Radia Lahlou OC ‘18

Shanxi Agricultural University, China (2018-20)

Radia Lahlou ’18, a double major in Anthropology and Linguistics, is the 2018-2020 Fellow to Shanxi Agricultural University in Taigu, China. As a child of immigrants, Radia grew up balancing American, Moroccan and French cultural norms, and is a heritage speaker of French. It’s important to her to see culture as different variations of an average human’s reality while holding dear the things that make us different. Having a deep love of pedagogy, she has taught an ExCo focusing on sexual health for the past two years, and worked in Oberlin’s English for Speakers of Other Languages program. Her ExCo courses and her work as OSCA’s Membership Secretary tie directly to her desire to explore education focused on social justice. She is excited to explore how cultural exchange can be used as a pedagogical tool in her classroom in China as well as to learn more about a culture very different from anything she has experienced before. Of her future plans, Radia wrote, “I believe in the inseparability of language in the transmission of culture which is why I will pursue a PhD in Linguistic Anthropology: this is, for me, one of the best ways to grow and to spread knowledge and compassion to others.”