Christian Hummel '01 hadn't intended to travel to Croatia as part of his Fulbright scholarship, but, as a student with a longstanding interest in the Balkans, was hardly disappointed with the change.
Like classmate and fellow Fulbright recipient Xander Meise '01, Hummel had originally planned to go to nearby Macedonia, but a developing conflict halted his plans to study the effects of international support for multi-ethnic communities there.
In Croatia, which did not lend itself as well to such study, Hummel instead investigated the process of democratization and the role of the global community in supporting change in the country.
"The nations of the former Yugoslavia are in a difficult position," said Hummel, who examined the various approaches of non-governmental organizations in promoting political and economic change. "They're all 10 years behind other East European countries in implementing reforms."
Despite an economic situation less dire than in Albania, Hummel said Croatia remains in a "tough spot," needing to reinvest in education and encourage investment from wealthy neighboring countries such as Italy and Austria.
Complicating the picture is the prickly issue of ethnic conflict. Despite its current neutral image, Croatia has had outbreaks of nationalism in the past similar to that seen more recently in Serbia, according to Hummel.
"In the 1970s Croatian nationalists were the biggest problem in Yugoslavia," he said, adding that Yugoslavian dictator Marshal Tito reacted firmly to purge the government and universities and suppress the movement in the then-communist country.
With nationalist sentiments still running strong in some areas of the country, Hummel said that the country faces a choice over its future direction.
"The question for Croatia is where they want to be," he said. Hummel explained that many in the country had aimed for eventual membership in the European Union, but with that organization "looking more like a super-state," he said others were anxious not to cede any of their national sovereignty so soon after gaining independence.
Hummel, a religion major at Dartmouth, gained an interest in the Balkans as far back as high school, when he read a captivating book on the region. Later, after his freshman year, he traveled through the area "and was sold on it," he said.
Since returning to the United States several weeks ago, Hummel has worked for Dartmouth's anthropology department in preparation for an upcoming conference on Islam. Early this coming fall he will return to the area as an election monitor in Macedonia, a job which he also held his senior year at the College.
As for the future, Hummel said he plans to attend the Divinity School at the University of Chicago Fall term to study the history of Christianity, with an eye on a career in academics.
His interest in the Balkans seems unlikely to fade anytime soon, however.
"It's fascinating seeing all the history and the mix of cultures there," he said. "Untangling the threads of history is a fun intellectual challenge."
