, traveling, and daily living. The lack of English menus first necessitated an intensive review of culinary vocabulary. Apart from a few

mistranslations—cow tongue, tripe, and chicken heads did end up on my table from time to time—I learned to communicate my thoughts and preferences in Chinese. The restaurants nearby quickly became used to seeing me and my red hair. When I went to eat with my equally “exotic” blonde friend, we got big smiles and special dishes on the house.

The food in China was amazing, but the highlights of my first year there were the friendships I formed with my students and Chinese families I met while traveling. My appearance attracted quite a bit of attention, and because I was able to speak Mandarin marginally well, I was able to connect with people I otherwise would not have. My students taught me ping-pong tricks, showed me how to cook their favorite Chinese dishes like Coca-Cola chicken wings and porkstuffed eggplant, took me on tours of local markets, and invited me to their hometowns. I visited one of my students at the end of the Chinese New Year and went with her to the Disneyland of Kunming, where we watched ethnic minority dances and ate local delicacies like fried bees.

My most enjoyable evenings were spent in the company of the Wang family, whose young daughter I privately tutored. Mrs. Wang was distressed that I was alone so far from my own family; hence, she took it upon herself to adopt me unofficially into her family while I was living in Yanjiao. I was a regular at their family dinners, and when their daughter needed to see the Chinese doctor, I was checked out too.

Another hidden joy I quickly discovered was that of the “Blind-Person Massage.” For a few dollars, I regularly indulged in full-body traditional acupressure—my first full dose of Chinese traditional medicine that forever changed my view of health care. I soon began a traditional Indian Ashtanga yoga practice with teachers from Mysore, India, at a studio in Beijing. I became very close with the yoga studio owner and teachers, who became another family for me. Besides teaching me traditional yoga and meditation, they introduced me to a range of Chinese therapies, including acupuncture, herbal teas, and more Chinese therapeutic massage. The studio served as home, and I often joined them for meals of pickled vegetables and spent the night on yoga mats with them after practice, not wanting to take the hour-long bus trip back to Yanjiao.

After I finished my first year of teaching, I decided to continue working in China for another year before returning home. I began teaching adults at a private language school in Beijing, but soon found another job in public relations that kept me engaged in China throughout my second year.

I joined Media Soda, a boutique PR and consulting firm led by Demi Zhai, an ambitious Beijing woman, as their new “foreign expert” account manager. I managed foreign

“The food in China was amazing, but the highlights of my first year there were the friendships I formed with my students and Chinese families I met while traveling.” (above) View of the Li River in Yangshuo, China. (Photo courtesy Allison Lipps.)

(Right) Scenic view of the Great Wall.

client accounts and joined Demi on business trips to Shanghai and to meetings with Chinese businessmen and officials. I wrote press releases and organized events, went to international networking events and, in general, felt important. The trouble was, my Chinese was not good enough to conduct serious business. Unless I was willing to devote several years to intensive Mandarin studies, my prospects for a successful business career in China were dim. Despite all that was good and exciting about China, I knew it was not a place I was going to live long-term.

Upon my return to the United States, I began looking for ways to apply my communications and consulting experience to the health field. My motivation was to expand others’ awareness of the alternative health approaches that had so enthused me in China. After working for several organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, I am pursuing a masters in public health at Tufts School of Medicine. To my great pleasure and amusement, it is located in the center of Chinatown in Boston.

In two years abroad, I became more cynical, but in other ways I became more tolerant and understanding. The friends I made remain some of my closest relationships. I look back on my time in China as two of the most interesting and important years of my life.

Allison Lipps graduated from Emory in 2006 with a major in psychology. She is currently in her first year as an MPH student at Tufts School of Medicine.

Emory in the World | 23

Imagining a Smoke-Free China

By Pa m Redmon

I had no idea that saying, “Yes, I’m interested in the opportunity to focus efforts in global tobacco control” would have me on a plane to a country I had never visited, meeting with strangers, communicating via translators, experiencing a culture I was only beginning to understand (from books, articles, and interviews), and learning lessons and building relationships I will cherish forever.

The story began in 2007, when Jeffrey Koplan, vice president for global health and director of the Global Health Institute (GHI), met with me and Associate Dean for Applied Pub“Tobacco-control efforts are lic Health Kathleen Miner to discuss the opportunity to work with relatively new in China, and the GHI to secure global funding for tobacco-control efforts. Since 2004 I it will be up to the Chinese had served as the executive director to determine best practices in of Tobacco Technical Assistance Consortium (TTAC), a program that protheir country as defined by vides training and technical assistance services to national, state, and local their culture. There is not a tobacco-control organizations. Jeff’s playbook for tobacco-control opportunity sounded exciting and challenging, and we were ready to exefforts in China, and the best pand TTAC’s reach. After more than a year and multiple grant rewrites, Jeff and most effective approaches and I received word from the Bill and will be determined by trial Melinda Gates Foundation that we and error.” would be receiving funds to establish tobacco-control programs in China.

I was in Louisiana with a national client when Jeff called to ask if I could be in Beijing, China, in three weeks. A rush was placed on my visa, holiday plans were altered, and preparations were made for the first of multiple trips to the other side of the 24 | Emory in the World

world. I was so excited and anxious on the sixteen-hour flight over that I barely slept. I couldn’t begin to imagine what awaited me upon arrival. I only knew two words in Mandarin, “ni hao” (“hello”) and “xie xie” (“thank you”), but I had my English-Chinese dictionary close at hand when I exited the plane. Fortunately, my hosts, the China Medical Board, spoke English and served as translators during my stay.

The first trip included meetings with organizations working on tobacco control in China, including the China CDC, several nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation China office, and medical students from several of the top medical schools in Beijing. We learned about the tobacco epidemic in China as well as initiatives under way to implement tobacco-control efforts—information that helped to focus our efforts. The China-based groups expressed gratitude about our intent to provide funding for tobacco-control efforts.

Even though prior research and our discussions with those we met painted a clear picture of the magnitude of the tobacco problem in China, one needed only to look around to understand the challenges. Smokers seemed to be everywhere—in hotel lobbies and halls, restaurants, business offices, public places, and cars. The only places that seemed to be smoke-free were taxis, a lingering policy from the 2008 Summer Olympics.

At a meeting with medical students from two prestigious medical schools, they questioned the science documenting ill effects of tobacco use in the Chinese population as well as the legality of talking to patients about the harms of smoking. As in the United States, the tobacco industry in China wields much power and influence. China is the largest producer and user of tobacco products in the world, and China’s

Tobacco Industry Monopoly Administration contributes 12 percent to the nation’s income. I quickly realized there were many barriers and obstacles to overcome before China would see a change in social norms related to tobacco use.

