Theory to Practice and Back Again

My world was not much bigger than central Kentucky when I stepped foot in Grinnell. Raised in an almost entirely white community in the Bible Belt of the Appalachian Mountains, my international travel included one brief trip to Canada. Luckily, through Grinnell’s diverse student population, campus visits by international scholars, and a wide breadth of coursework, it took no time at all to realize that the world was much bigger than the one I had previously known.  

One year ago, in the fall of 2012, I had the opportunity to take a short course with anti-child-trafficking activist James Kofi Annan, who was a 2011 recipient of the Grinnell Prize. Prizewinners teach three- or four-week short courses about a topic of their specialty. Annan’s three-week curriculum focused on the importance of sociocultural compatibility in creating successful development initiatives. Throughout the course I learned about the relationship among traditional Ghanaian cultural practices, social structure, local versus foreign priorities, development challenges, and best practices by which to successfully address these issues. We considered concepts such as the Ghanaian family system, educational and financial struggles faced by many families, and the role religion and traditional taboos sometimes play in perpetuating development issues in Ghana. 

After completing my coursework with Annan, I wanted to see for myself the development techniques we had discussed in class in action. I applied for an internship with his organization, Challenging Heights, and was lucky enough to be selected as the summer intern to work with his organization. Throughout my internship, I had the opportunity to work closely with Annan and his administrative staff to see how the programs and services offered by Challenging Heights are implemented with respect for cultural appropriateness and tradition, while also making strides to eliminate taboos that allow issues such as child trafficking to persist. I had the opportunity to engage daily with Annan and continue building upon the development strategies I first encountered through his course. It was amazing to watch him put theory into practice on a daily basis. 

Working with Challenging Heights has been one of the most intellectually stimulating and challenging experiences of my life. The theories, concepts, and debates I encountered through my coursework at Grinnell became incredibly vivid and at times problematized through my time as an intern with an international nongovernment organization (NGO). While it is easy to sit behind a book or a computer screen and theorize about development, in practice the relationship between states, NGOs, human rights, economic, political, and social development is extremely complex and tough. I am grateful for the opportunity to compare my studies in methodology and theory with the experiences I had in fieldwork through my internship. I believe that having the time and space to wrestle with challenging ideas and experiences is a critical component of my education and my understanding of development. 

Although it is true that Grinnell is academically rigorous, intellectually stimulating, and professionally engaging, these are not the aspects of my College experience I value the most. A Grinnell education provides students with the opportunity to engage with other students, world-renowned scholars, diverse cultures, challenging ideas, and multiple perspectives from parts of the world with which they are unfamiliar. Students are given the space and support to grapple with complex theories and debates with peers and scholars from all around the world who bring with them a diverse range of experiences and perspectives. Even more important, students can work closely with academics, scholars, and activists as they contextualize their studies within real-life experiences. 

As a Grinnell student, what I learn inside the classroom is only a small part of my education. Many of my most important learning experiences occur through conversations with peers, guest speakers, professors, and activists whom I have the opportunity to meet through Grinnell. 

I will not be in Grinnell for a year due to my study-abroad opportunities, but I will carry the critical thinking skills I have learned in the past two years with me each and every day. I am constantly drawing parallels between concepts I have studied in global development studies, political science, economics, and education courses and the situations I encounter abroad. As I expand my international study and internship experiences to include Pune and Delhi, I am excited to see the academic foundation I received at Grinnell further enriched by a variety of real-life experiences. 

Bagnoli’s educational experiences in Ghana came through an internship with a recipient of the Grinnell Prize.