In June most members of the Fulbright Student Program board resigned, after the Trump Administration blocked “a substantial number” of scholars from receiving grants. Like so many federal initiatives, the fate of the roughly $300 million, 80-year-old exchange program is uncertain.
U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas founded the program in 1946, as part of a burst of post-World War II optimism about the possibility of peacefully knitting countries together, with the United States at the center. It sponsors scholars from 160 nations to teach, research, perform and create art in the U.S., with Americans doing the same abroad.
In the aughts I was a Fulbright Scholar in India, helping to develop a solid waste disposal system in a small village. It’s hard to convey, or perhaps even fully know, the value of the experience. My knowledge of India is much deeper than I’d have acquired solely as a tourist. I contributed in a tiny way to solving an environmental problem and may have nurtured positive feelings towards the U.S. as a result.
Whether that benefits the American taxpayer, who paid in the range of $20,000 for my junket, is largely predicated on the belief that cultural exchanges are the building blocks of a better world, creating waves of understanding, connectiveness, and peace. In today’s more nativist zeitgeist, that’s a hard sell.
In may be that in the present post-globalist period, the Fulbright program needs to be reimagined to help stitch together our own fractured nation. Rather than an exchange between foreign countries, it could be recalibrated to cultivate conversations within our internal “nations.”
There are 326 Native Tribal reservations in the U.S. Few Non-Natives have visited these communities or could even name more than a handful. Many Tribes would benefit from residential engagement with talented educators, entrepreneurs, artists, and others. Similarly, Non-Natives might value opportunities to interact with gifted Tribal members, who have a distinct understanding of how to approach problem-solving, relationships, and what it means to be human.
Likewise, exchanges between exceptional individuals living in Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Seattle, and those who make Arkansas – ironically Fulbright’s birthplace, given that Trump received 64 percent of last election’s vote there – Mississippi and Wyoming home could help nurture greater understanding, as well as skill transfer, between ideologically, culturally, distinct places.
While not as large as economic differences between the United States and India, average income in San Francisco, about $70,000, is almost 60 percent higher than Little Rock’s roughly $40,000. The two places’ experiences of capitalism alone, its fruits and foils, are distinct
The optimism embedded in Fulbright’s idea is deeply American. We can make the world a better place, by sharing a handshake, bow, or cup of tea. It’s hard to completely dislike someone with whom you’ve had a meal. I may not share Indians’ belief in multiple gods – though can see it’s attraction – but relate to their strong sense of family loyalty and admire their respect for elders. A splintered America could benefit from an investment in experiencing the connections, and differences, between us.