Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran Speech

Keynote Address
2011 Pre-Departure Orientation for Sub-Saharan Africa
U.S. Fulbright Scholars and Students

Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran
President, Kalamazoo College

AS PREPARED

It’s always very dangerous to give a key note address after dinner.  In fact, I am reminded of a wonderful quote from one of our Native American elders who, in the mid-19th century was invited to a dinner at the White House.  At the end of the gathering he observed:  “The white men have very curious ways.  After dinner, they gather together, and one of them stands and talks for hours, saying lots of foolish things.  On the other hand, after our people share a meal, we gather together silently, smoking our pipes as we allow our food to digest.”  Keeping the admonition of our native brother in mind, I will try to be brief—a very hard thing for a college president to do. 

First, let me extend to you my very warmest congratulations on your receipt of the Fulbright Award.   What an honor and what an awesome responsibility. As nations and individuals come to terms with what it means to live in a 21^st-century, interconnected global community, opportunities for intercultural exchange take on new significance.

You will represent our country at a time that is filled with contradictions.  Let’s consider a few:

• Although our nation has long espoused freedom and democracy, as a nation we find ourselves challenged to respond to the complexity of the "Arab Spring."

• Here’s another: In spite of the tendency of the media to present the African continent as ungovernable, corrupt and racked by poverty, stable democracies are becoming the norm on the continent.  According to the U.S. State Department, more than two-thirds of
Sub-Saharan Africa’s 48 countries have held democratic elections since 2000. 

• Another contradiction: Currently the United State's financial commitment to Africa is the most significant it has ever been.  This commitment includes both humanitarian and strategic emphases with initiatives focused on sustaining democracy, reducing conflict, protecting natural resources, and eradicating AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.  During the same period, China also has significantly increased its penetration of Africa, particularly in petroleum-rich regions, and has demonstrated less-than-optimal consideration for human rights, the rule of law, or resource conservation.

What an interesting time to study and research in Africa while representing the United States of America.

In thinking about what I might share with you, I reflected upon my own experience as both a student and a scholar in Sub-Saharan Africa.  While doing so, I attempted to identify what might be the same and what might be quite different. Although much has changed since I first set foot on the African continent in 1969, much about the cross-cultural encounter with Africa remains the same.  So let me share four proverbs that might guide your cross cultural encounters.

• Proverb 1:  She who knows the difference between being a guest and a host will avoid putting her country and herself in a very bad light.
• Proverb 2:  He who knows himself, will make good sense of his own responses.
• Proverb 3:  Those who are flexible will not be tied into knots.
• Proverb 4: He who is "linked in" to his immediate surroundings will never have cause, in the future, to wonder what opportunities were missed.

Let’s think more deeply about the first proverb.  She who knows the difference between being a guest and a host will avoid putting her country and herself in a very bad light.

As we all know, there are rules for being a guest and they vary from culture to culture and even from household to household. In my mother’s house, there was a simple rule: first time you visited, you were treated as a guest; the second time you visited, you were expected to act like a family member and offer to do the dishes.

As Fulbrighters you are guests, and as such, you will need to be respectful of cultural norms, even when they do not make sense to you. I remember my first trip to a friend’s village, a rural hamlet where there was no electricity or running water. I viewed it as a camping trip and thought that wearing jeans and a shirt would be just fine. My friend insisted that I dress up to meet her family. She explained that anything less than my best clothes would have been considered an insult.  I, on the other hand, thought this would be a waste of my good clothes. First of all, I did not have very many, and I felt I should save them for special activities in the city. Although this dress code made no sense to me, I complied. I was the guest. 

It is important for a guest not to be “overly critical,” especially with respect to sensitive social and cultural issues. It is entirely appropriate to ask questions so that you may come to understand social-cultural norms and expectations. However, it is important that you also refrain from making judgments about their correctness. So you may think polygamy is oppressive to women; your host may find the American practice of serial monogamy equally problematic. Remember, what makes sense to you from a Western cultural perspective may make absolutely no sense to your hosts.

And then there is African time—it’s real. Africa has its own rhythm, and this rhythm is not linked to the chimes of a bell tower. Dr. Ahmed Hussen, Professor of Economics at Kalamazoo College and former Fulbright scholar in Botswana, wrote: “I found that in Botswana, tardiness not punctuality was the norm. For someone coming from America, this can be very challenging. Although it took me a long time, I started to realize that there is no other way to deal with this situation except to learn how to be patient.”  

Let me offer a special word of advice on the timing of arrivals to parties and special events: Never get to your host’s home at the designated hour. Arriving on time can often be considered an insult, particularly in situations where food is being served.  It’s like saying, “I’m not sure I trust your cooking and I am not sure your kitchen is clean enough, so I am coming early enough to watch you prepare the food and to make sure it is really safe.” Learn to be “fashionably late.”

The Yoruba observe: “a guest has eyes, but they perceive imperfectly.”  Remember you are a guest and your vision may be unclear. Defer to the ways of your host.

