Carl Taylor

Carl Taylor is a recipient of the Summer 2017 and Academic Year 2017-2018 Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship. The award provides undergraduate, graduate, and professional school students with financial support to develop fluency in less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) and expertise in the regions in which these languages are spoken. Every year the Center for Global Studies awards between 12-15 fellowships to UW students. Click here to learn more.

I am a Master’s degree candidate in general International Studies at the Jackson school. My research revolves around locally produced illustrated children’s books in local languages and how they help to increase literacy rates, which is inspired by my past development work in the Peace Corps. This year I will finish my thesis on how local illustrated children’s book in Swahili in Tanzania raise literacy rates by their similarity to traditional forms of oral literature. The Swahili language FLAS summer and year award I received from the center for Global Studies has been pivotal in my research. Not only has the FLAS helped me to acquire the language skills needed to conduct research in Tanzania over the summer the FLAS has also provided me the time I need to research and write my thesis instead of having to focus on part-time employment. Getting the training and time I needed for my thesis would not have been possible without the FLAS.