SIT Alumna Kim Foote
November 1st, 2016 | SIT Study Abroad
Ghana sojourn led to a Fulbright and a writing career
SIT鈥檚 鈥渓iving classrooms鈥 made all the difference for writer Kim Foote.
Kim Foote has written a memoir and a novel, won a Fulbright grant, and pursued two career paths. It all started with an SIT Study Abroad program in Ghana.
Kim first went to Ghana in 1999 as part of an SIT program on African diasporas.
鈥淚 had started getting interested in the slave trade, and I was thinking a lot about my African ancestry,鈥 says Kim. 鈥淚 originally applied to a program in Mali, in part because I鈥檇 studied French. Someone from SIT called me and said, 鈥業f you鈥檙e interested in the slave trade, consider our Ghana program.鈥欌
She had just learned that Ghana was home to the medieval European-built fortresses where African captives were kept before their voyages across the ocean, so she said, 鈥淐an you please switch me right now?鈥 In Ghana, the castle called Elmina resonated particularly with Kim. Slaves faced brutal conditions there, and the women enduring such suffering were often about the same age Kim was when she visited.
鈥淲hat happened to the women there鈥攊t was so traumatic and fascinating,鈥 says Kim. 鈥淚t became something of an obsession.鈥
That obsession led her to the idea for the novel she鈥檚 now working on. Wanting to do further research for her writing, she applied for and received a Fulbright grant and returned to Ghana in 2002. 鈥淪IT鈥檚 Independent Study Project model gave me the confidence to apply for something like a Fulbright. If I hadn鈥檛 had that experience, I wouldn鈥檛 have applied for a Fulbright.鈥
On the SIT program, Kim had learned a lot about how to do research. SIT鈥檚 experience-based model became, for her, literally hands-on. 鈥淚 will never forget. I was working with a bonesetter. I鈥檓 observing. I鈥檓 writing in my notebook. The bonesetter asks, 鈥榃hat are you doing? Are you watching me?鈥 I say, 鈥榊eah, I鈥檓 watching you.鈥 Then he鈥檚 like, 鈥榊ou鈥攕it. I want you to work on this patient.鈥
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 get this in the classroom鈥攖o be there physically putting your hands on the patient, learning how to do the massage he鈥檚 doing. We came back to the community a week later, and I saw the guy I was working on. He said, 鈥楬ey, you see me?鈥 He was bouncing around with his ankle I鈥檇 worked on. It gave new meaning to getting 鈥榟ands-on鈥 with the community.鈥
There was at least one more big surprise for Kim in Africa. 鈥淚 realized that in Ghana, I wasn鈥檛 black. Black is only a skin color there. Ghanaians tend to be very dark. They鈥檇 say, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e not black. You鈥檙e nowhere near black!鈥欌
Ghanaians, she says, often called her red. 鈥淚 also got called white鈥斺榳hite lady.鈥 When you grow up in the US, it鈥檚 so racialized. Then in Africa, you鈥檙e considered a white person for the first time.鈥 That unusual experience also became fodder for writing, which Kim has pursued as a career.
鈥淚n my writing, I also emphasize looking at Ghana as a modern society鈥擜frica is so misrepresented. People still think Africans walk around barefoot hunting animals. They don鈥檛 always know there鈥檚 computers, TVs, satellites. I鈥檓 really stressing the urban experience鈥攊t鈥檚 a different side of Africa.鈥
The writing Kim began in Ghana became a memoir entitled Sojourner, several excerpts of which she has published as shorter pieces. She credits her time with SIT in Ghana with inspiring that work. It also affected what she studied: she went on to get a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in writing from Chicago State University.
She鈥檚 done well as a writer, receiving fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. She has published fiction, essays, and experimental prose in Black Renaissance Noire, The Literary Review, Crab Orchard Review, Obsidian, and elsewhere.
After her MFA, Kim knew she didn鈥檛 want to teach writing. Once again, SIT came into play. She became a study abroad advisor; she鈥檚 now assistant director of global programs for the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University.
What was it about SIT Study Abroad that made such a difference? The Independent Study Project was 鈥渁 huge component,鈥 says Kim. 鈥淭here are so many programs where you just sit in a classroom the whole time. You read articles, you discuss, but SIT is actually getting you out in the field.
鈥淚 think that homestays are big, too. We had two鈥攐ne urban, one rural . . . in the community, living with people, engaging with people. SIT鈥檚 programs are like living classrooms鈥攜ou鈥檙e learning, but you鈥檙e also applying, questioning, and challenging.鈥
Kim discusses her SIT experience in memoir excerpts 鈥淲elcome Home鈥 and 鈥淎 Question of Tradition.鈥
To learn more about Kim and read more of her writing, visit http://kimcolemanfoote.com/.