Intersections of Culture: The Experiences of Heritage Connected Fulbrighters
Channel: Fulbright DEIA Channel
Date: 2022-04-29

In recent years, an increasing number of students from the United States who engage in educational exchange have studied abroad intentionally in countries in which they have cultural, linguistic, and/or ancestral ties. As this population has grown, scholars and practitioners have sought names to define and understand this unique experience with terms such as heritage students, heritage seekers, or in the context of this event, heritage connected Fulbrighters. But what do heritage connected & heritage seeking participants have to say about their experiences? What can we as international educators do to center their voices, and what do we need to change if our goal is to support the full well being of heritage connected students and scholars abroad?

 This panel features Fulbright alumni Dr. Jallicia Jolly, Mysee Chang, Frishta Qaderi and Rubi Flores, along with moderator Thanh Mai of Fulbright Lotus, discussing their experiences as heritage connected and heritage seeking Fulbrighters. They tackle the specific challenges and joys that heritage seeking and heritage connected Fulbrighters encounter abroad, including the tension and power of negotiating between the cultures & societies of the host country that they are connected to; their intersectional identities as people connected to the United States and to other countries and regions; and their suggestions for developing structures of support that can be utilized to address the needs of heritage participants in Fulbright programs globally.

We have also composed a document with Tips and Takeaways from the Panel: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tZm3biqdxvC0CaxWvykFjpbdNfiUwRLN3lsY9Ax9iaY/edit?usp=sharing

We deeply appreciate the support of our panelists, moderator, the Fulbright Commissions, U.S. Embassies, the cooperating agencies, and ECA for this event.