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Two professors win Fulbright Scholar Grant

By Janene Gier

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Two KU professors are researching and adventuring abroad thanks to the Fulbright Scholar Grant.

The goal of the grant program is to increase understanding between the United States and people in other countries. Since the program’s introduction in 1951, 287 KU faculty members have received the grant. This year, it’s Majid Hannoum’s and John Kennedy’s turn.

Majid Hannoum

Sub-Saharan Africans and Moroccan children are risking death to cross the border to immigrate to Spain, said Majid Hannoum, an assistant professor of anthropology. Hannoum is returning to Morocco, where he was born, to continue research he hopes will tell the stories of these young people to improve their situations. Hannoum said the young immigrants often exchanged one hell for another.

The story behind the research:

Hannoum’s inspiration to become a writer stems from childhood memories of growing up in a Moroccan neighborhood, where storytelling was common, he said.

Hannoum said he first wanted to write fiction, but graduate school changed that. His focus went from writing for fiction to writing for research.

“I don’t write fiction, but I do write and I do write stories. Research is a form of storytelling.”

Interviews with young immigrants, including children, who try to cross into Europe will reveal why they want to emigrate, the expectations upon them and the conditions they must endure, Hannoum said.

“I hope that my research will tell the stories of these new ‘wretched of the earth’ so that proper attention will be paid to their pleas.”

Hannoum’s research in Morocco, which is located on the northwest coast of Africa, will also examine how the important city of Tangier, a gate between Europe and Africa, changes as a result of the emigration, he said.

This research project has a connection to Hannoum’s childhood because it involves a place he once called home. But every research project has special meaning to him, he said.

“It’s like the experience of having a child,” he said. Each research I conducted is memorable to me, from the time I hesitate about the topic, to the time it gets published.”

John Kennedy

photo

Photo by Ryan Waggoner

The saying “you are what you eat” is what John Kennedy, an associate professor of political science, will research when he returns to Xi’an, China, to continue a project that compares the difference in nutrition provided to the children in 75 urban and rural schools and how it affects education. China is currently focused on building more schools, Kennedy said, but he hopes to shed some light on the need for better nutrition standards in rural schools.

The story behind the research:

Twenty-eight-year-old carpenter John Kennedy was working in a cabinet shop and became friends with a Chinese co-worker.

It was 1989 and Kennedy and his friend discussed the major protests breaking out in China. Kennedy said that was when he started to become interested in the language and the politics of China.

Kennedy has been back and forth to China at least twice a year for the past 15 years, with the exception of a break when his daughter was born. His wife was born in China, and some of his best friends are there, he said.

“I tell my students that my good buddies in China are the same as they are here. They tell the same bad jokes and drink the same bad beer.”

Aside from his friends, Kennedy enjoys China’s diverse selection of food, the hundreds of people that gather outside to ballroom dance and the groups of 15 old men looming over his shoulder as he plays chess at the park.

With the help of the Fulbright Scholarship Grant, Kennedy said, his family is going with him to China this time. His daughter will attend Chinese kindergarten.

Kennedy said the goal of the research, now in its second year, was to think of solid policy advice for government leaders to help invest in bridging the nutrition and education gaps between urban and rural schools.

“Building schools looks great for local leaders, but the idea is to take the money it would for that one new school, and use it to help 500 schools,” he said.

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