PROPOSAL FOR A FELLOWSHIP
 

PROPOSAL FOR A FELLOWSHIP

My wife Elizabeth suggested to me a brilliant idea (as all her ideas usually are, anyway*).
Could we start collecting money to invite a colleague of ours (say, one per year) from countries with struggling economies (E. Europe, SE Asia, Caucasus etc) to attend Timonium Pandemonium. In exchange, this person would be asked to deliver a talk about weapons of his/her region. This will provide a unique opportunity for people who cannot otherwise afford it and an astonishing educational experience for all of us. At the universities we do similar things all the time and it is a great way to widen the scope of our involvement, to forge new ties and to get new ideas.

The amount to be contributed does not have to be great: airfare to the US in the spring is usually pretty cheap, and forking out $50 per member (less that a price of a Kris or a Sudanese knife on E-bay!) will be more than enough.

We can collect enough money to allow this person to acquire a "VUSA" ("Visit USA") ticket with unlimited number of domestic flights within the US to visit some of us. I am sure all of us will be happy to host a colleague.

They will have to apply for membership and write a proposal for a talk and visits. We can form a Committee to review the applications and to decide on the award terms. Our moderators are lawyers and they can write up all the necessary documents.
Can we do it?

* My wife was peeking over my shoulder as I typed it and I had to be exceedingly nice to her.

Sounds very good. A few things - it would be good if the invitation would be co-sponsored by some university (btw, if we sell it to some department as a colloquim, we can definitely get like 400$ extra ?). In my personal experience just taking a departmental letterhead and writing the invitation is sufficient to ease the visa issue: poles should not have troubles getting them, but we must be careful with most ex-USSR countries.
Concerning proposals - I think it would be more efficient to directly contact people. Wolviex, Astvatsaturjan, Piotrovsky (or whoever is a current chair of "knight's room"), Gorelik, there are many, many people whom I think many of us would like to see here (if they agree to come), I would prefer if we take a vote among those who contribute $.

The problem I see is that there are not so many of us, collectors (if I am not mistaken), so such a small thing as 1000$ can be a little tough to split.

"Visiting us" - you mean speaking at different universities/cultural centers ?

Brilliant idea Ariel. As I'm located in Europe, and I have some connections in the US embassy here in Ljubljana, I can offer some help about visas, ecc..

Cool idea
 

Well, I have been advocating (gently) the creation of an Ethnographic Edged Weapons Research Society, since we already have an annual meeting, and publish the proceedings. Something like this could be a part of that.

It sounds like a nice idea, though of course logistics are always a huge issue. For example, who is "in charge?" Who decides who is on the committee? Who collects and send the money? Who makes sure that the invitees can, and do, come? If a co-sponsor is necessary, who (museum? university? company?)? I expect they will want a lot, if not all, of the control.

Though we are an informal group, we are definitely both dedicated and tightly-knit, so it could be something that can work even if done informally, assuming we go about it right (for example, why would someone need more than just a tourist visa?). :)

Proceedings - sounds great, however I would vote for simply an electronic publication, since we are essentialy an internet society.
Co-sponsor - again I was always just taking a departmental letterhead and writing an invitation. Again, the whole issue is not that we need some university, but that a personal invitation usually is not enough for visa support.

Now, I don't think any other visa rather than a B type can be issued with this kind of invitation. I think that it makes biggest sense to invite someone for Timmonium. This creates a slight problem since for example I was never able to attend one, as well as many others.

... and here is the explanation why it would not work - we would have to split the expenses among just two of us :)

I feel I should speak in this thread. First of all I would like to thank you for this generous idea. I don't know if Poland is still a country with "struggling economy", but indeed the costs of trip to USA, not mention visas and other problems, are quite high comparing to our earnings. So as one of the representative from eastern-central Europe on this Forum please take my gratitude!

As to myself - I see my name between Astvatsaturjan and Piotrovsky names. I definetely can't compare myself with such great scholars! :o

Dear Wolviex,

I think it is we who must thank you for your participation on this forum.
Concerning the fellowship - I still think we must realize this idea; while we would obviously prefer to use the fellowship to improve our scientific exchange with those countries that are currently unable to fully realize their potential for the interaction with our community, in any case providing for a seminar speaker's expenses is an acceptable practise.

Unfortunately most universities do not provide a budget of more than 500$ per speaker, in addition a lot of them do not pre-pay your expenses (which I find completely unacceptable in this situation). I hope that this idea for the fellowship does not die.