St. Thomas senior Julia Wickham has received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program award in Study/Research for the 2020-21 academic year.

Wickham was granted the award April 16 by the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. She will be one of more than 2,100 U.S. citizens to conduct a research study during the 2020-21 academic year through the program.

“I was so shocked,” Wickham said. “It’s such an incredible opportunity to keep learning and to do research.”

Wickham’s research study

Over a nine-month period, Wickham will take a grassroots approach to examine political participation and political involvement of college-aged Namibians.

“It’s a really unique way to do research,” Wickham said. “It is mostly sitting in on already developed organizations and groups, then listening to them and asking them questions.”

Wickham, a double major in political science and history, became interested in the topic after studying abroad in Namibia and South Africa during the 2019 spring semester.

“I was really hooked on just hearing their stories,” Wickham said. “They were so entrenched in how their community was doing, how they were getting resources into their community and how to help people that live around them thrive.”

According to Wickham, although voter turn out is low for college-aged Namibians, they are still politically engaged.

“I met so many cool artists, educators and organizers and wanted it to be recognized that what they were doing was actually very involved, politically,” Wickham said. “When I came back from Namibia and South Africa that June, I immediately wanted to go back.”

Wickham spent last summer working on her Fulbright application with St. Thomas assistant political science professor Tim Lynch, who helped Wickham develop the concepts and methodology of her research study.

“What really stood out from our first conversations was the amount of background information that she had,” Lynch said. “She has a real passion to understand more about this.”

Constraints from COVID-19

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Wickham’s research study has been constrained. The U.S. Department of State will not allow Wickham to start until Jan. 1, 2021.

“It was a little bit of an emotional rollercoaster,” Wickham said, “getting in and then five days later being told I couldn’t go until 2021.”

In addition to a delayed start, the methodology Wickham intends to use for her research study may also be constrained by the coronavirus.

“My research is working with how people organize, but with COVID, you really can’t do that,” Wickham said. “I will be talking with the embassy in Namibia on how long I can do my research for and what it will look like.”

Wickham has spent her own time looking into alternative research methodologies too.

“I’ve really been trying to look at different ways that people are organizing, and social media has been a really big one,” Wickham said. “Just because you can’t see people organize doesn’t mean that they’re not.”

Wickham’s interim plan

After graduation, Wickham’s interim plan is to work with AmeriCorps this summer repairing and restoring historic structures.

“We will do different historic preservation projects, such as cabins, trails and cemeteries,” Wickham said.

Although Wickham’s research study has been delayed, Lynch said Wickham’s position at AmeriCorps will be helpful to her research study.

“It will be another venue for her to continue to bring that curiosity, and build another layer to her ability to provide the analysis that she is going to do in Namibia,” Lynch said.

Burke Spizale can be reached at spiz8477@stthomas.edu.