Washington, DC – In June, Ford IFP Executive Director Joan Dassin delivered the keynote address at the orientation for U.S. Fulbright Scholars and Students preparing to travel to Bolivia, Paraguay, Venezuela, Central America and the Caribbean.

As the recipient of three Fulbright grants, Dr. Dassin reflected upon her own experiences as a Fulbright scholar in Brazil over thirty years ago.

“When I went to teach contemporary American literature at the Catholic and Federal Universities of Rio de Janeiro, citizens had taken to the streets to protest the military dictatorship still in power. I remember this vividly, since the military police invaded the campus in Rio where I was teaching. On more than one occasion, we cancelled classes so that students could join the protests. The texts on my reading list—which focused on works by Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and feminist writers in the U.S.—gained new urgency.

“After I left Brazil and returned to the U.S., I spent more and more of my free time with Brazilian exiles gathered in New York. Eventually my involvement in this struggle led to a new interest in authoritarian regimes, which by that time had dominated South America, as military coups toppled elected governments in Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina. I forged a new research project on press censorship, for which I received a number of postdoctoral grants. I went to Brazil to teach again on a Fulbright grant, this time at the University of São Paulo. While in Brazil I had the extraordinary experience of working on a project that was carried out in secret and would help mark the end of the military regime in Brazil, a book called Brasil: Nunca Mais (Torture in Brazil).

“I credit those Fulbright grants with opening new horizons, not only by enabling me to travel to Brazil, but by requiring me to meet people from all over the country, from all walks of life, who I wouldn’t have met otherwise. Seeing things from their perspective, going far beyond my own subject matter, and above all, connecting to the decisive historical moments playing out in the country enabled me to grow in unanticipated ways.”

Dr. Dassin also spoke about the important role of Fulbright students and scholars in Latin America today.

“Latin American governments now expect to deal with the U.S. as equals. That will be the key to developing solutions to problems—from drug trafficking and related violence to immigration policy and the region’s chronic economic and social inequalities, which profoundly affect the hemisphere as a whole, the U.S. included. Whatever political solutions prevail, we will have made progress if President Obama carries out his pledge made at the Trinidad Summit, to “seek an equal partnership”… in which there is “no senior partner and junior partner in our relations.”

“You will all play an important role in helping to foster this emerging climate of mutual respect and reciprocal diplomacy. You are “experts” (or will be soon) in disciplines and issues that are relevant to all peoples of the hemisphere, from public health and economic development, to creative writing, theater and music. Yet your work and the way you conduct it should convey that there is “no senior partner and no junior partner” in our relations with other countries in the hemisphere. Whether you are a student or a scholar, you can learn as much as you teach, and learn in new ways that reach far beyond your particular academic specialization or area of interest.

I have no doubt that each of you will justify the faith that the Fulbright Program has placed in you, as students, teachers, researchers, professionals and above all—as “citizen diplomats” prepared not only to represent America abroad but also to listen and learn from the rest of the world.”

In 2001, Dr. Joan Dassin launched the Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program (IFP), which awards fellowships for postgraduate study in universities worldwide to leaders from underserved communities in Africa and the Middle East, Asia, Russia and Latin America. In Latin America, Dr. Dassin helped develop partnerships between IFP and the Fulbright Commissions in Brazil and Mexico. These agreements enable IFP Fellows and alumni who earn advanced degrees in their home countries to complement their studies with a period of study in the United States.