Jacob Myers '12 Receives Fulbright Grant to Macau

Jacob Myers ’12 has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Macau, China. The alumnus will begin his fellowship in August.

At Oberlin, Myers triple-majored in English, theater, and gender, sexuality, and feminist studies. He served as co-chairman of the Experimental College (ExCo) organization; an America Reads site liaison and tutor for the Lorain County Community Action Agency Head Start program; and an Oberlin College research fellow, studying and lecturing on a variety of topics about women in 18th- and 20th-century Anglo-American literature. Myers served on a number of committees and councils, including the Educational Plans and Policies Committee, and performed in several shows, including The Compromise, which had its world premier at Hall Auditorium April 2012.

Myers spent his first year after graduation teaching cinema in China. “It was my first big foray out of the country, and I didn't know a single thing about East Asia, let alone China,” he says. “While there, I visited Macau and became fascinated by its contradictions: the glamor and decadence of the casino economy versus the poverty at the fringes of its borders; the almost complete autonomy it experiences as a special administrative region versus the more centralized governance of the People’s Republic of China; and its Eastern influences versus its Western influences.”

Myers says he applied for the Fulbright fellowship to return to Macau for “long-term exploration.” “I want to return to gain a more in-depth understanding of one of the most unique regions in the world, especially as it approaches massive change,” he says.

For his fellowship, Myers will be teaching English at the Macao Polytechnic Institute. In addition to teaching, he says he hopes to “run a film club and investigate ways to incorporate the region's cultural institutions into higher education in order to utilize the curated image and space as pedagogical tools.”

Following his fellowship, Myers plans to earn his doctorate in literature and media studies so he can pursue a career as a college professor.