| Wilson
Lowrey |
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Wilson Lowrey
served as a graduate assistant in the Cox Center for the 1999-2000 academic
year. His responsibilities included collaborating with Cox Center Director
Dr. Lee Becker on a workshop in Fiji and assisting with an assessment
of the impact of past Cox Center workshops in the Pacific.
Lowrey received
his bachelor's degree in English at Davidson College in North Carolina
and his master's degree in mass communication at Georgia. He worked professionally
for newspapers in Athens and Atlanta. Prior to assuming the Cox Center
assistantship, he served as a teaching assistant in the Department of
Journalism in the Grady College, where he taught newspaper design and
graphics.
After graduating
with his doctorate in August 2000, Wilson became an assistant professor
in the Department of Communication at Mississippi State University.
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| S.C.
Shin |
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S.C. Shin
is completing his doctoral studies at the University of Georgia, where
he also earned his master's degree.
Shin, from
Seoul, South Korea, is interested in intercultural communication and the
political-economy of the mass media. His master's thesis was about popular
music and teen culture in South Korea. Before coming to the Grady, he
worked as a research assistant in the Korea Broadcasting Institute and
a teaching assistant at Sogang University, South Korea.
After graduating
with his doctorate in December 2000, he would like to teach at a research
university. Shin and his wife, Jisook-Dolci, who is also a graduate student
at UGA, live on the UGA campus with their daughter, Smin-Rhoda.
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| Working
as a Journalist in Egypt: The Year That Changed My Life |
| By Jason Mundy |
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Jason
Mundy discusses his trip to Egypt with Cox Center program facilitator
Kristina White.
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May
1st marked the end of a year that has forever changed my life.
Like the students who undoubtedly will go after me, and those whose
trail I followed, I gained from the Cox scholarship, for it provided
me with the experiences and tools I need to positively contribute
to an area I see as crucial to the safety and security of the world--the
Middle East.
During
the 1997-1998 school year, I used the scholarship to live and work
throughout the Arab world as a writer for an American newspaper in
Cairo, Egypt, The Middle East Times. It was my intention, as it always
has been, to find a way to break down the negative stereotyping of
the society, people, culture and religion of the Middle East in the
American media. |
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In
order to more effectively realize this long-term goal, it was necessary
to begin the process of absorbing myself in the day-to-day life
of the people I have set out to tell the stories of.
Egypt
is home to more than 60 million people, a third of whom live within
the city of Cairo. Over 90 percent of Egypt's land mass is uninhabitable
because the country is part of the Saharan desert range that sweeps
across North Africa. The parts that are livable are made so by the
waters of the Nile river. It is local lore that once you drink the
water of the Nile you will always be Egyptian. In my case I gladly
welcomed the transformation.
As a journalist in Egypt, my access to the people and places of
this amazing region increased tenfold as compared to teaching English
or just budget traveling. I had the opportunity to meet heads of
state, attend trials, cover important summits and interact with
the people on a one-to-one basis. I talked with them about their
perceptions of life, and not surprisingly, discovered their hopes
and dreams do not differ from my own. They loved life immensely,
were devout in their reverence to God, and valued foremost the sanctity
of the family.
There are some aspects of Egyptian life, as well as life in other
parts of the Middle East, that are not as positive as those mentioned
above. The equality of the sexes has a very long way to go. Politically,
the bureaucracy and inefficiencies of the government are legendary
in Cairo.
The recent outbreaks of violence against foreign tourists has damaged
any positive perceptions Americans may have had about Egypt. Violence
of this magnitude is completely unjustifiable, but cannot be summed
up as merely hate for foreigners. To hold the belief that all Egyptians
are terrorists is unproductive to US-Arab relations and ignores
the deeper problems affecting Egypt and other countries of the Middle
East. Egypt is one of 22 countries in the Arab fold.
Arabic is the spoken language for all Egyptians as it is for close
to 160 million others in the Middle East and south Asia. English
is widely spoken and is taught as soon as children start school.
In the past few years Egypt's economy has seen an increase in productivity
as its moves from control by the state to the hands of private companies.
A middle class has emerged, and more conspicuous consumption of
luxury items is on the rise.
Thanks
to the Cox Scholarship, my involvement in the most fascinating part
of the world was made possible. The depth of my understanding of
the people and culture of the Arabs has increased dramatically as
a result of my year abroad in Egypt. I am confident that I am on
the right path to realizing my goals and achieving success in my
chosen profession as a journalist in the Middle East.
Click
here to see the pictures from this trip.
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| From
Athens to Johannesburg: Return to the Motherland |
| By Valerie
D. White |
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During
school year 1996-97 I was the recipient of the Cox Study Abroad
Scholarship and chose to go to South Africa. While my intentions
were to do some research and to take in the culture, I ended up
being the visiting assistant editor for "Ebony South Africa" magazine,
a subsidiary of the U.S. magazine. I conducted weekly staff development
seminars for the writers, served as copy editor, and supervised
the staff. I am delighted to have had that opportunity and to further
add to my reservoir of experience. All of this would not have been
possible without the support of the Cox Center.
While
in South Africa I boarded with a family in Yeoville, Johannesburg.
Yeoville reminded me of a lower-budget Greenwich Village, New York.
Johannesburg living reminded me of northern U.S. living.
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South Africa
is a country reborn since the breakdown of apartheid. The country is still
rich in natural beauty and culture. Race relations are fine. There are
some problems but none any worse than those in the United States. Some
political issues still need to be resolved, but the country is new to
its present status, and those changes all take time.
My area of
research is media persuasion and how media shape perceptions of Blacks.
With that in mind I examined the country's newspapers to see how they
helped facilitate the dismantling of apartheid. I also had an opportunity
to speak with some of the editors. Hopefully I will conclude my research
by fall 1998.
South Africa
has 11 official languages. The most prevalent are Zulu, spoken by the
Blacks; Afrikaans, spoken by the Whites and Coloureds; and English, considered
the neutral language spoken by almost everyone as a second language.
The South
African government is quite a mixture with many layers of bureaucracy.
There are city and province governments that feed into the national government.
And there are the homeland rulers, consisting of chiefs and kings. Polygamy
is still practiced in some parts of the country, but most of the country
shows evidence of Western influence. Many major corporations do business
in South Africa with many Americans, mostly Black Americans, arriving
on a regular basis. The western culture is piped in courtesy of the media.
The one thing
that had the greatest impact on me was to see the origins of African-American
traditions. All was not lost to slavery.
If you would
like to ask me more questions about South Africa, please feel free to
e-mail me at vdwhite@arches.uga.edu.
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Past Cox Center
Scholars