Fulbright Colombia: From your experience teaching in Colombia at La Universidad Nacional, how do you
perceive higher education in Colombia?

Omar Ali: I was deeply impressed by the graduate students in my seminar. They were hard-working, well-read, intellectually engaged, and sophisticated. It was a particularly multiracial group of both middle-class and working class students. From what I saw, the students at Nacional re?ect what I believe are generally high standards in graduate training in the social sciences in Colombia. In addition to the students at La Nacional I also met and spoke with students, albeit mostly undergraduates, at Javeriana, Los Andes, and Universidad del Norte.

FC: What would you say is the STRONGEST feature of higher education in Colombia? And the weakest?

OA: Speaking of higher education in the social sciences. I would say that the strongest point is the hemisphericwide perspective that is encouraged, (as opposed to my experience in the U.S., where much of the focus is solely on North America). Regarding the weakest point, I would probably say, access to resources. While I think di?erent institutions vary in terms of what they have available for their students, I think university-holdings are weak in terms of English-language scholarship in Colombia. It’s also true that in the U.S., Spanish-language scholarship is not readily available. I suppose this speaks to the disconnect between U.S. and Colombian scholars and scholarship, part of which I was attempting to engage during my Fulbright grant in the study of abolitionism of slavery.

FC: What do you think Colombian academic institutions need to work on?

OA: I think something that might help would be to have the Fulbright organization speci?cally encourage
scholars who are looking to build links between the two countries in their scholarship, not just having scholars (be they advanced students or professors) come here or go there to do their work. Active bridge-building efforts, such as sponsoring forums and conferences that were designed to bring together scholars looking to synthesize U.S. and Colombian scholarship would be really interesting. For instance, I was impressed by the e?orts of those professors and administrators at Universidad del Norte who were trying to solicit invited speakers for their Catedra Fulbright to make contacts between their institutions and Universidad del Norte. More of that, as well as follow up to initial conversations, would be good. I’m personally trying to see how my institution can connect with those in Colombia.

FC: In terms of cultural and historical di?erences between North Americans and Colombians, how different is it teaching in the United States than in Colombia?

OA: As a whole, I think students in Colombia are more aware of the world than are students in the U.S. – both in terms of the history of the world and regarding current events. This general di?erence shapes the content and direction of classroom discussion. The result is that there is a more nuanced understanding of political power and its uses and abuses (to paraphrase the Ghanaian anthropologist Maxwell Owusu).

FC: And how different is it to teach subjects like Afro-American History?

O.A: It was absolutely exhilarating to teach African-American (or “Afro-American”) history in Colombia. I experienced a much better sense of the western part of the African Diaspora teaching in South America. I’ve brought back this richer perspective of the Diaspora home with me.

FC: Which direction should Afro-American studies take in a country like ours?

OA: I would say that greater emphasis could be placed in teaching students about African-American history in the United States and the eastern part of the African Diaspora – namely, that of the Indian Ocean World. There is concern in Colombia that there are fewer graduate students interested in doing work on Afro-Colombian history and culture (than, say, a generation ago). One of my colleagues at La Universidad
Nacional, Jaime Arocha, a leading scholar in the ?eld, raised this concern with me and my students when I invited him to give a guest lecture. I actually think that the Fulbright organization is doing its part in supporting such studies – having supported in my year’s cohort, both myself, and two students working on this aspect of world history. But in terms of direction, I would say, Colombian should continue to develop their Diasporic perspective of Africans and their descendants. This is not so much a criticism, but a push to keep going wide.

FC: During your time in Colombia which experience made the most impact on you?

OA: Probably my experience of interacting with students during the public lecture I gave at La Universidad Nacional in the late fall. A group of Afro-Colombian students had come to see my lecture entitled “Resistance to Slavery, Maroons, and Abolitionism in the Americas,” and essentially used the question and answer section to protest the lack of afirmative action on campus for students of African descent (as opposed to such action for indigenous students). While there is in place a?rmative action for students who come from particularly poor neighborhoods, from which Afro-Colombians do come, there isn’t specific black afirmative action. I was struck at how passionate some of the students were both during the Q. and A. and afterwards in conversation with me. It felt so close to home in terms of the ongoing student ?ghts on U.S. campuses,
but in the U.S. the question is of retaining a?rmative action. I guess the whole thing reminded me of the parallels between the U.S. and Colombia in terms of the plight of black people across the Americas, and the limitation of carrying out such fights on campuses.