April 6,
It has been just over a week since I received my invitation to join the Peace Corps in Lesotho. The past week has been an emotional roller-coaster, with the very exciting process of beginning to plan the next two years in more concrete terms contrasting with the melancholy of leaving friends and loved ones. While this moment has been a long time in the making (maybe my whole life?), it is still not an easy one.
More generally, it comes during a transitional period of my life. I graduate from St. Mary’s on May 10, barely a month from now (my Peace Corps staging is June 2). Many of my friends are also transitioning, be it to the job market, vet school, law school, or others. While I am happy for us all was we move on in our lives, it is hard to let go at times. I was told going into college that it would be the best four years of my life. At least so far that prediction has been accurate, and the implication that life goes downhill from here is not one I want to or can accept.
But enough doom and gloom! My assignment to Lesotho is a dream come true for me. I have spent the last two years living and breathing South African history, and the opportunity to live in the area of my research for two years is astounding. A basic search on the internet should turn up basic information on Lesotho for the reader. As much as possible, I would like to keep this record for the narratives of the Peace Corps experience as well as my reactions to the same. To that effect, then, it may be necessary for the reader to do some outside research. I will try to link to information when appropriate and expedient, but no promises. Assuming I will not have electricity in Lesotho,I am writing this by hand, and later transfering it to the blog.
In Lesotho, I will play the role of Community Health and Economic Development (CHED) Advisor. What exactly this entails seems to be dependent on the circumstances of training, and the need our supervisors in the Peace Corps feel we can best meet. I have been able to make contact with several other CHED Advisors leaving on the same program I am, and it looks like it will be a good group.
In the meantime, before leaving, I have to do the whole graduating thing. I am in Chicago this weekend, presenting my SMP (Senior Project) at the Midwestern Regional Conference for the American Academy of Religion. The AAR is made up of mostly Relgious Studies professors, with a few research/writing clergy as well. Having the opportunity to present as an undergraduate was a big honor, and a good start to getting to know that community.
The paper I was presenting, as well as project it came out of, dealt with the complementary roles of religion, nationalism, and race in South Africa. I show (I hope) that in order to understand the National Party, and the nationalist movements that put it into power, it is imperative to look at the role of the Dutch Reform Church in South African Afrikaner society.
The modernist school of the study of nationalism rarely discusses religion. When they do, it is to describe religion as a somewhat primitive form of uniting a culture that is replaced, or occasionally co-opted by nationalist movements. I think the relationship is somewhat more complex, and try to show that through a reading of South African history. There are practical applications to this as well — the history of race within the DRC contains many elements that suggest Apartheid was the product of religious, rather than secular sentiments.
Given this research, it should come as no suprise that a Peace Corps placement in Lesotho should be the source of some excitement for me. Having spent two years studying that part of the world, the prospect of actually visiting some of the places I have written about is thrilling. I hope to document the next two and a half years here, with all the hopes and sorrows and joys that will no doubt be a part of my life overseas.
