About
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Website
This website records the stories during my travels as a Keegan fellow.
Fellowship
The Michael B. Keegan Traveling Fellowship chooses a graduating senior at Vanderbilt University each year to develop their skills as a future leader through world travel and to choose a subject to study. I chose to study the role of fatherhood in different cultures.
Travel
I will move through each continent from May 2017 to May 2018 talking to families and community leaders about fatherhood.
What's the plan?
I will connect with contacts in each country before I arrive, and I will meet people as I go. My goals are to detail the nuances of fatherhood in each place I visit, capture an overall definition ofwhat fatherhood is, and learn how to apply the definition as a future maleleader in different communities. The final product is a collection of reflections from people I meet about their own father.
How did I choose where to go?
Three criteria helped form the list of destinations. First, I looked at the regions with a culture which differs greatly from the western style I know. Next, I looked in those regions for world famous festivals or scenery that makes the country unique. Finally, I found out which places my friends and family knew contacts for me to meet while I traveled. In almost all the locations I intend to visit, people have connected me with families they know in that country. This process helped me find destinations that would bring fruitful conversations on fatherhood.
What to expect on the blog posts?
The blog posts will narrate conversations I have with people about their father. Similar to the Introduction, stories will weave together with my reflections to create a journal entry.
Fathers, their partners and their children will describe their memories with the father and the impact it makes on them today. While I cannot fulling explain everything about fatherhood in each country, the anecdotes in these blog posts serve as examples of the difference a father can make.