A University of Virginia emeritus professor will use his skills to aid universities on the other side of the world as a Fulbright Specialist.
James Arnold, a professor emeritus of French, will work with administrators at two Bangladeshi universities who want to improve their institutions' global competitiveness. He will focus on student and faculty exchange programs, while navigating the challenges of local turmoil.
“In Bangladesh, I will be a consultant to the universities of Dhaka and Chittagong,” Arnold said. “They contacted me through the Fulbright Specialist program, no doubt because I had done similar work at the University of the West Indies in the past.”
Arnold is known worldwide as a historian and critic of French literature, specializing in identitarian discourse, the use of language and culture to divide an electorate for profit and advantage through appeals to specific groups within the society.
“Bangladesh recently deposed its long-serving prime minister – the daughter of an early leader of independent Bangladesh – for perceived abuses of reserved positions in universities and in government service,” Arnold said. “The current interim prime minister is a Nobel laureate who had been persecuted by his predecessor. I will be working in a volatile environment where very young citizens – students primarily – have brought about regime change. My consulting work will touch on political questions at every level.”