Proverb 2: He who knows himself, will make good sense of his own responses.
Many times during my work and study in Nigeria, I found myself frustrated and angry. Things did not seem to be going the way I had expected. People were not responding to me the way I thought that they should.  On reflection, however, I often discovered that I was the person whose motivations and unconscious assumptions might have been the source of the problem.

Africa, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa, is a place about which many of us carry uninformed illusions. There are so many reasons for this: the continuing dearth of accurate information coupled with the prevalence of misinformation, the presentation of Africa as a continent of deficits: no water, no food, and no political stability. When the ignorance that results from this paucity of reliable information intersects with racism and cultural chauvinism, the combination gives rise to a variety of unexamined assumptions related to the people, the culture and the local institutions. Given this context, I suggest that there is much to be gained by continuously taking time to examine your motives for traveling to this part of the world and to identify the (conscious or unconscious) assumptions that may be linked to these motives.

Let me try to highlight a few of the unconscious motives and assumptions that have the potential to limit your ability to maximize your experience. I like to refer to them as syndromes. I have identified four; although, I am sure there are more:

The Missionary Syndrome: which most often manifests itself as the need to save the continent, to “help” or to rescue those unfortunate people:  be they children, farmers, people living with HIV/AIDS, women, etc. The newest form is the ecological missionary syndrome expressed as the need to save the rain forest and the gorillas. The missionary’s unacknowledged assumption is his belief that he knows what is required for salvation. The missionary does not operate “in partnership” with the community that he/she seeks to save. He fails to recognize the ability of the indigenes to define most accurately their reality and to determine what they need. Rather, the missionary perceives him/herself as both the primary source of knowledge and the principal agent of change. The one who will do for others what he has decided they are incapable of doing for themselves—a wholly erroneous and unsustainable model.

Next there is the Homecoming Syndrome: People of African descent, be they African Americans or naturalized Africans who have limited experience with Africa, often view a trip to Africa as the "grand homecoming." We assume that Africa will welcome those of us of African descent with open arms, treating us as long lost "brothers and sisters." We expect to be perceived differently and treated differently than our white American counterparts are treated. The problem is that most of us are unaware of how American we are!

Many African Americans hold romantic notions of both traditional and contemporary Africa. We may even subscribe to a form of reductionism that seeks to explain the current social, political and economic challenges facing Sub-Saharan Africa solely as the consequence of colonialism and neocolonialism, as if African nations and African people are incapable of shaping their current reality, either positively or negatively. As a result, we may become deeply disappointed when we come to realize that what we had hoped to find does not exist.

The Homecoming Syndrome also has another potential nasty twist. In much the way that Americans tend to have distorted perceptions of Africa, some Africans have distorted perceptions of Americans. My daughter, a Peace Corps Volunteer in Botswana, writes that some people, through no fault of their own, have come to believe that Americans are not only all rich, but that they are also all white. Members of US ethnic minority groups may continually find themselbes having to defend that fact that they are Americans, President Obama notwithstanding. Rather than being treated to a grand homecoming, Americans of Color may find themselves in a nowhere land: in the eyes of their hosts - neither African nor American.

We also have the Curiosity Syndrome: Represented by a view that, at its heart, Africa remains an exotic place. Traveling to Africa will be one big safari in which the people will be as interesting as the animals. Those with the curiosity syndrome often unconsciously objectify communities, cultures and individuals. Being in Africa is seen as an opportunity to “let one’s hair down” and “go native.” In one form of the curiosity syndrome, Mr. Curious may actually have the audacity to tell a particular group of people what it means to be a member of their own culture or nation, i.e., what it really means to be Yoruba or Kikuyu, or Malian or Angolan.

Let’s not overlook the Intellectual Superiority Syndrome: Expatriate scholars who are teaching in African universities often mistakenly assume that the undeveloped nature of the campus infrastructure reflects some form of incompetence on the part of the university administration. Sometimes, before they recognize what they are doing, these individuals have begun to tell those on campus how to run the institution.  This syndrome can also manifest itself as a failure to recognize that African universities have a long, and well-respected and vibrant intellectual tradition. There is an assumption that if things are done differently from the way they are done in the US, something must be wrong.

Ms. Intellectual Superiority will take it upon herself to tell local professors how to teach topics that they have been teaching very effectively for years. A variation of this syndrome may be manifested as an unconscious assumption that African students are incapable of the complex intellectual thought and discoursethat we assume occurs on campuses in the United States. As a result, the lecturer may unconsciously lower expectations for performance, teach down to students and fail to challenge them sufficiently.

I encourage you to remain cognizant of these syndromes and, on a periodic basis during your time abroad, I encourage you to uncover the misconceptions and assumptions you may be carrying. This may not be as easy as you think, but I encourage you to do the hard work required. The increased sense of self-awareness that emerges will enable you to scrutinize more astutely your response to certain events. It may also help you to better understand situations in which your hosts do not respond as positively as you might have anticipated.