The barriers and obstacles were not unlike ones faced by the United States and other countries; and like other countries, the Chinese would have to determine how to address them within the context of their government and culture.

We are committed to implementing two initiatives in China: provide funding to cities to develop tobacco-control programs and provide funding to universities to establish tobacco-control resource centers. We also are tasked

Pam Redmon speaking through a translator to Chinese university faculty interested in applying for the Programs of Excellence in Tobacco Control grant funding.

(Photo courtesy Pam Redmon.)

with providing training and technical assistance to build in-country capacity in tobacco control. Pilot cities were selected and launched in June 2009, and the universities’ programs will be funded this spring.

We selected and provided funding to the Think Tank Research Center for Health Development, an NGO in Beijing, to manage the Tobacco Free Cities grant program that provides funding to cities developing and implementing tobacco-control programs. The GHI-TTAC team partnered with the Think Tank to conduct site visits to the cities prior to final selection. With each visit, I was overwhelmed by the hospitality and amazed at the cities’ pride in their history and culture. The cities were required to have the support of their mayor’s office to qualify for the grant funding, and in each city the mayor or vice mayor greeted us upon arrival and joined us for a welcome event and presentation. They all spoke of their care and concern for the health and welfare of the people, the need for tobacco control, and their commitment to supporting efforts to decrease tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke.

Each city visit included tours of their Center for Disease Control or government offices, introductions to organizations that also share an interest in tobacco-control efforts,

banquets with delicacies from their city or province, and sometimes tours of local attractions. The meals continue to surprise and delight me, and I always have a camera ready to snap a photo of unique dishes. With a little tutoring from Wang Ke-an, the director of the Think Tank, I have managed to master the use of chopsticks and rarely turn down the opportunity to taste a local specialty. The most memorable meal was the twenty-four-course Chinese Water Banquet, made up of many soups and chicken, pork, and fish dishes.

Working with the cities to develop their tobacco-control goals and plans has been challenging and exciting. The cities have the opportunity to work in the following areas: preventing initiation of tobacco use, promoting cessation among smokers, and protecting nonsmokers from secondhand smoke. Although we were specific in the areas of tobacco control, we allowed the cities to select the activities to achieve their defined goals. Tobacco-control efforts are relatively new in China, and it will be up to the Chinese to determine best practices in their country as defined by their culture. There is not a playbook for tobacco-control efforts in China, and the best and most effective approaches will be determined by trial and error.

We have spent much time and effort during the past year providing training and technical assistance to the city programs, but I am sure we have learned as much from them as they have learned from us. As I think about tobacco-control efforts in China, I am reminded of my visit to the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, the ancient capital of thirteen dynasties and one of our funded cities. There are more than 100,000 statues devoted to the Buddhist religion in 1,352 caves, and the work spanned more than 600 years. The early artists had no idea that their work would eventually span one kilometer and garner international attention. Like the early artists, we may not see the effects of our efforts during our five years in China. We can only hope that, like the early sculptors, our work will play a role and lay a foundation in changing the social norms of tobacco use in China for years to come.

Pam Redmon is the executive director of the Tobacco Technical Assistance Consortium in the Rollins School of Public Health.

Emory in the World | 25

‘Jack

from

America’

By J ack Ke l l e h e r

Each year in China, the Chinese Bridge International Chinese Competition gives foreigners a chance to entertain the country with their Chinese language skills. Televised on the popular Chinese channel Hunan Satellite Television, the competition attracts millions of viewers who watch as young people charm the crowd with talents such as martial arts, poetry recitation, and Chinese instrument playing. This past summer, I participated in the eighth-annual competition, held in Changsha, in the southern province of Hunan. I represented the southern region of the United States, competing against 120 students from around the world.

My journey to the Chinese Bridge International Chinese Competition began in spring 2009 at Emory’s Chinese Speech competition, which is supported by the Confucius Institute in Atlanta. I competed in the advanced category and won over the judges by talking about my experiences studying and working in China. By winning this competition, I caught the attention of the Chinese Houston Consulate, which, with a little work on my part, eventually 26 | Emory in the World

selected me to represent the southern region of the United States in the Chinese Bridge competition.

I arrived in Beijing in early July along with 120 kids from around the world who also had qualified by participating in regional competitions. We were given a jam-packed schedule that entailed seeing almost every attraction in the city in only a few days. While in Beijing, I also got the chance to see my study-abroad host family again, who gave me insightful advice about how to beat my competition. My host mom suggested I not speak much Chinese until the actual competition started, so I could surprise everybody with my facility as a speaker. Although I took some of her advice, that sleight of hand (nay, tongue) wasn’t one of them.

After a short time in Beijing, I went with some of my competitors to the city of Fenghuang to film our introductions for the televised competition. Fenghuang is a beautiful town on the Tuojiang River known for the craft and cuisine of its residents, the Miao people, who are one of fifty-five ethnic minorities recognized by the Chinese government. We got the chance to visit a small Miao village to learn about local customs and language. A Miao woman from the village taught me how to say nice things in Miao dialect; she also

(Left) Kelleher on stage during the eighth-annual Chinese Bridge International Chinese Competition.

(Below) Kelleher performing the required Chinese-related talent portion of the competition: a rap song in Chinese.

(Right) Kelleher celebrates winning a third-place prize for finishing in twelfth place overall. (Photos courtesy Jack Kelleher.)

Changsha Hunan Province, China

For the finals, we were assigned the task of writing a speech to perform on live TV. I drew the theme of presenting my speech like an auctioneer. Auctioning off a pair of basketball star Yao Ming’s shoes, I tried to give a funny speech about how basketball and rap are part of current Chinese culture. Unfortunately, my competitive glory came to an end here. Feeling intense pressure from the cameras and the audience, I did not give the best speech I could have. However, I ended up finishing in twelfth place overall and also received a scholarship to study abroad in China for a semester.

Even though the experience of competing on television was new and exciting, the best part of the journey was getting to meet and learn from so many people. For instance, two of my good buddies on the trip, Jing Chengzhen and Cui Xianming, are North Korean. We were able to talk candidly about Kim Jong-Il and the North Korean government, and I got to fill in Jing Chengzhen on the events of the previous NBA season. My roommate at the beginning of the trip was the lone representative from Sudan. Ha Decheng, which was his Chinese name, quickly became a good friend, and most of our communication was done in Chinese. An American and a Sudanese speaking Chinese to each other in public is not something that Chinese people see every day! Another one of my good friends was Mi Lu from Tajikistan. He taught me how to dance like a Tajik, and I taught him how to shake hands American style. In addition, I learned a lot from my teachers, who were always supportive. They taught us the local Changsha dialect and offered us a never-ending supply of Beetle-nut, a tobacco-like chew that men often enjoy in southern China.

