Bonderman Travel Fellowship

Wanda Bertram

Wanda Bertram 2014

International Studies with Interdisciplinary Honors

Undergraduate

2014 Fellows

Hometown: Seattle, WA

Travel Locations: Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, China, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia and Turkey

From Southeast and Central Asia to Armenia and Turkey, Bertram plans to visit cultures to experience various stages of social upheaval—those “making history”—and explore the ways that local storytelling customs help people in such situations historicize their own experience. She’ll observe storytelling and historiography, not only through conversation but through arts, children’s stories, rituals, games, names, jokes, advertising, media and museums. As she examines how history making relates to consumerism, age relations, the idea of place, conflict resolution, and power structures, she hopes to be challenged to complicate her preconceptions about world history and to narrate her own experiences differently.