Laura Emmery Receives Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award

The U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board are pleased to announce that Dr. Laura Emmery of Emory University has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award to Serbia. Dr. Emmery will research and lecture at the University of Arts in Belgrade as part of a project on Between the Wars: Music and Cold-War Politics in Yugoslavia’s Avant-Garde Movement, 1950-1990. Her project examines political, social, and cultural events that led to the momentous avant-garde and experimental music scene in Yugoslavia from 1950 until 1990, ending with the year when all artistic activities came to a sudden halt with the start of the Yugoslav civil wars. Thus, her project considers a key feature of cultural life in the former Yugoslavia in the period just prior to one of the most significant and traumatic cultural and political reorderings in late twentieth-century Europe. It follows the emergence of a postwar Yugoslavian cultural program that made the republic a magnet for experimental musicians and artists from throughout the West and the Soviet Bloc, through the sudden and violent dissolution of that program with the collapse of the political state.

As a Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Emmery will share knowledge and foster meaningful connections across communities in the United States and Serbia. Fulbrighters engage in cutting-edge research and expand their professional networks, often continuing research collaborations started abroad and laying the groundwork for forging future partnerships between institutions. Upon returning to their home countries, institutions, labs, and classrooms, they share their stories and often become active supporters of international exchange, inviting foreign scholars to campus and encouraging colleagues and students to go abroad. As Fulbright Scholar alumni, their careers are enriched by joining a network of thousands of esteemed scholars, many of whom are leaders in their fields. Fulbright alumni include 60 Nobel Prize laureates, 86 Pulitzer Prize recipients, and 37 who have served as a head of state or government.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to forge lasting connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries, counter misunderstandings, and help people and nations work together toward common goals. Since its establishment in 1946, the Fulbright Program has enabled more than 390,000 dedicated and accomplished students, scholars, artists, teachers, and professionals of all backgrounds to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and find solutions to shared international concerns. The Fulbright Program is funded through an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the Program, which operates in more than 160 countries worldwide.

For further information about the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State, please visit http://eca.state.gov/fulbright or contact the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Press Office by telephone 202-632-6452 or e-mail ECA-Press@state.gov.