Overall, the competition was the experience of a lifetime. I am very grateful to the Emory Chinese department for its constant support and to the Confucius Institute for nominating me to represent it. My time at the competition was amazing. I met people from around the world and learned many new things along the way. I hope that I can continue to have experiences that are as enriching as this one has been.

“I planned to rock the studio with my talent: performing a rap song in Chinese.”

taught me how to cuss, which is always fun.

My introduction, shot along the beautiful walkway that lines the banks of the Tuojian River, consisted of me singing a local Miao romantic song used to lure the attention of the ladies paddling along the river. “Flirting” with the ladies, I tried my best to sing the song, but it came out more like a broken yell. I then turned to the camera and said in loose translation, “My name is Jack from America and I can sing all kinds of songs to get the ladies.”

The televised portion of the competition began in the province’s capital city, Changsha. We participated in the opening ceremonies of the show, in which various Chinese pop stars sang songs and the hosts, clad in their cheesy game-show attire, announced the start of the competition.

Each competitor gave a speech and some of us also performed our Chinese-related talent. I planned to rock the studio with my talent: performing a rap song in Chinese.

I had decided that my best shot at entertaining the young crowd was to bring a little hip-hop flavor to the competition. Even though the older judges were a little shocked by my rap, the crowd liked me. It turns out having a fun attitude and working hard paid off; I made it to the first round of the finals.

Jack Kelleher is a junior double-majoring in Chinese and international studies.

Emory in the World | 27

Melbourne Australia

Hearing each other at

the Parliament of World Religions

By E l l e n Ot t M arsh a l l (Above) Attendees at the World Parliament of Religions.

(Photos by John Miller.)

We were sitting on the patio of a restaurant along a busy stretch of the Yarrow River, which runs through downtown Melbourne, Australia. We had spent the morning strolling around St. Kilda’s—from the old pier, with its beautiful views of the harbor and the city, to the enticing cake shops along Acland Street. But now, on this patio, the students and I finally were getting our first look at the program book for the gathering we had traveled 10,000 miles to attend. And we were excited. This was the Parliament of the World’s Religions, a gathering of thousands of people from all over the world, representing many of the world’s religious traditions. The students pored over hundreds of pages, circling sessions, folding

28 | Emory in the World

down corners, calling out names of presenters, and laughing at their enthusiasm for a conference program book.

“It’s like getting the next semester’s course offerings,” said one. “Oh, we are such geeks,” said another.

The Parliament of the World’s Religions began in 1893 when representatives of eastern and western spiritual traditions gathered in Chicago for the World’s Congress of Religions. In 1993 the Council for the Parliament of the World’s Religions formed to plan a centennial gathering and inaugurate a pattern of convening in a different city every five years. In Chicago, Cape Town, Barcelona, and Melbourne, thousands of people have gathered from roughly eighty different countries in order “to cultivate

harmony among the world’s religious and spiritual communities and foster their engagement with the world and its guiding institutions in order to achieve a just, peaceful and sustainable world,” as its web page says.

In Melbourne, the parliament opened on Thursday, December 3, 2009, with blessings and artistic performances from Zoroastrian, Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Sikh, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Bahá’í, Aboriginal, and Shinto traditions. The following five days unfolded with an overwhelming range of offerings, both in terms of number and variety.

For example, I spent just one day learning about the meaning of supplication in Islam, hearing about peacebuilding efforts in Indonesia, listening to an interfaith panel address climate change, and talking with a Jewish colleague about approaches to theological education. While I was in these sessions, my students were learning about Jain rituals, interfaith understanding in Sikh theology, an Islamic perspective on human rights, and the survival of the Northern Cheyenne Nation. And between these program sessions, we simply took in “the visual landscape of the Parliament,” as one of our participants wrote afterward: “Jain women in white, Vodun kings in sequins, Buddhist monks in simple red and gold robes, Aboriginal Australians in animal skins, and Sikhs in brilliantly colored dastars. It truly was a feast for the eyes.”

Our group, which consisted of seven students and one faculty member from Candler School of Theology, attended parliament as participants in a project titled “Educating Religious Leaders for a Multireligious World.” Funded by the Luce Foundation and cochaired by former Candler Dean Jim Waits, this exciting project involved students and faculty from sixteen theological schools across the United States.

Each faculty person taught a course related to the work of the parliament at his or her institution during the fall semester. Our course at Candler was “Religion, Violence, and Peacebuilding.” In addition to spending time in the course together, we also met several times throughout the term to prepare for the trip. While in Melbourne, everyone participating in this project met every day for a ninety-minute seminar to talk about the necessity of multireligious education, resources for and obstacles to interreligious dialogue within our faith traditions and schools, and the practices and virtues of religious leaders in a multireligious world.

During these daily seminars, and in numerous informal conversations throughout our trip, students voiced appreciation for the experience of attending parliament, but they also raised important critical questions generated by this immersion in an interfaith context. When we gathered back in our Candler classroom after our trip, we talked about the questions that kept nagging at us. “How do I engage in interfaith or intrafaith dialogue with men and women who believe that my ordination is an apostasy because of my gender?” “How can I and other religious women leaders cooperate to enable positive social change for women and children, while also continuing to speak truth to religious

leaders who have yet to understand the ways in which their abuse of power undermines women’s work in the world?”

“Can we ever make any truth claims without being sectarian and divisive?” “When we affirm pluralism, what kind of pluralism are we talking about?” “What are the conditions that create productive dialogue?” “How do we practice interfaith dialogue and engage conflict well?”

The Parliament of the World’s Religions is truly a source of hope for those of us who yearn for a world in which religious conviction contributes to a more peaceful and just planet rather than fueling hatred and division. Seeing Hin-

Marshall (fourth from left) and students at St. Kilda’s beach. (Photo by Melissa Self Patrick.)

“For me, however, the deeper source of hope rests with the students I came to know so well on this trip. . . .

They managed to hold in tension the true beauty of an interfaith gathering and the important, critical questions that make interfaith work so difficult.” dus, Buddhists, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Aboriginals, Yoruba, and Shintos engaging in genuine effort to understand one another and to work together for a common cause restores that “sense of the possible,” the feeling that the way things are is not the way they must be. For me, however, the deeper source of hope rests with the students I came to know so well on this trip: Sungrae Kim, Ingrid Rasmussen, Melissa Self Patrick, Jessica Hawthorne, Maria Presley, Christina Repoley, and Sharad Creasman. They managed to hold in tension the true beauty of an interfaith gathering and the important, critical questions that make interfaith work so difficult. Though different in their backgrounds and vocational goals, they have in common that precious balance of critical thinking, genuine imagination, and perseverance that has the power to change the world.

