Columbian visit enriched Metro
Fulbright professor
By Judy Bandstra
The Metropolitan
Oneida Meranto slipped quietly out the back door of the museum and strolled down the boulevard toward the plaza. The musty aroma of formaldehyde from the museum lingered in her nostrils.
On street corners she saw people, old and young, begging for any food or money that might fall their way.
Young boys lurked in the shadows, looking as if they meant to do her harm. Cars packed the street and bumped slowly along the poorly maintained pavement.
When she reached the plaza, she sat and quietly observed.
This was the Colombia she had come to see, real people interacting in the real world.
Meranto, an assistant professor of political science at Metro, studied in Colombia last summer with 11 other U.S. academics. They were attending a month-long series of seminars sponsored by the Fulbright Fellowship.
The Colombian government hosted the conference, setting up meetings, lectures and field trips for the group.
Most of her scheduled interactions were with professors and administrators from universities around the country.
Colombian scholars presented daily lectures and panel discussions, which proved to be very informative, Meranto said.
During a lecture on ethnic diversity, Meranto said she was amazed to learn that the Colombian government intends to give land back to Indians and blacks, and is putting these land guarantees in its Constitution.
ãIn a country that is supposedly less developed than us, that seems fairly progressive, regardless of whether they are capable of implementing it or not,ä she said.
But she added the new emphasis on equality by Colombiaâs government hasnât translated into significant changes in public policy.
In Colombiaâs ethnically diverse society, political tensions seem to overshadow social tensions, Meranto said.
One of her goals for the trip was to experience Colombia for herself, to learn about the country from Colombians. Meranto supplemented lectures with first-hand experience, learning about public policy and political culture from those directly affected by it.
With a grueling nine hours of scheduled seminars and meetings each day, she had little time to interact with others. But when the opportunity presented itself, she took it.
Once, she sneaked off under the pretense of finding a restroom and ãtook a little side tripä for about an hour.
As the group traveled around the country, she talked to business people and workers in coffee co-ops and a silk factory.
At each stop, she took every opportunity to learn about the political realities of Colombia.
She was so tenacious in her search for information that she was commended by her colleagues for asking the questions that no one else would ask.
She also experienced daily Colombian life in other, less fortunate ways. Bogota, the capital city, has a reputation for having the highest crime rate in the world, and when Meranto returned from one of her excursions there, she found her pocket had been lightened by $60.
She also saw evidence of some of the extreme class disparities in Colombia. When the group arrived in Barranquilla, a coastal city with a high poverty rate, she was taken back by the filth. There was trash everywhere in the poor neighborhoods, while the rich neighborhoods appeared to be clean and litter free.
Meranto asked a local official about the trash problem. He told her that the city has no definitive trash removal policy but instead waits for rains to wash the refuse into the ocean.
Much of what she learned on the trip will be used to supplement classroom instruction, she said.
She will also write and present a paper on Colombian land return guarantees and the new Constitution next spring, when Metro hosts the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education.
Meranto teaches Native American politics, Latin American Politics and American politics. She is also the faculty advisor for two Metro clubs, the Metro American Indian Student Empowerment and Students for Social and Economic Justice.
Her summer trip wasnât the first time sheâs traveled to broaden her horizons.
In 1995, she went to the Middle East on a Malone Fellowship for two weeks. She also has been to Cuba, Libya and Central America to do research.
This summer, she plans to teach a class on Central America.
