SAIS Fellow Forges Intercultural Connections

A few months ago, Nasya Blackwell was standing on the shore of Mozambique, staring out at the Indian Ocean, contemplating the mark she hopes to make on the world.

A second-year graduate student at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Blackwell had a summer internship at the United States Embassy in Maputo as part of her Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Graduate Fellowship.

“Now, I want to learn more about China’s soft-power diplomacy, how they’re engaging especially with African leaders in the foreign policy space, how they’re investing in some major projects, but also what they’re taking and what that means in areas like ports,” Blackwell says of her experience.

In addition to the internship, the Rangel Fellowship provides a stipend and serves as a pipeline to foreign service careers at the State Department, where Blackwell aspires to work, focusing on African and Asian regions.

“I’m also a Public Service Fellow through Johns Hopkins, which filled the gap for what Rangel didn’t cover. So, I’m able to be here fully funded, and I definitely wouldn’t have been able to get a graduate school degree without that,” Blackwell says.

While growing up, Blackwell never envisioned traveling outside the United States, as she was one of the first people in her family to obtain a passport, but a student exchange program at her high school changed her life trajectory.

“It sparked something. From then on, I started to brainstorm ways of how I could go into international relations, how I could chase after the career of being a foreign service officer,” Blackwell says.

Blackwell has now visited 25 countries, including extended time in Ghana and Taiwan, in addition to Mozambique. She has earned several academic awards, including a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship.

“I also took classes in Mandarin at the local university while in Taiwan. So, I was learning, but also trying to be an English teacher and to just be a conduit of an American experience,” she says. “I have learned that intercultural perspectives are really vital.”

Her time on the Kinmen Islands of Taiwan, just off mainland China, also had a particular effect as she observed stark differences in perspectives between islanders and tourists coming from China, given their history of conflict, but economic interdependence.

Bringing different voices into governance was also a focus in Ghana where Blackwell worked with youth to promote civic engagement and employment opportunities within local administrations.

At SAIS, Blackwell says she has benefitted immensely from the admissions team and faculty members who have gone the extra mile to support her. Surrounded by equally high-caliber peers, Blackwell says she also has learned to not avoid conversations with those having differing opinions.

“Building bridges, having empathy, we’re going to need that for the challenges that we’re facing in the world, whether that’s climate, whether that’s democracy, whether that’s women’s issues. There’s going to be a point where we have to find common ground,” Blackwell says.

“And SAIS is all about making the next generation of leaders that will work together to solve the world’s challenges,” she adds.