2015 - Page 16 of 16 - Fulbright Student Program Blog

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Supporting Yemen’s Marginalized Populations

January 19, 2015

Ammar Mohammed is a current Fulbright Foreign Student from Yemen

In the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we are re-posting an article from Fulbright Foreign Student and 2014 Fulbright-Millennial Trains participant from Yemen Ammar Mohammed, whose research in sustainable development focuses on promoting the leadership and entrepreneurship of African-Yemenis – a marginalized population in Yemen. We hope the Fulbright community is inspired by Ammar Mohammed’s – and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s – work in promoting positive change within their communities.

We are living the most technologically advanced generation of all times – yet have some of the most pressing challenges in the history of humanity – be it economic, environmental, social, or political. As a Fulbright Student in sustainable development, I always contemplate the solutions for those challenges. I believe that a sustainable solution is a combination of addressing the above challenges. I see social entrepreneurship as the key to solving economic and social challenges—putting into account preserving the environment—that creates new markets and promotes social integration and participation. Entrepreneurs are leaders who transform communities. Entrepreneurs can also multiply their impact by lobbying the government for more support for young people and legislation that encourages entrepreneurial ideas. I believe that this hybrid model of social entrepreneurship and policy advocacy will be my first priority to tackling present challenges.

During the past year, I’ve come to see how this generation has diversified mindsets. There is a tendency to change the status quo through various means available exclusively to the Millennial generation. There are numerous campaign initiatives to improve the life of the less fortunate and for social justice around the world. The most striking aspect, however, is that this generation tends to shift entrepreneurship to be more socially oriented, using technology to that end. Social entrepreneurship, crowd-funding and impact investing show how a business can solve a social challenge and at the same time be profitable. In fact, this is one aspect I will definitely take back with me to Yemen and work to promote it.

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A Poem for Umm Kulthum

January 12, 2015

Working on a Fulbright-mtvU application for the upcoming February 27 deadline? Attend this week’s webinar on General Q&A this Thursday, January 15, at 2:00 p.m. EST!

In early November, I went to an open mic for local poets at an Abu Dhabi venue called The Space. It was the fourth event in a new Rooftop Rhythms series for Arabic poetry, organized by Rooftops founder Dorian “Paul D” Rogers. The event featured about fifteen poets, who combined elements of Arabic poetry with spoken word. They were multilingual UAE residents from a variety of Arab backgrounds—Palestinian, Lebanese, Emirati, and Sudanese. Many were regulars at Rooftop events but usually performed in English. They reminded the audience of this since the connotations of writing poetry differ from one language to another. Arabic poetry is associated with mastery of Classical Arabic and a deep knowledge of the Arabic literary heritage, while spoken word favors poetic prowess that is grounded in lived experience. But the audience was open-minded, receptive to hearing Arabic poetry in a variety of dialects, registers, and styles. The evening had a warm, familial vibe, with listeners snapping fingers supportively from their bean bag chairs.

Poets and friends at The Space in Abu Dhabi (Photo courtesy of Farah Bushnaq)

I chose a poem to feature here that fits neatly into the themes of this blog. It’s by Dubai-based poet Zeina Hashem Beck, written in appreciation of the performative style of Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum (d. 1975). Umm Kulthum is one of the most beloved figures of the Arab world, and the lyrics to her songs are among the most widely memorized of Arabic poems. Zeina’s poem is called “Umm Kulthum or Al-Intithar [Waiting],” (a title that brought to my mind Umm Kulthum’s famous song, “Ana fi Intizarak” [I’m waiting for you]). Zeina is from Tripoli, Lebanon, and studied English Literature at the American University in Beirut. She is an English-language poet, with her work published and forthcoming in over a dozen literary journals, but considers herself a newcomer to Arabic poetry. Her debut poetry collection, To Live in Autumn (The Backwaters Press, 2014), won the 2013 Backwaters Prize and has been recently released. The poems of this collection describe Beirut as she sees it; a city that resembles autumn in its uncertainties and the conflicted feelings it inspires.

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Fulbright Holiday Celebrations Around the World

January 9, 2015

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The “Gentle Art” of Cultural Immersion

January 8, 2015

Aaron Owen, 2012-2013, El Salvador (back row, fourth from left), with his jiu-jitsu teammates in El Salvador

Jiu-jitsu comes from the Japanese expression meaning the “art of being gentle, yielding, or giving way.” I began training Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) in Milwaukee, and at the time wouldn’t have imagined how it would come to shape my philosophy of cultural immersion during my Fulbright grant in El Salvador.

So how does “the gentle art” come into play in your Fulbright project? In BJJ, the idea is that instead of meeting force with force and quickly becoming exhausted, you leverage your opponent’s energy to your advantage “Cultural jiu-jitsu” is the act of giving way to the new experience. This means recognizing that you are becoming overwhelmed, accepting it, and finding ways to redirect that stimulus overload into something positive. In my case, when I realized I was becoming overwhelmed with the unfamiliar, I found a gym in El Salvador to start training BJJ again.

If immersing myself within another culture wasn’t enough, I also realized I was becoming overwhelmed by my project. I was attempting to interview hundreds of locals to study how modernization impacted their dietary habits. I had worked with my affiliates for months to craft a strong interview script, and I had even done a pilot study. The pilot interviews were successful, but highlighted the logistical and cultural difficulties I would have trying to expand to a larger sample. Logistically, I wouldn’t have the time to interview as many people as I wanted or the language skills to effectively communicate with the diverse population I was targeting. Culturally, my blunt way of inquiring about people’s dietary habits was sometimes considered intrusive. I had the choice to either callously plow through these barriers, or to look for a more creative solution.

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U.S. Fulbright

Calling All Fulbrighters: Embrace Social-Entrepreneurship and Reach for the Stars

January 1, 2015

Brinkley Warren, 2012-2013, New Zealand, pitching his creative startup to the largest gathering of angel investors in New Zealand history on stage at Te Papa Tongarewa (the Museum of New Zealand)

A Fulbright grant is an opportunity-accelerator. Forbes Magazine recently ranked New Zealand as the #1 best place in the world to start a new venture, and I suppose it is fitting that my 2012 Fulbright art project transformed – most serendipitously – into a social-tech startup.

My MFA exegesis explored the notion of entrepreneurship as art form and art as entrepreneurship, and I wanted to challenge the notion of being an artist in the digital age. As founding CEO of the venture, I attracted and led a team of Kiwis (native New Zealanders) into what became New Zealand’s first technology accelerator. We built an innovative product, and I pitched it on Demo Day in front of the largest gathering of “angel” investors in New Zealand history. We raised a seed round of investment, and in three months we attracted over 10,000 users from 82 countries and launched the world’s first crowd-produced public media platform. It was a thrilling experience to launch such an impactful creative venture during my Fulbright, and it has proven to be a foundational experience. In the years since, I had my first successful “exit” after selling my startup to a larger firm and I’m already working on my next ventures. I love tech entrepreneurship because it’s the best way to make bold creative ideas come to life that positively impact the future of humanity. My Fulbright experience helped to galvanize my role as a startup artist.

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