SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Wittenberg Professor of Sociology and Department Chair Keith Doubt has received a prestigious Fulbright Award for a second time, an honor few in the academic community receive even once.
Doubt plans to use the scholarship to learn about Austria and further his research on the Balkan region of Europe while teaching at the University of Innsbruck from March-July 2007. In 2001, he received a Fulbright Lecturing Award, and taught courses for five months at the University of Sarajevo in Bosnia.
Doubt is the author of numerous articles on the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina and its aftermath. He first became interested in studying the region in 1991.
"I was disheartened by the disturbing reports of war crimes," Doubt said. "Could sociology explain why these events were happening and how they could be stopped?"
While at the University of Innsbruck, Doubt will teach three courses, titled "Social Character in American Television Series," "African American Social Thought" and an open seminar.
"It will be interesting and challenging to teach about the United States and the American social character as an American in Europe in these times," Doubt said. "I anticipate that I will be more open to the Balkan culture and its elements in Austria, a country that rests between Western and Eastern Europe."
While in Europe, Doubt hopes to return to Bosnia to promote his new book,Understanding Evil: Lessons from Bosnia. He is the author of numerous other titles, including Towards a Sociology of Schizophrenia: Humanistic Reflections, Sociology after Bosnia and Kosovo: Recovering Justice, Sociologija nakon Bosne [Sociology after Bosnia].
Doubt, accompanied by Omer Hadziselimovic, also is currently the editor of Duh Bosne/Spirit of Bosnia, an international, bilingual journal. The online journal is currently in its second year and has been well received both in and outside of Bosnia, Doubt said.
According to its Web site, the Fulbright Program, sponsored by the United States Department of State, "is the largest U.S. international exchange program offering opportunities for students, scholars and professionals to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching and teaching in elementary and secondary schools worldwide." Established in 1946 to "enable the government of the United States to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries," the program awards thousands of grants each year, at a cost of more than $250 million.
