Macalester recently announced this year's nominees for the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. Application to the fellowship is open each year to graduating seniors from 50 participating institutions.
One or all of this year's nominees- Katy Forsyth '02, Curtis Gilbert '02, Owen Kohl '02 and Jane Turk '02-may be awarded the fellowship. Fellowships are awarded each year to students across the country. The fellowship provides each recipient with a grant of $22,000 and an amount equal to one year's payment of outstanding federal student loans. According to the Watson Web site, recipients will embark upon a year-long "focused and disciplined wanderjahr," during which time they will pursue an independent course of study. They may travel anywhere and in any number of countries, but are not normally permitted to return to the U.S. before the 12 months have passed.
The nominees were narrowed down after an interview before a board consisting of professors Gary Krueger (Economics), Sarah Dart (Linguistics), Paul Solon (History), Jim Stewart (History) and Ellen Guyer (Academic Dean). During these interviews, each student described and answered questions about his or her proposal. There will be one more interview session with an official Watson representative early next year. The winners will be announced in March.
Gilbert has proposed to study community radio stations primarily in South Africa. He would to be a participant-observer at a variety of these radio stations, volunteering and observing how these small, community-funded stations are supported. Although these community stations did not begin appearing in South Africa until six or seven years ago, there will soon be close to 100 stations in operation.
Turk would study the funding structures of publicly and government-funded media in Europe and Asia. Her travels would include London (where she would examine the BBC), Berlin, Bucarest, Prague, Moscow, Beijing and Tokyo. She wants to examine how government funding affects the content of the news, especially nationalistic content and propaganda.
Forsyth's proposal would have her studying World War II monuments throughout Europe.
Kohl, who is currently studying abroad, wants to examine hip-hop music as an activist art form in, among other places, Russia, France, and Senegal.
As defined by the Watson Fellowship program, the independent study required of the award's recipients should not take place at any kind of learning institution; in fact, Watson recipients do not affiliate themselves with any universities, volunteer programs, or long-term training programs- they are required to be in control of their projects.
Macalester has participated in the fellowship for the last two years, each of which has produced two Watson recipients. Last year's winners have embarked upon their wanderjahrs: Annemarie Ackerman is studying photography in Brazil, Cape Verde, Mozambique, India and Portugal; Melanie Gipp is studying medicinal folklore in Brazil and Argentina.
