By: Krisela Karaja
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M
y name is Krisela Karaja and the following article
outlines my outsider’s, layman’s perspective on what
I deem the most striking similarities and differences
between higher education in the United States and in
Albania. Furthermore, given my respect for the strides
and potential of Albanian education, the article also offers thoughts
for further development while attempting to remain as wary as
possible of what Clarissa de Waal terms “ideological colonialism”
in her book, Albania: Portrait of a Country in Transition.
I am a current Fulbright Research Fellow, studying contemporary
Albanian literature in the transition from communism to democracy.
I recently obtained my Bachelor’s Degree (BA) in English and Spanish
Literature with a Minor in International Studies and a Concentration
in Creative Writing from the University of Connecticut and am now
developing my Fulbright project in Albania, where my focus is
contemporary poetry.
As a Fulbrighter, I have been given the utmost support by the public
education system here. I have had the privilege of informally sitting
in on university classes at a public institution of higher learning and
have been encouraged to approach professors should I need any
clarification or further details on topics related to my project. In fact,
I am humbled by the support I have received from students, friends,
faculty, mentors, and staff at the university level. It is tremendous,
and it is an honor to be in such a setting. Furthermore, I have also
had the privilege of seeing some of my initiatives brought forth to
the proper authorities in order to be followed through (ideally, in
perpetuity) after my departure: if all goes well, an online studentrun literary magazine will be forthcoming in the near future, as will
a poetry recitation program.
I am immensely grateful for the generosity and hospitality that I
have encountered in the Albanian public higher education system.
I am particularly excited to have had such a warm welcome from
a public institution because I am the product of public education
(albeit, in the US) and I am a firm believer in the values of public
education. Furthermore, in addition to becoming a writer (creative,
journalistic, etc.), I hope to one day become a university professor
and top-tier researcher of comparative literatures (English, Spanish,
Albanian), ideally dividing my professorial duties between the US
and Albania.
I have included such a long-winde