Brandon Fulbrook Wins American Institute of Indian Studies, India

Brandon smiling in front of brick building.

Fulbrook has won a 2018-19 AIIS scholarship to study Hindi in India for nine months. He is a junior majoring in political science at Missoula College. Fulbrook is ecstatic about his departure this September. Call Him Keshav as he is traveling around Jaipur. Keshav is the name Fulbrook was christened in a name-giving ceremony in his hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada. The actual name of the ceremony is Namakarana Samskara. It was a private ceremony at the Hindu Temple and Jain Center of Las Vegas with the pandit (priest).

Fulbrook said in his formative years he grew up in a few different households. “I was raised in Catholic, Mormon, and Evangelical Christian households. I pursued new age spirituality before I was thirteen,” he explained. Then at 19 he met a friend teaching a class on the Bhagavad Gita at the Open Way Mindfulness Center in Missoula. It was a revelatory experience.

“The philosophy perfectly addressed the theism versus non-theism that I was really in a way searching for,” he said with a smile. “It didn't create a dichotomy between the two.”

Fulbrook will continue his quest for knowledge in Jaipur, which is the capital of Rajasthan. “I think I’ll love Jaipur. I’m passionate about it. From what I’ve seen, Jaipur is scenic, smack dab in a desert. I grew up in a desert, a similar biome and climate. In an odd way, being on the other side of the planet, it might be like home.”

Having already a strong language skill set, Fulbrook is prepared for Jaipur, and for travel to other parts of India. On his winter break between semesters, he intends to participate in the Kumbh Mela festival in Allahabad. Later in the spring, he plans to go south to Chennai. Upon his return to the United States in April, Fulbrook plans on graduating and pursuing a graduate degree in law. He said he will potentially use his language skill to work for an NGO, or advise foreign policy and diplomacy that is constructive.

Fulbrook encourages other UM students to study Hindi. “If anyone is intimidated by pursuing a new language, I was intimidated too,” he said. “Have faith in your ability to learn by exposure. Allow yourself to be a total clueless learner of something. Go at your own pace. Every piece will factor into your learning as a whole. In language there's no single small piece you don't end up using as you speak. Everything you learn, no matter how small or slow you start, it guarantees you future success.”

Mukherjee, who instructs Fulbrook, said the latter has been learning informally for over five years now and he also watches Indian cartoons and a few Indian sitcoms on YouTube.

“Brandon is able to decipher situations from contexts if there are words unknown to him,” said Mukherjee. “He can understand speech at a normal speed, which is no mean feat given that he has slim to no contact with the language outside the classroom, as Missoula doesn't really have a huge Indian diaspora. He is very driven and his drive extends beyond learning the language to learning and adopting Indian culture as well.”

Professor Ruth Vanita said the American Institute of Indian Studies offers summer, one semester and 9-month scholarships. There are also many Boren and CLS scholarships that students can apply for to continue their study of Hindi in India. These scholarships cover tuition, living expenses and air fare.

Vanita said Hindi is a phonetic language (written exactly as spoken) and an Indo-European language, a first cousin of English. As a spoken language, Hindi is the same as Urdu, and is extremely useful for students of business, journalism, media studies (India has the largest film industry in the world), politics and economics.

Vanita said “We are offering GH191 Elementary Hindi, in the fall. It fulfills Gen Ed language requirement. Also, we just found out that numerous Boren summer scholarships are available for students of Hindi to take intensive courses at University of Wisconsin and in India.”

For more information, contact Ruth Vanita, professor, UM Liberal Studies Program, ruth.vanita@umontana.edu; GG Weix, professor, UM Department of Anthropology, gg.weix@mso.umt.edu; or call South And Southeast Asian Studies (SSEA) at (406) 241-5793.