Proverb 3:  Those who are flexible will not be tied up in knots.
For most Americans, traveling and studying in Africa is a unique and challenging experience. There will be many surprises, things that you simply did not expect or anticipate. In many African countries, the utility infrastructure cannot support the increasing demands for electricity and water. The bureaucracy is incredibly complex, and yet, it does not work as efficiently as you might have imagined. It often seems as if it takes forever to get anything done.

When you live in an environment in which the basic amenities that allow you to plug in your computer, access your e-mail or bathe cannot be relied on, when the officer whose approval you require may or may not be cooperative, you still have control of one thing: and that one thing is the way you respond. It is very important to be FLEXIBLE and to have back-up plans in case things don’t go as expected. For example, a situation may arise that leads you to modify, or in some cases, completely change your research project. Or you may find that you are asked to change your teaching assignment on very short notice. When situations of this nature arise, it helps a great deal if you are understanding and flexible. It is amazing how much you will gain from a small gesture of goodwill and cooperative behavior.

One thing I learned, and learned to make peace with, during my time in Nigeria was that in spite of the fact that I was intelligent, responsible and able-bodied, I was not in control. We Americans like to be in control. Many of us measure the success of our days by the number of items we can cross off of our to-do lists. My travels in Ghana, Tanzania and Nigeria taught me to see my to-do list as a hypothesis, it operates like this: if the individual who I was supposed to interview is present I will do "x," and if she is not or if she is very late, then I will do "y." Flexibility and patience are the keys to a successful year.

Proverb 4: He who is "linked in" to his immediate surroundings will never have cause in the future to wonder what opportunities were missed.
As I noted earlier, even though the current social and political context is quite different, in many ways, the cross-cultural challenges of travel and study in Africa are very similar to those I encountered many years ago.  However, there is one relatively recent phenomenon that has the potential to significantly impact your Fulbright experience: information and communication technology.  Because emerging technology is so ubiquitous and is so unconsciously a part of our lives, I think that it is worthy of our consideration. When I first traveled to Ghana in 1969 my primary mode of communication with my family was the aerogram –the blue lightweight folding letter/envelope that we used when writing home.  The post office doesn't even make them anymore.   

In those days an airmail letter from Ghana to the U.S.took at least 10 days to reach my family and friends in California.  Calling home was simply out of the question.  During my first trip to West Africa, I called home only three times in 18 months.  To make these calls, I had to travel to a satellite station, wait for at least 2 hours before the call could be placed, and then hope to be connected successfully.

Recent advances in technology have revolutionized the nature of global communication.  You can read your favorite newspaper on line, and, in fact, there is no need whatsoever for you to be disconnected from your family and friends on this side: you have Twitter, Facebook, texting, e-mail, and blogs. That connectedness represents both an incredible potential and a great peril. The ease with which you are now able to stay connected to the United States may disrupt your capacity to make deep connections with those in your host country.  One can be so "virtually" connected that the time required for real, meaningful substantive engagement in cross-cultural context gets squandered.  Don’t waste this precious gift of time. Get "linked in" where you are to where you are. Log in to the cultural, political and social events in your immediated community.

Another caution: E-mail, texting and, to some extent, even blogging can give rise to very careless and unreflective communication: what I call the “instantaneous putting words to paper” without careful consideration of the recipient or the subject. Such forms of communication can lead to serious miscommunication, particularly in cross-cultural context. I encourage you to write, wait, re-read, think and then decide whether you should hit “send” or “delete”.

These new technologies also offer each of you the incredible opportunity for sustained and on-going communication with the friends and professional colleagues you meet during your Fulbright, long after you have returned home. It provides opportunities for global research collaborations that were at one time deemed impossible. The generation of knowledge based on data more broadly representative of the world holds significant promise for our capacity to develop a unified human family. Embrace all technology has to offer—but do so critically. First, lin in where you are.

So there you have it:
1. Be a good guest.
2. Know yourself and check your responses.
3. Be flexible. 
4. Get linked in where you are and embrace all technology cautiously and critically

You are on a very special mission. According to the 2010 Open Doors Report, last year only 5.3% of the approximately 260,000 plus Americans who studied abroad for academic credit elected to go to Sub-Saharan Africa. The good news is that this represents an increase of 15.5% over the previous year. Nevertheless only 13,681 Americans studied aboard in Africa last year. While this figure does not include researchers or those who went to Africa on volunteer programs, even if we were to add these individuals, the percentages would not change significantly.  Each of you is taking the road less travelled and I salute you. Use this opportunity to present our country in its full multicultural diversity, setting the record straight when necessary.

When you return to the United States, I hope you will join those of us who strive to situate issues of relevance to Africa within the national conversation.  I hope you will also give voice to the full complexity of the country in which you have spent your time, and that you will assist all with whom you interact, to recognize that Africa is a continent not a country. I hope you will help them understand that this massive continent is comprised of very diverse nations, each with its own unique history and cultures.

As you board the plane, I wish you:
• Great learning 
• Immense personal growth
• The opportunity to engage in scholarship that will be meaningful to your discipline, your students and the country, in which you are studying.

Finally, as we would say in Nigeria and Ghana, I wish you a very Safe Journey.