the Canadian Fulbright [2010-11]

[Kursty]

Hey,

any Canadians here ever received, or know someone who has, the Canadian Fulbright, the Fulbright that Canadian grad students are eligible for? I am scheduled to start a CompLit PhD at CUNY (NYC) in 2010 (I deferred for a year), and am planning to apply for the Canadian Fulbright. Does any one have any advice for how to make a successful application?

Preliminarily, my suggested project is a comparative study of the Russian immigrant experience in America and Canada, which fits in with my larger PhD study of Russian postmodernism in relation to American postmodernism. I think this fits in well with the whole "American/Canadian relations" because often the differences between being a Russian immigrants in Canada and in America are ignored or normalized (i.e. "Canada's like America, anyway") I'm also a Russian immigrant myself who has been living in Toronto, Canada since 93 (like many fellow immigrants, I also lived in Israel for a few years), so there is an added personal dimension. What do you guys think are my chances?

More specifically, I'd like to know if there is any advantage for applying as an "Independent Researcher" with connection with an American institution vs. a "Formally enrolled" grad student?

Any insights people can offer about the Fulbright process would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[kent shakespeare]

I was part of the Killam program (an undergrad award handled by the Canadian Fulbright office) and got to meet a number of Fulbright recipients.

There were a wide range of awards, ranging from ethnic studies, education, business, geology, poetry... it was quite a mind-boggling assortment. The only common denominator was that they were all interesting, everyone had something interesting and fairly unique.

I could easily imagine your project to be on the list.

I saw no particular bias against independent scholars; there were several among the group I met.

good luck!