Ellen Ott Marshall is an associate professor of Christian ethics and conflict transformation at Emory’s Candler School of Theology.

Emory in the World | 29

A Face to the

Numbers

A Transformative Experience with Public Health in Ghana

By C hristine Kh os rop our Nausea? Heartburn? Indigestion?

(Top) A team of Emory students traveled to the Volta region of eastern Ghana to observe local water and sanitation practices.

Khosropour standing with two of the participants in the study. (Photo by Andrew Foote.)

Upset stomach? Diarrhea? For most Americans, these are minor inconveniences that can be controlled with a big gulp of pink liquid. However, for individuals living in low-resource settings, diarrhea is more than just a hassle.

Each year it results in the deaths of 2.2 million individuals worldwide and globally is the second leading cause of death in children less than five years of age. In fact, it is responsible for more deaths in young children than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined. Its impact goes beyond the mortality statistics, however. There is a significant effect of repeated or persistent diarrhea on children, as they become malnourished due to the loss of nutrients, leading to delayed growth and underdevelopment, in addition to susceptibility to other infections.

Because of the widespread and devastating impact of diarrheal disease, it is critical to evaluate ways in which to diminish this burden. As an epidemiology student at the Rollins School of Public Health, I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to work in Ghana with three other Emory students on this significant public health issue. Our multidisciplinary team, funded by Emoryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Global Health Institute, developed a project to investigate the potential risk factors of diarrhea by comparing the water, sanitation, and hygiene practices of two rural communities in the Greater Accra region of southern Ghana.

Through the disciplines represented on our teamâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; which included global health, epidemiology, microbiology, medicine, anthropology, and environmental engineeringâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; we were able to use a variety of methods such as interviews, focus-group discussions, GPS mapping, and water-

30 | Emory in the World

Khosropour working with a translator to sample the drinking water produced by a local man-made dam. (Photo by Andrew Foote.)

quality testing to research the diarrheal risk factors in both communities. We found that its prevalence did not seem to be dependent on the drinking water or the sanitation services. Instead, our findings suggested that a lack of hygiene was a main contributor to diarrhea in these communities, as one-third of community members did not own soap. Additionally, results from our water-quality testing revealed that more than 60 percent of houses had dangerous levels of E. coli present in the drinking water stored in their homes. However, our tests revealed that the water was not contaminated before it entered their houses, indicating that individuals were contaminating their own water once they brought it inside their homes.

Accra Ghana

“I quickly realized how complex public health problems can be, even when they appear to have easy solutions on the surface.”

(Above) This community’s piped water taps allow the women to keep the basins on their heads while being filled, eliminating the struggle the women often face to place the basin back on their heads before returning home.

(Photo by Christine Khosropour.)

Before I began our project in Ghana, I had assumed that the solution to the burden of diarrheal disease was a simple one: provide appropriate water and sanitation services to communities. From my experience, though, it became clear to me that the interplay of water, sanitation, and hygiene makes effective interventions much more complicated.

The individuals in these communities had access to piped, treated water, yet the water they were ingesting still had the potential to cause diarrhea.

Although clean water and sanitation services are critical components in decreasing diarrheal prevalence, they must be enhanced with education and behavior modification. If people are not taught the importance of hygiene, then standard interventions of simply digging a latrine or installing piped water will not be effective in reducing the burden of diarrheal disease.

Because we realized that hygiene education was lacking in these communities, as a team we decided that—with our varied backgrounds—we would be able to offer advice and recommendations to the communities. We talked to community members about the safest way to store their water, educated mothers about the importance of washing their hands with soap after changing their children’s diapers, and discussed the most appropriate ways to dispose of feces.

For all of us on the team, our experience in Ghana afforded a great opportunity to develop our leadership skills. We learned to communicate our ideas effectively, to deal with problems as they arose, and to be flexible as we encountered many unexpected hurdles in our research. We all gained confidence as we were able not only to develop ideas on paper together and then successfully execute them as a team but also to use what we had learned in our Emory educations to offer health-related advice to community members.

Although I spent only three months in Ghana, the lessons I learned, both professionally and personally, will stay with me as I continue my career at Rollins School of Public Health and as an epidemiologist. I was able to develop my skills by designing and implementing my own research project and learning from mistakes made during the development phase. I quickly realized how complex public health problems can be, even when they appear to have easy solutions on the surface. Furthermore, I now understand the importance of working with people of different disciplines and nationalities in order to create effective interventions.

The most important lesson is that, working with percentages and statistics on diseases, it is easy to forget about the individuals affected. This experience put a face to the numbers and helped me learn about the difficulties people face when trying to combat diseases at the community level. I now know that I will not be satisfied working with data and numbers alone. To understand an issue or propose an effective solution, I need to make personal connections to the individuals behind the statistics.

Christine Khosropour is a 2010 MPH candidate in epidemiology in Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health and co-president of the Student Outbreak Response Team, which bridges gaps between the classroom and public health reality.

Emory in the World | 31

Exploring Shamanism in Ecuador Bajo Ila

Ecuador

B y Rebecca R ollins Ston e

Shamanism is the basic spiritual approach

(Top) Morning mist in the Amazon rainforest at Rio Bianco, Ecuador.

(Above) Estafan Tamayo, famed shaman of the Andes highlands, in a healing ceremony. The shaman uses fire as part of the therapeutic effort to mimic the power of nearby volcanoes. (Photos by Mike McQuaide.)

32 | Emory in the World

of all Amerindian cultures. It piqued my interest more than ten years ago when I was teaching a class on ancient American art and noticed that the one thing that seemed to hold true across all cultures was the illustration of the human body “morphing” into that of an animal. These visions, on which shamanism is based, often include the experience of transforming into a jaguar, crocodile, or raptorial bird.

Anthropologists had written about shamanism and these pervasive reports of transformation beginning in the 1970s, but did not really consider the relationship between these visions and ancient American art. In the late 1990s, I began to comb the ethnographic literature for clues to the visionary experience and found it had so many common features across cultures that it could account for many of the similarities in art from all over the ancient Americas.

Right about the time I decided to write a book on the subject, I heard about an Emory sociology colleague on the Oxford campus, Mike McQuaide, who also was interested in shamanism. In 2004 he invited me on his annual field trip to Ecuador to meet a shaman named Augustín Grefa.

Mike and his colleagues, Lucas Carpenter and Stacy Bell, had learned that Grefa utilized ancient carved boulders as part of his healing practice, and exploring this tie between the past and present seemed too good for me to pass up. I

bus, meet Grefa at the bottom of a ridge, and hike to his new rainforest compound in one day. The weather had other ideas; our bus was stopped by a raging river that, under normal conditions, could be crossed easily. We were stymied for a while, but then we saw some locals riding a horse across the river. Their game little mare even had a young foal that swam back and forth with her to get a whole family across safely. We hired another man to do the same for us, and the mare bravely carried us big gringos across one by one. (I fed her my granola bar, something I sorely missed later, but she deserved it.)

