INTERFAITH | ideas
Dialogue and
Diversity
Student leaders from Africa learn about religious pluralism at Nazareth by Robin L. Flanigan
M
ahitab Mustafa Mahgoub, a 21-year-old economics and politics major from Sudan, had an epiphany while studying at Nazareth College this summer— her first time in the United States. “In Sudan,” she says, “you learn, study, go to the exam and write. But here it’s not about right and wrong. It’s more about ideas and theories, about expanding the mind. That was a selfdiscovery for me, to look at myself in a different way and say, ‘Okay then, it’s not about the hours I sit at the desk. It’s how I look at things.’” Mahgoub was one of 20 student leaders from five African countries—all with different languages and cultures—who participated in the 2011 Study of the U.S. Institute for Pluralism, a program that allows international students to immerse themselves in the political, economic, religious, and cultural aspects of American society. In addition to Sudan, the countries represented were Angola, Liberia, Mozambique, and Sierra Leone. Nazareth is one of only seven colleges and universities in the country hosting summer institutes sponsored by the Academy for Education Development in Washington, D.C. Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs, the program uses classroom lectures on topics like race relations as well as field trips to historical sites to help the students develop their own insights about this country.
32 CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12
“…here, it’s not about right and wrong. It’s more about ideas and theories, about expanding the mind.” M a j i ta b M u s ta fa Ma hg oub
“This group was handpicked for being intellectually advanced,” says George Eisen, Ph.D., executive director and associate vice president for academic affairs in the Center for International Education. “The American model provides an important means of understanding how our principles for coexisting in extremely diverse societies can be transferred to their native countries. These are the new leaders who will be bringing back important ideas.” In its sixth year, the Institute for Pluralism has also worked with students from Turkey and Afghanistan. (One Turkish student who arrived opposed to non-governmental organizations has gone on to work in a program partly funded by the United Nations.) www.naz.edu