Tactful Visitor, Scientific Observer, or 100 Percent Patriot? Ambassadorship in the Australia-US Fulbright Program

Abstract

The meaning of ambassadorship for scholars lies at the heart of the Fulbright program. As participants in a scheme that straddled the worlds of education and diplomacy, scholars were expected to act as unofficial ambassadors for their education systems, the program itself, and their country of origin. Yet the requirements and boundaries of this role were not always clear-cut. Unlike government representatives on foreign soil, who had strict protocols to guide their behavior in a range of social and political contexts, Fulbright scholars had to work things out for themselves, in both casual social situations and formal, public fora.