Then we walked. It rained so hard that we had to empty our rubber boots about every twenty minutes.

Finally, we came to a little hamlet of about twenty houses and huddled around a fire. The townspeople were so kind to us strangers; they cooked a feast for us and let us pitch our tents in a spare building. After that rescue, we hiked what became known as the “wall of mud” for six hours, slogging up a thousand-foot climb, in sucking mud and rocks, to get to Grefa’s compound. But we all made it there in one piece and back the next day as well.

While we were resting in Bajo Ila, I noticed that their schoolroom had no school supplies, so I promised them that if I could make my way back there, I would bring them as much as I could.

I imagine they thought they would never see me again, but thirteen months later I, Grefa, and several of his strong, young sons carried seventy pounds of school supplies back down that road and made good on my promise. In addition, I had raised several hundred dollars for their school from Carlos Museum patrons. The teacher said she would use it to take the students for their first field trip outside Bajo Ila. I was lucky to make it back from that wonderful day, given that we met an angry emerald viper on the walk out of the town.

The things I learned on those trips to Ecuador became an article and part of my book—The Jaguar Within: Shamanic Visions in Ancient Central and South American Art—due out in 2011.

“We got to stay in the middle of the

rainforest and take trips to look at a number of fascinating

carved rocks while the shaman told us

about his experiences.

The students got some firsthand

(Top) Stone and students listen to Shaman Augustín Grefa from atop a petroglyph called the Woman Water Spirit Rock. (Photo courtesy Rebecca Rollins Stone.) (Above) Shaman Augustín Grefa works on one of the ancient carved boulders he uses as part of his healing practice.

(Photo by Rebecca Rollins Stone.)

can’t say that the ten days of the field trip were the easiest of my life, but they were some of the most interesting.

We got to stay in the middle of the rainforest and take trips to look at a number of fascinating carved rocks while the shaman told us about his experiences. The students got some firsthand understanding of how he saw the world.

For example, Grefa does not have clocks and calendars; instead, he dreamt about when we would be in the vicinity and came to meet us on the right day, only about two hours later than we expected to find him.

Grefa told us that one particular boulder, carved with beautiful and intricate spiral patterns, helped him talk to his counterparts in Africa during visions. I was busy making notes and asking questions in Spanish, sweating in the heat, and did not even really compute what he had said until I was looking over my notes on the way home. Africa? It was that comment that convinced me to apply for a grant from Emory and come back the next year to pursue this study more.

I also really wanted to come back to help out some very generous people in a tiny town called Bajo Ila, where we were rescued when the rainy season turned out not to be over as we had expected. The plan—and in the Amazon, plans had to be pretty flexible—was for us to drive in by

understanding of how he saw the world.”

Rebecca Rollins Stone is an associate professor in Emory’s Art History Department and faculty curator of Art of the Ancient Americas at Emory’s Michael C. Carlos Museum.

Emory in the World | 33

Istanbul Turkey

My Fulbright in Istanbul Was a True

Turkish Delight (Above) An interior view of the domes of Istanbul’s New Mosque.

In November 2008, I received a Fulbright Senior Specialist grant to be at Turkey’s Koç University library for six weeks to share my experience in library instruction, reference services, collection development, collaboration with faculty, and outreach to students.

I landed at Koç because Ajay Kohli, a former Goizueta professor, put me in contact with the provost there, whose response to my first email was, “I think your visit will be mutually beneficial.”

The Koç librarians were eager to learn about all aspects of the Goizueta Business Library’s operations. Over endless glasses of tea, we discussed assessment methods, marketing, collection development, and instruction programs.

They proudly told me about their library, which includes a Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations. As we exchanged information, it was apparent that we shared the challenge of engaging students to use library resources.

What most impressed me during my time at Koç, and in Turkey in general, was the friendliness and hospitality of the people. My hosts relocated a librarian temporarily so I could have an office. Daily lunch dates with small groups, along with tea breaks twice a day, gave me a chance to get to know all library staff. The librarians referred to their coworkers as friends. Despite their fluent English, I thought perhaps they were unfamiliar with the word colleague. Af-

34 | Emory in the World

By L e e P asackow ter six weeks, I realized that they really are good friends, not just co-workers, and enjoy socializing together.

Another objective of my program was to learn about the international curriculum of the Graduate School of Business. Goizueta prepares students for leadership positions in the global marketplace. It is beneficial for our students to learn about a moderate Muslim country in a strategic part of the world. I audited classes, met with deans, and attended student club events, all with the intent of establishing an ongoing relationship between Koç and Goizueta.

Together with the Koç business librarians, I visited the Industrial Development Bank of Turkey, the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, and Sabanci University. At times I felt like a European Union (EU) visitor, as they ushered us into the director’s office, plying us with tea and cookies. A Sabanci business school professor came directly from the hospital, after the birth of his son, to give me an overview of their program. I felt touched that they made such an effort to share the progress of their program with me.

The Fulbright Program is designed to increase mutual understanding between peoples. I also wanted to learn about the social, political, and cultural fabric of Turkey.

Emory Law professor Abdullahi An-Na’im introduced me to a former Emory human rights fellow. This sociologist explained the legal and moral issues surrounding Islam and human rights. He advocates a separation of religion from

(Left) View of the cascading domes and six slender minarets of the Sultanahmet Mosque, better known as the “Blue Mosque” for its blue interior tiles. (Above) Lee Pasackow (Photos courtesy Lee Pasackow).

the state. Thanks to David Montgomery, a religion postdoctoral fellow, I regional power in a strategic met two young dynamos engaged in progressive politics. Their fresh perarea of the world. Goizueta’s spectives on issues such as the headscarf, EU accession, Armenia, and the relationship with Koç, along AKP party were enlightening. with keen student interest The stars aligned for me as Kurban Bayram was celebrated for a week in to learn more about the December. During this Muslim Festival of Sacrifice, commemorating the country, signals that we willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his are on the right track to son Ishmael as an act of obedience to God, Turks spend time with their prepare students to engage families. I traveled to Cappadocia, where volcanic explosions sixty milin a multicultural business lion years ago have left a limestone environment.” landscape of fanciful shapes. After a day of hiking, I hitched a ride with a young man who invited me home for dinner with his parents. He extended an invitation to join his family on the first day of Bayram, when they would sacrifice a cow.

