Photo courtesy of Adele Barker

Adele Barker, a UA professor of Russian and Slavic Languages, takes a break from her travels. Barker was recently named a Senior Fulbright Scholar by the United States Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Thursday August 30, 2001 |

Adele Barker to teach in Sri Lanka this year

One UA professor will experience a drastic change in scenery later this year when she leaves for a yearlong teaching and studying sojourn in Sri Lanka, an Asian country that has been ravaged by an 18-year civil war.

Adele Barker, University of Arizona professor of Russian and Slavic Languages, has been named a Senior Fulbright Scholar by the United States Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

As one of 4,500 recipients of the award, she will live abroad and teach literature at Sri Lanka's oldest university - the University of Perdeniya - in the city of Kandy.

"Some think it's odd that a Russian teacher is going to study in Sri Lanka," Barker said. "They ask, 'what do you want to get out of this?' The answer is: everything. I really wanted to take a break from my research from Soviet literature and popular culture. I wanted to teach, and also take time to do some creative nonfiction writing."

Barker, who will leave for Sri Lanka at the end of September, will teach Russian, American and Native American literature while writing about her experiences as a world traveler.

But she says the time in Sri Lanka will be unlike anything she has ever done.

"There are times in life when you know something is going to transform you," Barker said. "I've never had the experience of living in South Asia, so I've always looked at these countries through western eyes. I think this at the very least is going to change the way I look at things."

Barker will be accompanied by her 14-year-old son Noah.

She said that although she is concerned about the violence between the government and Tamil rebels who are fighting for an independent state, she is not afraid of moving there because she has visited unsafe countries in the past.

"(The civil war) has really changed the daily life in Sri Lanka in a really horrible way," she said. "We're going to be living with it, but you learn to walk with a third eye and you do what you have to so not you don't overtly put yourself in a situation you know is going to be dangerous."

The civil war will also affect Barker in a different way - it has caused the nation's calendar to become so unstable that they don't even know when school will start.

"Each year the calendar all depends on economics, politics, agriculture and the civil war," she said. "I have no idea when I'm coming back either. I will come back to the states whenever they decide the school year is over."

Prior to being named a Fulbright Scholar, Barker struggled through an arduous application process that took about one year to complete.

"I spent last summer reading the Fulbright catalog," Barker said. "It read like a phone book. Then my file went through an American committee, a Sri Lankan committee and then the file got sent to the University of Perdeniya. The trick was finding a match between what I wanted to do and who wanted me to do it."

Barker is associated with the department of Comparative Cultures and Literary Studies at UA, but will be in the department of English at the University of Perdeniya.

"Adele Barker is essentially a wonderful teacher and a very capable scholar," said Del Phillips, professor of Russian and Slavic languages and coordinator of the study abroad program in Moscow. "She will adapt very quickly and prosper there."

Phillips described Barker as "outgoing, enthusiastic, and a good communicator."

"She's very independent," he said. "She's a survivor."