As a Fulbright scholar in Indonesia for eight months in 1990, I was associated with Universitas Hasanuddin in Ujung Pandang. I also collaborated with Drs. Sulaiman Mamar at Universitas Tadulako.

For me, the greatest benefit of the Fulbright experience was the opportunity to live and learn in a ‘center’ of Indonesian life. From the Jakarta perspective, Ujung Pandang may seem remote. But as an ethnographer who previously worked (during the 1970s) in an isolated upland region of eastern Central Sulawesi, I had felt cut off from Indonesian speakers and the national culture. Living and working in Ujung Pandang though, deepened my understanding of urban life in Indonesia and of contemporary Islamic life and thought in particular.

These experiences are enriching my teaching my research and my sense of the world. In the area of teaching, I’ve had the good fortune this past year to work with four undergraduate senior thesis writers who themselves spent five months or more in Indonesia during 1990. My own immersion in contemporary Indonesian life and my study of twentieth century historical sources worked to their benefit. In addition, my course in Island Southeast Asia has taken on new life as a result of my Fulbright sojoum.

One special strength of the Fulbright experience may be its family emphasis. Returning to Indonesia with children allowed me to view the country through new eyes — those of my children. I found Indonesians seeing and treating me in new ways as a mother. Because of all the media hype of Americans as selfish, greedy, lewd individuals, many of our Indonesian friends and acquaintances seemed astonished at how close our family is and how much we enjoy each other’s company. Some commented directly on the difference between what they’d seen and read about in the media and how we seemed to them.