LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A University of Louisville graduate from Jeffersonville, Ind., has won a prominent Fulbright scholarship. She is one of 14 UofL alumni who earned the Fulbright prize this year.
Shacoya Kidwell, who graduated in May from UofL’s College of Arts and Sciences with a degree in English, earned a Fulbright Open Study/Research Award to Trinidad and Tobago to study local culture and the community, including the work of writer Earl Lovelace, author of “The Wine of Astonishment” and other texts.
Kidwell graduated from Jeffersonville High School in 2012. After high school she attended University of Kentucky on a scholarship and later transferred to UofL to complete her degree.
“While striving toward my bachelor’s degree, in particular at the University of Kentucky, I mostly had to support myself economically. This opportunity through Fulbright will allow me to devote my time fully to research, an opportunity that I would not have otherwise,” Kidwell said.
Her interest in Lovelace’s writing began during a 2015 UofL study abroad trip to Trinidad.
“As a creative writer and lover of literature, this was a high point of my time abroad,” she said. “I plan to schedule an interview with Lovelace after engaging in the community to ensure I am viewing his texts through the negotiated cultural lens it requires—one that incorporates specific ideologies from both an African American feminist perspective and a Trinidadian perspective.”
Kidwell will depart for Trinidad later this year.
UofL’s impressive number of 2016 Fulbright scholars is likely to once again place the university among the nation’s top producers of the prestigious award. This is the third time in the last decade that UofL has had 14 scholars in a single year.
###