RELEASED: Dec. 9, 2004

DANVILLE, KY—A Centre College historian is spending his sabbatical year in Cameroon, western Africa, on a Fulbright Senior Scholars award.

Rick Bradshaw is conducting research on Japanese-African relations as well as teaching international relations and the history of U.S. foreign policy at the International Relations Institute of Cameroon during his Fulbright year. The organization is a bilingual (French and English) that attracts would-be diplomats and other internationally oriented students from throughout Africa, primarily French-speaking Africa.

He describes his students as "very bright, very opinionated, very hard-working—and thus a delight to teach."

He adds, "They want to know if the theories [I teach] have any practical value."

The mostly graduate-level students have considerable—and varied—"life experience," he says.

"Some have worked for hi-brow companies; others have worked as hawkers in the streets of Douala to make a living while they went to school. Some are born-again Christians, and others are Muslims. A few are military officers who are returning to school to retool for a new career, perhaps as a military attache."

Bradshaw has a long-standing interest in African history and languages, as well as in the continent's relationship with Japan. Born and raised in Japan, he spent six years with the Peace Corps, mostly in the Central African Republic (Cameroon's neighbor to the east). He led Centre study-trips to the CAR in 1998 and 2000 and notes that he's excited to be in Cameroon because it gives him first-hand experience with another relevant country. "I teach central African history at Centre," he explains, "not just the history of the Central African Republic."

He is one of approximately 800 U.S. Fulbright award-winners who are lecturing and conducting research abroad during the 2004-05 academic year. The highly competitive Fulbright program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. Bradshaw previously received a Fulbright-Hayes research fellowship for study in Tokyo at Tokai University's Center for the Study of Civilization.

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