Watson candidates selected

And then there were four.

The Oberlin Watson Fellowship Selection Committee has announced the four candidates who will be submitted for the nationwide award. All four may potentially be awarded the prestigious one-year, $22,000 fellowship for research abroad.

The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship provides funding for wanderjahrs', independently planned and carried out by the student. Each year, 200 students are chosen from 60 different American universities. Fellows are chosen based on the personal significance, originality and structure of their proposals.

Twenty-three college and conservatory seniors applied, according to Laurie McMillin, Assistant Professor of Expository Writing and Religion. McMillin is head of Oberlin's Watson Fellowship selection committee.

The four finalists will be interviewed on Dec. 4, and the 200 Watson fellows will be announced next spring.

College senior Aurora Pedraza hopes to study "Tango: A Sociohistoric and Cross-Cultural Approach" in Argentina, France and Japan. She said that she hopes to understand what is unique about different nations' interpretations of the tango. "The tango carries many insights into the people of a country," she said.

Pedraza has a long-rooted interest in the tango. She said, "When people grasp the tango, they're completely passionate about it."

College junior Maria Kong's proposal is entitled "The Korean Diaspora: Identity, Activism and Resistance." She hopes to visit Korean communities in Japan and Australia to examine their lives within larger communities.

"I think it is interesting because there are communities in Japan and Australia but they are in drastically different contexts," said Kong. "I chose Australia because their history of discriminatory immigration legislation generally parallels that of the United States." Koreans in the U.S., said Kong, are often isolated between the "white ruling elite" and the "black underclass."

"The history of Koreans and other ethnic groups are often left out of the official historic memory and are submerged under colonialism," she said.

Double degree fifth-year Nicholas Baumgarter submitted a proposal entitled "European Bach Interpretation at the Close of the Millenium." He plans to study French, English and Dutch interpretations of Bach, focusing on his choral music. "German Bach interpreters are uniquely possessive of Bach as a 'German' composer. And one of my interests within the scope of the Watson fellowship is whether or not this is an issue for non-German Bach interpreters," said Baumgarter.

He has previously done research on German interpretations of Bach. "That has been the springboard project for this one," said Baumgarter.

Finally, college senior Alyse Schrecongost submitted a proposal entitled "Globalization and Women's Participation in Traditional Latin Music."

McMillin said that all of the interviewed students had strong projects. "It was a very difficult decision," she said. Some of the rejected seniors still hope to carry out their projects by applying for similar grants and fellowships.

Two Oberlin graduates are currently Watson Fellows. Opuruiche Miller is investigating "Hip-Hop Culture Through Radio" in South Africa and Claudia VonVocano is researching "Muralist Art in the Political Context" in Latin America, the Caribbean and southern Africa.