This article first appeared in the Winter 2025 edition of Alumni Columns Magazine.
Christopher Doney of Alexandria spent the latter part of 2024 exploring ancient cities, teaching English to eager learners and experiencing the culture of central Asia. Since August, he has been teaching English and world cultures at Namangan State University in the Republic of Uzbekistan as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar, the first ever NSU student to earn a Fulbright Award.
The Fulbright Student Program is a competitive, fully funded student-exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. The program is offered to graduate and graduating undergraduate students, both domestically and abroad.
Doney earned a B.A. in liberal arts with a minor in English at NSU in 2022 and is working towards a Master of Arts in English with a concentration in writing and linguistics. He expects to graduate in May.
“I have been so busy in Uzbekistan. Between taking on the role of a university instructor and teaching a full load of university classes, taking Uzbek classes and extensive Fulbright-related travel, I have not had much free time. I teach five courses with 14 hours of contact time per week, host two clubs and have to prepare for my classes each week,” he said.
“I have done so much traveling in Uzbekistan since I arrived here, and my students are wonderful. Most are young women, and I started working on a career pathways project that features empowering young women for non-traditional occupations, as well as for leadership roles. Many of the young women here are expected to be wives/mothers and to work as seamstresses in the mills, and that is fine if that is what they really want to do, but my desire is to empower them to have more available opportunities.”
Doney’s English Club students recently surprised him with a full spread of Uzbek food.
“Much of the culinary fare consisted of the kinds of items not sold in local restaurants, so it was a real treat to experience such authentic, homemade cuisine. Now they want me to prepare for them Louisiana food such as gumbo or jambalaya. Growing up, my father did all of the cooking, mostly south Louisiana and Cajun fare, so he is helping me with a recipe that uses the local Uzbek ingredients. So far, easier said than done.”
Doney was also a guest of the U.S. Ambassador to Uzbekistan Jonathan Henick and his wife for a Thanksgiving event at their home for those in the Uzbekistan Fulbright program.
Doney has made many friends who have traveled with him to out-of-the-way places and welcomed him into their homes. One family shared traditional Uzbek food on a kurpacha, a kind of floor mattress that Uzbeks use instead of a table, with men taking their meal in one room and women in another.
Doney’s academic path has been anything but conventional. He was attending New York University-Abu Dhabi when COVID-19 protocols moved classes online. He took a leave of absence, returned to Alexandria and decided to travel to Tajikistan, for a two-week trip. He then enrolled at NSU to take classes remotely from Tajikistan and was there when the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan. With refugees pouring across the border to Tajikistan, he took the opportunity to collaborate with the government of Tajikistan in opening a language learning center where he taught English, while still taking online with NSU.
Living and teaching abroad were not new to Doney. He was a math and English tutor in high school and was a study-abroad student in Taiwan. Eventually, he hopes to get a Ph.D. in linguistics or applied linguistics.
“I plan to live abroad, but not necessarily to teach abroad in the long term,” he said. “I hope to join the U.S. Foreign Service and become an ambassador one day. I love learning foreign languages, and I would like to help solve some of the world’s problems through diplomacy.”
An extension of his master’s thesis, his research investigates the pervasiveness of English in the linguistic landscape of other countries, and the reactions of its citizens to the increasing prevalence of English in private settings and public signage such as street signs, store signs and billboards.
“I have been learning Uzbek, and it has been extremely helpful. I have no problem now shopping, ordering food, hailing a taxi, and holding small conversations.”
The cost of living in Uzbekistan is the lowest in the world and most weekends are filled with Fulbright-related travel.
“In addition to Namangan, the city where I live, and the many small towns I have visited, I have been to the cities if Andijon, Ferghana, Kokand, Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara. Riding in the Uzbekistan trains has been quite an experience.”
While in Bukhara this past semester, he presented a paper virtually at a conference in Gainesville, Georgia.
“I worried that I would not have the internet bandwidth available for my slides, but everything worked out perfectly. This was my third consecutive year presenting a paper at the Sigma Tau Delta regional conference, and this was my best experience. I also presented to Uzbek students at American Corner two weeks ago. American Corner is an English-language and culture outreach program sponsored by the U.S. Embassy.”
“My Fulbright experience has been amazing, so much so that I am planning to do a second year as a Fulbrighter here in Uzbekistan, but in a different city, hopefully Samarkand.
“What is important to me during my time in Uzbekistan is to make Uzbek friends. Fortunately, the Uzbek culture is very similar to the Tajik culture, so I feel very comfortable interacting with the locals here and have already made some Uzbek friends. Uzbeks are very courteous and friendly, except when they get behind a steering wheel. You take your life into your own hands when crossing a busy street here.
Overall, Doney has found the experience profoundly rewarding.
“I am very busy but having the time of my life.”