I arrived minutes before the butcher to watch the men of the family pull the reluctant cow from the shed and tie its feet. I opted out of observing the actual slaughter. The process was lengthy; afterwards, the scene resembled a butcher shop with my friend and his mother slicing up red meat, which then would be divided among family, friends, and the poor.

At the end of Bayram, I visited an Emory doctor on a Fulbright in Ankara. We traveled with fellow Fulbrighters to Beypazari, a town with cobbled streets of old Ottoman houses. I reunited with a Turkish couple whom I had met in An-Na’im’s class, again affording me an opportunity to discuss hot-button issues in Turkey.

“Turkey is emerging as a

On December 26, my last day at Koç, the library held its holiday party. I thought it strange that our gifts to each other were placed under a plastic Christmas tree. They seem to associate Christmas paraphernalia with the new year. As December 26 was the sixth night of Chanukah, I recited the blessings and the librarians lit a menorah for the first time. I could only say “Görüşürüz” (“see you later”) to my Koç colleagues who had so effortlessly and warmly accepted me into their community.

Since my return, the Koç Library purchased LibGuides (a content-management system deployed by our library), relocated the reference desk, and is considering reference service outside the library. I continue to share with them new products and services that I think could benefit them.

The Koç Graduate School of Business arranged lectures and company visits for the Goizueta Executive Program during the latter’s colloquium in April 2009. In spring 2010, one undergraduate business student is visiting Koç, thereby initiating the Student Exchange Program. Best of all, in March 2010, Patrick Noonan and I will lead a tenday trip to Turkey with thirty-three MBA students. I am a candidate for the Fulbright Association board, Georgia chapter. In addition to welcoming students and scholars to Georgia, I hope we can engage more alumni to advocate for increased support of Fulbright exchanges in Georgia.

Turkey is emerging as a regional power in a strategic area of the world. Goizueta’s relationship with Koç, along with keen student interest to learn more about the country, signals that we are on the right track to prepare students to engage in a multicultural business environment.

Lee Pasackow is a business librarian at Emory’s Goizueta Business School Library.

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Recognizing Excellence at

International B y Caro le Meiselman

Awards Night

Each year, Emory University presents

(Right) Dr. Han and longtime friend and colleague Ambassador James T. Laney catch up before the awards ceremony.

(Below) Dr. Han celebrates winning the Sheth Award with his family at International Awards Night. (Photos by Ann Borden.)

two international awards to deserving recipients: The Sheth Distinguished International Alumni Award and the Marion V. Creekmore Award for Internationalization. These awards recognize Emory University international alumni and faculty who have excelled in the advancement of the University’s commitment to internationalization. On the night of November 16, 2009, President James W. Wagner announced this year’s International Awards Night winners: Dr. Han Wan-Sang (Sheth Award) and Juliette Apkarian (Creekmore Award). During the ceremony held in their honor, both recipients had time to reflect on their achievements.

For Dr. Han Wan-Sang, Emory University always has held a very special place in his life. After receiving his BA and MA in sociology from Seoul National University (SNU), Dr. Han moved to the United States in 1962 to attend Emory. He received his doctorate in sociology in 1967 and joined the faculty of Georgia State University before returning to SNU as a professor in 1984. Throughout the

1970s and 1980s, Dr. Han became an activist in democratic social movements that emerged in Korea, and he was subsequently imprisoned for a time, his release coming in 1980. James T. Laney, then president of Emory, played a role in Dr. Han’s release and in bringing him, in 1981, to Emory as a visiting professor. In 1987, he emerged as a leader in Korea after a series of political reforms set the country on a new path.

“I cannot express in words what Emory means to me,” remarked Dr. Han. “I believe that Emory extended an an-

“I thank Emory for bestowing on me this honor. This award certainly binds us evermore to Emory in our hearts, as my home away from home.”

—Dr. Han Wan-Sang gelic hand of God when I needed it most. My friend, Dr. Laney, and his wife helped me out of Korea at a difficult time and brought me back to my alma mater.”

“Winning this award is further testimony to the distinguished career in which Dr. Han has served his country and promoted humanitarianism throughout the world, while 36 | Emory in the World

also advancing higher education,” said President Wagner.

“We are appreciative of all that Dr. Han and his family have done and continue to do for Emory and congratulate him for being this year’s Sheth Award winner.”

In 1990, Dr. Han was elected as the president of the Korean Sociological Association. His involvement in human and civil rights, as well as Korean unification discussions, led to his appointment as deputy prime minister of the National Unification Board in 1993. Continuing his leadership role in higher education, he accepted appointments as president of Sangji University, the Korean National Open University and, finally, Hansung University. In 2001, Dr. Han was appointed deputy prime minister for the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, and in late 2004 he was named president of the Korea National Red Cross, where he served until retirement in 2007. Since then he has published two major books on the growth of Christianity and mega churches in Korea. A third book on peace, democratization, and national unification will be out soon.

Concluded Dr. Han, “Emory’s connection to Korea has been long, solid, and is still growing. Emory should always be a well of pride and honor that never dries up. I thank Emory for bestowing on me this honor. This award certainly binds us evermore to Emory in our hearts, as my home away from home.”

The night’s second award winner, Dr. Juliette Stapanian Apkarian, joined the faculty of Emory University in 1980, fresh from defending her PhD thesis at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. At the time, Emory’s international programming was limited; Russia was the country furthest east that Emory represented. Dr. Apkarian saw this as an opportunity to expand in creative and special ways and, along with many others, worked to nurture an expansion of her department to include Japanese, Chinese, and Korean programming.

“Juliette has been a passionate and successful advocate for increasing international activities at Emory as well as for increasing Emory’s presence abroad,” said Dean Robert Paul. “Throughout her career here, she has exemplified the spirit and practice of the Creekmore Award at every level, and she is richly deserving of this honor.”

Dr. Apkarian’s professional service to Emory has been extensive on the departmental, college, and University levels. She helped pioneer the Department of Russian and East Asian Languages and Cultures, the Center for Russian and East European Studies, the Emory College Language Center, and the Humanities Council. She launched and directed the interdisciplinary Center for Language, Literatures, and Cultures, a precursor to the Center for Humanistic Inquiry; and she has worked to bring non-Western language instruction to students at Oxford College.

“Many years ago, when Emory’s study-abroad opportunities were limited to summer programs, Juliette negotiated a program in Moscow that established Emory College’s first academic year program abroad,” remarked President

Wagner. “Since then, she has played an instrumental role in deepening and broadening Emory’s international profile, with initiatives spanning from Budapest to Beijing, and from Tbilisi to Tokyo.”

Dr. Apkarian has long demonstrated her commitment to securing external grants that serve the broader mission and Ambassador and Mrs. Marion Creekmore congratulate Dr. Juliette Stapanian Apkarian on receiving the 2009 Creekmore Award. (Photo by Ann Borden.)

