I never thought the Fulbright program or the country of Uzbekistan would be part of my life’s journey. However, this changed in 2022 when I spent about a month in Tashkent, Uzbekistan completing a Fulbright Specialist project.
How I learned about the Fulbright Specialist Program
Here’s a little secret about me: I love reading bios. I can spend hours on Wikipedia or the “Our People” pages on company websites. It’s my happy place.
In 2015, as I was reading bios on a random university website for fun, I saw a mention of the Fulbright Specialist Program.
While I knew the Fulbright program was one of the most prestigious international education programs in the world, I had never seen the “specialist” part.
Interest. Piqued.
Consequently, I went to Google and LinkedIn for more information and learned that the Fulbright Specialist Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, allows American academics and other professionals (not just professors) to complete 2-6 week project-based exchanges around the world.
This was news to me! I’d always thought that Fulbright awards required academics to spend months or a year in another country doing research and/or teaching. But, I wasn’t in a position back then to leave America for 12 months.
Because shorter term “specialist” approach intrigued me, I submitted an application.
Subsequently (I don’t remember how long), my application was accepted and I officially became a Fulbright Specialist Roster Candidate!
How I matched with a project in Uzbekistan
Today, you can stay on the Fulbright Specialist Roster for three years once your application is accepted. Back when I applied, candidates had a five year tenure, and some of us also received a COVID-related extension.
All things considered, being placed on the roster is an achievement in and of itself. But, the program doesn’t guarantee you a project abroad. This, my dear, takes a combination of skill and good fortune.
Back then, I really didn’t have either of these.
The program offers a database full of open projects to apply for, or you can work with a host institution to develop a mutually beneficial project. At first, I’d only apply to projects on the database using form responses that I could copy and paste with minor tweaking. After four years, I had absolutely no success (shocker).
Then, God gave me a conversation with Browne C Lewis, who was about to become dean at North Carolina Central Law School. While I had known Browne for years, I didn’t know she’d completed a Fulbright Specialist project a few years prior. One day while we were at dinner, I mentioned my years of Fulbright failures and how I was just going to give up.
As I lamented, Browne’s eye lit up. I could tell she was waiting for me to shut up (lol), so I slowed my roll. Her first words were something like, “let me tell you exactly what you need to do.” And boy did she.
Straightaway, Browne explained alllllll of the nuances of getting selected for a project. Her best advice was to write an application tailored specifically to the country, host and issues they articulated. Without Browne’s advice, I doubt the U.S. Embassy and Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Justice would have chosen me the next year.
Notwithstanding all of my new strategies, it still took me a few tries. The first time I applied for the Uzbekistan project, titled “Program for training judges, tax, customs, and intellectual property staff,” I got a courteous but solid no.
Those are the breaks, right? Not quite!
Eventually, they reached out a few months later to offer me the project because the original specialist fell through.
The following year, I was in Uzbekistan as a Fulbright Specialist!
My experience as a Fulbright Specialist in Uzbekistan
Admittedly, Uzbekistan wasn’t on my radar. While I’ve traveled pretty extensively, I didn’t know much about Central Asia. However, I was confident in my background, knowledge, and ability to deliver solid trainings.
Essentially, Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Justice requested intellectual property (“IP”) training for government officials, lawyers, customs agents, and future judges. The country had recently overhauled its IP laws and wanted to train those responsible for protecting, managing and enforcing IP. In particular, the government wanted to attract new economic development opportunities and needed the training to clearly connect the dots from law and business to the economy.
For the training, I spent months creating a handbook, slides, presentations, case studies, and interactive questions. In addition, I collaborated with the ministry to address real-world issues that officials faced in their work.
Ultimately, I delivered a week of customized training three different times to three different groups.
All in all, it was an intense job but I enjoyed every minute of it!
While Uzbekistan is a small country, it’s full of innovation and entrepreneurial activity. Because of the sophistication of the attendees, we did meaningful deep-dives into a wide-range of topics. From comparing the country’s IP laws to those in the United States and U.K., to assessing global innovation data and rankings, the exchange gave me a new worldview of Central Asia’s emerging economies.
My experience as a Black woman in Uzbekistan
In addition, my time in Uzbekistan exposed me to a new part of the world. While the trainings took up much of the week, I still had time to see some of the country.
Uzbekistan is +90% Muslim and landlocked by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan. Most people I met spoke Uzbek and/or Russian but limited English.
While there were significant language and cultural barriers between the Uzbeks and me, a Black, Christian woman, I mostly felt safe and often walked around and explored by myself.
In general, men outnumbered women in most of the spaces I visited. For example, check out who’s eating at this restaurant:
Undoubtedly, Uzbekistan is a male-dominated society. I got many questions about why my husband let me travel alone and whether I should call him in America to get his permission for certain things. We definitely had some cultural exchanges on this topic—ha!
Even so, everyone I met treated me with respect, both inside and outside of the trainings. There were mostly men in the trainings, but women did also participate. In fact, I met some amazing, inspirational women while there.
My experience being photographed as a Black woman in Uzbekistan
As a Black American woman traveling alone, I attracted a lot of attention. People had lots of questions, but the language barrier made it tough to communicate. Most folks settled for photos.
And lordly, were there photos.
For example, one Saturday, I took the train to Samarkand, Uzbekistan with a colleague/translator named Akmal.
During the trip, we got stopped roughly 100 times by people requesting to take pictures of/with me. Notwithstanding my stranger-danger defaults, I said yes most of the time.
Akmal was a great sport. Eventually, I asked him to take photos of some of the people who asked for pictures with me, and he captured some great ones:
Overall, serving as a Fulbright Specialist in Uzbekistan gave me the professional and personal experience of a lifetime! I highly recommend the program and a visit to the country.
Questions about either the Fulbright Specialist program or Tashkent, Uzbekistan? Drop them in the comments below.