ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—Eight Bard students have won prestigious international postgraduate fellowships—including Fulbright, Watson, and Davis Projects for Peace awards—which will enable them to pursue diverse academic studies and independent projects abroad during the academic year 2012–13.

Daniela Anderson ’12, from Silver Spring, Maryland, has won a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship for her proposal “Tracing Leprosy.” She will travel to Mozambique, Madagascar, India, Thailand, and Brazil to follow the path of leprosy from East Africa to South Asia to South America. She will volunteer in leprosy clinics, leprosariums, and leprosy relief agencies, where she will learn how the local histories and current interpretations of leprosy interface with clinical treatment of the disease. She says, “I want to experience what it means to provide clinical care for patients in these different parts of the world and learn what steps must be taken to eradicate the disease in each place.”

Justin Fernando ’12, from New York City, has won a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) graduate scholarship. This competitive grant support Fernando’s graduate work in political studies at a German university. DAAD is a publicly funded independent organization of higher education institutions in Germany. Each year DAAD provides support to more than 67,000 highly qualified students and faculty for international research and study.

Sadaf Hasan '12, from Brooklyn, New York, has won a Fulbright award to Jordan for her project "A City of Migrants: Exploring Oral Narratives of Domestic Workers in Amman." Hassan writes, "Domestic workers from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and the Philippines are often the largest group of workers excluded from labor laws and social protection in Jordan. Living in tight quarters from basements to attics in their employer’s houses, both their stories and physical presence are kept invisible in public spaces.Through the medium of oral narratives, I hope to explore the plight of domestic workers and document the diverse and complex realities of their lives."

Bard MFA graduate Duron Jackson ’11, from Brooklyn, New York, has won a Fulbright award to Brazil for his project “African Roots in Contemporary Art Practices of Brazil.” Jackson writes, “My goal is to research artistic materials, processes, and iconography of the African diaspora, focusing on Salvador da Bahia and Brazil. Brazil’s global art-historic significance, connected to social change and large African ancestral population, makes my research compelling. My interest lies in how contemporary visual language manifests there.” Jackson’s research resources will include Universidade Federal da Bahia, MAM Salvador, and Museu AfroBrasil Sao Paolo, as well as studio visits.