“We must understand Emory’s own journey, which requires the ability to translate across times, spaces, languages, changing values, cultures, and disciplines. I am grateful to all of you for sharing in my journey.”

—Dr. Juliette Stapanian Apkarian create national and international visibility for Emory University. She directed the federally funded Title VI-National Resource Center for undergraduate study of Russian and East European studies; and, more recently, she helped forge Emory’s successful bid for a prestigious grant from the Chinese government. The latter established the Confucius Institute in Atlanta in 2008, a unique Emory partnership with Atlanta Public Schools and Nanjing University. Dr. Apkarian also spearheaded a successful grant from the distinguished Academy of Korean Studies, which launched Korean language classes at Emory in 2007 and signaled a new phase in Emory’s historic relationship with Korea.

“Emory is dedicated to building its global reputation as a destination university. But for destination to become fully meaningful, we must understand the journey,” said Dr. Apkarian. “This includes the journey or journeys of international scholars and students who come to Emory and the journey of those who go abroad. We must understand Emory’s own journey, which requires the ability to translate across times, spaces, languages, changing values, cultures, and disciplines. I am grateful to all of you for sharing in my journey.”

Carole Meiselman is a program associate with Emory’s Office of International Affairs.

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Scholarships for Globally Minded Students B y Ken ya Casey

I always promise students that I won’t go into my “back in the day” study abroad stories about not having cell phones, Skype, volunteer opportunities, or scholarships, but today I will. In 1997, I studied abroad at the University of Ghana during the first semester of my senior year. I was a psychology major and desperately wanted to volunteer, but back then there were no organized volunteer or intern opportunities. Since then, international education has been transformed, and study abroad has a new look. Moreover, students aren’t just “studying” abroad; they are conducting research, volunteering, interning, and participating in service-learning programs. I remember one of my bigger obstacles to going abroad was finding money to pay for the program. I knew that if I wanted to participate, I had to take out another student loan because there weren’t any institutional or federal scholarships available. Fortunately, with the number of students going abroad increasing, scholarship opportunities have been on the rise.

Thirteen years after studying abroad, I now work in international education. The most rewarding aspect of my job is helping students apply for and receive scholarships for study, research, or service abroad. When I started working for Emory’s Center for International Programs Abroad (CIPA), I saw that very few minority students studied abroad.

In fall 2007 I established the Minority Outreach Initiative (MOI) to improve outreach efforts to students who traditionally have been underrepresented in education abroad (minority students; students with high financial need; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students). A major component of MOI is increasing awareness about scholarships. In fact, since its implementation, CIPA has seen a significant jump in the number of external and internal study abroad scholarships Emory students are receiving.

From spring 2007 to spring 2010, forty-one students who participated in a semester- or year-long program re38 | Emory in the World

ceived external scholarships to study abroad. The total amount of funding received is more than $120,000 and rising. It pains me to hear students say that there isn’t any funding available to go abroad. There are many options, which are provided both by Emory and external sources. At Emory, not even half the students who are eligible for scholarships apply. CIPA would like this circumstance to change moving forward.

CIPA has several impressive examples of students who received funding to go abroad. In spring 2009, Stanton Abramson received the IDN-CIPA Scholarship to conduct research in Cape Town, South Africa, where he spent a semester. The IDN-CIPA Scholars program is jointly run by the Institute for Developing Nations (IDN) and CIPA and offers Emory undergraduates opportunities to pursue development-related research while studying abroad. Stanton said of his experience, “The IDN-CIPA Scholarship served as a rewarding affirmation of my undergraduate research interests. Ultimately, I will feel more confident undertaking research responsibilities as an Emory graduate pursuing policy studies.”

One exciting new opportunity CIPA has to offer is the Undergraduate Program in Global Research and Development (UPGRADE) grant for Emory College students who

(Above) Zachary Hennessee in Uganda on the UPGRADE program working for an NGO. (Photo courtesy Zack Hennessee.)

wish to gain hands-on, sustainable development training by doing service work with the Foundation for Sustainable Development in developing countries over the summer.

Cynthia Adi received both the UPGRADE grant, which allowed her to work in Nicaragua, and an IDN-CIPA scholarship, which she used to fund research in Uganda. Cynthia clearly has made the connection between her academic and

(Top) Emory College students in India on the Undergraduate Program in Global Research and Development (UPGRADE) grant. (Photo courtesy Surabhi Agrawal.)

(Above) Student Cynthia Adi and friend on the equatorial line in Uganda.

(Photo courtesy Cynthia Adi.)

Program, which awards students of limited financial means (those who receive a Pell Grant) up to $5,000 to pursue academic studies abroad. I remember meeting Linda Wu in 2007; she was the perfect candidate for this scholarship.

Linda loves sharing her story: “As I researched my study abroad options, I immediately crossed off the London School of Economics from my list because it was a yearlong program and I wasn’t sure if I could afford it. It wasn’t until after a “This scholarship has given me professor encouraged me that I finally ended up applying . . . receiving the the opportunity to accomplish Gilman Scholarship helped immenseone of my goals for my ly in easing the financial burden of spending a year in London.” undergraduate experience—to We had our first science major, Chris Banks, receive the Gilman study and experience the scholarship in fall 2008 to study cultures of others, not through in Australia. Chris wrote, “Being awarded the Gilman scholarship a textbook, but through meant having the freedom of mind to focus more on my studies and Ausimmersion in their country.” tralian culture and not worry about having any means to finance my trip.

—Brittany Milliner The scholarship helped with simple things such as groceries and trolley fare but also gave me her longer-term cathe opportunity to explore all the attractions Melbourne reer interests: “My had to offer.” experience as both One scholarship that many are unaware of is the Inan UPGRADE particistitute for International Public Policy Fellowship Program, pant and an IDN-CIPA which provides students from underrepresented minority scholar has greatly engroups with education and training experiences critical to riched my undergraduentry and advancement in international affairs careers. IIPP ate experience. What’s is a three- to four-year comprehensive program of summer more important, these policy institutes, study abroad, intensive language training, programs helped me internships, graduate study, and student services that inrealize that a career clude mentoring and career development. This scholarship in international detotals almost $75,000. Students apply the second semester velopment would be of their sophomore year. Even though we have not had any a perfect fit for my Emory students receive this scholarship, with more stuinterests.” dents applying this year we are hopeful that will change.

Brittany Milliner, a rising senior, is one of two ColleMore than ever, students are going abroad and particigiate Fellows for the National Center for Global Engagepating in exciting programs. However, because of the curment’s Bardoli Global Scholars Program (BGSP). The BGSP rent economic climate, there is a greater demand for scholprogram offers Emory students the opportunity to give arships. Some of the scholarships above are need based, back to the greater Atlanta community and the chance to but many are not. I tell students all the time, “If you are participate in international service learning programs. Briteligible, apply!” I follow up by saying, “Don’t worry about tany said of her experience, “This scholarship has given your competition, just do your very best and use the reme the opportunity to accomplish one of my goals for my sources you have at Emory to help you strengthen your apundergraduate experience—to study and experience the plication.” Our hope for 2010 and beyond is that the word cultures of others, not through a textbook, but through imgets out that there are study abroad scholarships available mersion in their country. It can be quite expensive to travel and more students begin applying. abroad and I am thankful to be a Bardoli Global Scholar because, without this program, my family and I would not have been able to afford studying abroad.”

Kenya Casey is assistant director at the Center for InternaSince 2008 Emory has had sixteen students receive a tional Programs Abroad. For more information on study total of $45,500 from the Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship abroad scholarships, visit www.cipa.emory.edu.

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Serving Many Miles from Home B y Karen Gor don

Growing up, I always had a vaguely romantic conception about Peace Corps volunteers, although I didn’t know any personally. When I came to Emory and met several returned Peace Corps volunteers at campus events, the notion of becoming a volunteer became more tangible.

People with careers in all sorts of fields had dedicated two years to developing environmental projects in South America, teaching English in Africa, or assisting entrepreneurs in Asia. Why couldn’t I do something like that too?

To prepare for life after Emory and to try living internationally, I decided to study abroad and spent my junior year at Trinity College in Dublin. Though the cultural adjustment of living in Ireland was comparatively minimal (uneven cobblestones and strong Irish brogues), the experience was still a period full of self-discovery, delightfully awkward moments, and a chance to push my limits. It was here I first discovered that I could live far away from home and make a new city my own. This opportunity helped me gain the confidence I needed to pursue traveling to other parts of the world and fulfilling my dream of working for the Peace Corps.

When I graduated from Emory with a BA in English in spring 2007, I promptly started my Peace Corps applica40 | Emory in the World

tion. But I didn’t finish it. I didn’t feel ready. Many of my friends immediately started medical school or law school, and I felt directionless.

I took a job working with the nonprofit MedShare International in Decatur, Georgia, because I believed in its mission. The organization sends surplus medical supplies and equipment to underprivileged hospitals around the world. Working there, I met people from many other countries and felt that I helped to make a difference in the lives of people far away. I loved what I was doing but couldn’t shake the allure of traveling and helping disadvantaged communities in a more hands-on way. I wanted to live and work in another country, not just hear stories from other people who were doing it, so I started a new Peace Corps application and this time I finished it.

When I received my Peace Corps assignment in late 2008, I was floored. The Peace Corps invited me to serve in Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia. As I held the letter, my hands started shaking, and I was sure there had been some mistake. I can’t go there! I thought. I can’t even spell it—and I am a good speller. I put on a brave face and went across the hall to tell my parents that I was going to the “stan”

Kyrgyzstan Central Asia

“I teach English, but I also want to inspire my students to make their own choices.

I may never know if I have had a long-term impact, but I am doing my best.” that started with a “k” that was even more obscure than Kazakhstan. They looked at each other. “Great,” they said hesitantly. Then, seeing my faltering confidence, once more with gusto they exclaimed, “That’s great!” Knowing nothing about this country, we googled it immediately. One internet search revealed some Kyrgyzstan basics: fields, sheep, potatoes, and hospitable people.

I now have been in Kyrgyzstan for more than a year.

(By the way, it borders China.) I am the first Peace Corps volunteer to live in my rural village of about 2,000 inhabitants. I speak Kyrgyz, live with a host family, bring water to my house by the bucketful, use an outhouse, and bathe once a week. My primary responsibility is to teach English at the school, but I have found that the most important thing I can do is be visible in my village. As an independent, confident young woman who lives far away from home, I am a visible reminder to Kyrgyz women that it is okay to live differently.

One of the English clubs that I teach after school is full of my brightest high school girls. They spend a lot of time asking me about the places I have visited. On the wall, we hung a world map so that we could talk about all the places they would like to see. They want to go to America, they tell me. They want to learn English so they can travel to New York City and to learn French so they can visit Paris to see the Eiffel Tower. They want to be journalists, translators, and teachers. When I tell them that I studied in Ireland for a year, they decide that, yes, maybe that place would be worth checking out too.

The first year of my service has gone by so quickly and I feel lucky to be in this community, which has welcomed me so warmly. Being sandwiched between majestic mountains

and a large lake means there is no view short of spectacular from my house. My neighbors are hospitable (sometimes aggressively so), and I learn things from them every day.

Still, there are times when I doubt I can make a meaningful difference. I am trying to encourage my female students to be strong and independent in a country with rigid gender roles and where the practice of “bride kidnapping” (the taking of girls as brides against their will) is still prevalent from nomadic times. I want to teach my male students that education is the key to making life what they want it to be.

I teach English, but I also want to inspire my students to make their own choices. I may never know if I have had a long-term impact, but I am doing my best.

I look around my village and indeed I see fields, sheep, potatoes, and hospitable people. Maybe my time in Ireland really did prepare me for Kyrgyzstan more than I thought.

But I’m still looking for Guinness on tap.

(Above) Gordon working with a young girl in her classroom. (Photo courtesy Karen Gordon.)

Karen Gordon is a 2007 graduate of Emory University.

She is currently in her second year of service with the Peace Corps. Visit her blog for more information about her work: gordonkd.blogspot.com.

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Office of International Affairs Box 52, Administration Building Emory University Atlanta, Georgia 30322 USA

In spring 2010, Emory students in an advanced seminar in political science traveled to Berlin and Brussels for a weeklong study trip.

Highlights from Berlin included tours of the modern and historic Reichstag, the seat of the German federal parliament, the Pergamon Museum and Jewish Museum, and meetings with prominent representatives from the German government, the press, and educational institutions. The group also met Emory alumni over dinner at the lovely eighteenth-century MagnusHaus, hosted by Dr. Beate Lindemann, executive vice chairman of Atlantik-Brücke e.V. Highlights from Brussels included the Grand Place and meetings with officials from the European Commission, the European Parliament, and Belgium’s Federal Parliament. This Halle Institute study trip would not have been possible without generous support from The Halle Foundation and Atlantik-Brücke e.V. For more information, see <www.halleinstitute.emory.edu>.

Emory College’s new summer study abroad program in Berlin is designed for students interested in political science and international studies. For more information, visit <www.cipa.emory.edu>.

(Left) An interior view of the dome of the Reichstag building in Berlin, the meeting place of the German parliament, the Bundestag.