Nadel gives global eyes

Ever wonder who or what affected your professors? Why did they decided to teach? What drives them to want to see students succeed? Professors will shape the future of their students, but their personal stories aren't always told.

Joshua Nadel, an assistant professor in the history department, has a few stories to tell. Now entering his fourth year at N.C. Central University, Nadel is also the associate director of NCCU's Global Studies program. He is a sophisticated man molded from an early age to train tomorrow's global leaders. His students say he is a persuasive teacher. He describes himself as a "scholar-activist and a scholar-scholar."

"He's knowledgeable and influential," said Tawana Brooks, a Spanish senior who has taken three of his classes. "What he teaches reflects not just African or Spanish or American history. It's more than that. It's us," she said, adding that having such a young professor is a good thing. "He can relate."

"He is a great teacher. He cares a lot about us doing well in our classes," says Summer McLaughlin, elementary education junior. "He always encourages us to get involved in activities to apply what we've learned."

Nadel's exposure to global society began at birth. His grandfather went to South America in the 1920s to start a business selling baking soda. It was there that his grandparents had a daughter.

"My mom was born in Argentina to American parents," Nadel said. "Even though she was raised in Venezuela, I've never defined myself as Latin American. I've always felt tied to Latin America and a part of it."

His family was close to Chilean exiles while he was growing up in New Jersey.

"I understood at that age that they couldn't go home but I didn't know why," he said. "Their situation got me interested in Latin American history because it was unfair."

Nadel said it was during this time that his idea of history and social justice came together. During high school he fell in love with the subject and read literature he said he should have read in college.

At Tufts University in Massachusetts Nadel became interested in Caribbean history after taking a course in African theatre. He said the play Monsieur Toussaint influenced him to study about Haiti.

The play, written by Edouard Glissant in 1961, was inspired by the life of Toussaint Louverture, a.k.a. "the black Napoleon." Louverture was a self-educated slave who led the revolt against the French army and won independence for Haiti.

 "Haiti was the second independent country in the hemisphere," he said. "I had never heard of the Haitian revolution until then and I wanted to know more about it."

Nadel said Gerald Gill, an energetic, passionate and intelligent professor at Tufts University, influenced him to become a professor.

After getting his undergraduate degree Nadel worked for two years as a research associate with the National Coalition for Haitian Rights examining Haitian prison conditions and Haitian police abuse, training and organization.

Nadel described Haiti as a place that is dear to him and that felt like he was making a contribution to Haitian society while doing his research. He is now fluent in Creole, an official language in Haiti rooted in a blend of 18^th century French with African languages as well as Spanish and English.

"Most Americans in the Caribbean don't know about day-to-day life there," he said. "Haiti is amazing. Although it's really poor, the people are wonderful and will give you the shirts off their backs, even though that may be all they have."

Nadel said the January earthquake hit him hard. "It's hard not to be pessimistic about Haiti," said Nadel. "People pledge money but a lot of it is never delivered. If they don't bring in Haitians and Haitian grassroots helping to make plans in the reconstruction then it's going to fail."

The professor said that although he's not hopeful in international plans for the country, he does have faith in the people.

"Haitians work hard to get by and have survived a lot," he said. "That gives me hope."

Nadel has also done humanitarian work in Kosovo following the ethnic violence that erupted there in the 1990s when Yugoslavian Serbians displaced about one million Kosovo Albanians with violent tactics.

"My wife is Greek-American and she got a job in Kosovo," Nadel explained. "I applied for a job there and got it. I did shelter reconstruction work there and managed the Capacity Building Program which oversaw community development with local staff architects and engineers."

Nadel spent more than a year in Kosovo and said that he and his crew would visit damaged villages in the war-torn country to create emergency shelters to house people. They provided stoves, sheeting, food and constant roofing projects.

Nadel also negotiated with donors and aid workers helping to rebuild Kosovo and coordinated between them and the villages to find out their priorities and to bring in roads, bridges and even a school.

"It was a dangerous environment," Nadel said about working in Kosovo. "There was a disconnection and a lot of unavoidable tension between the Albanians and Serbs. It was so much that it leeched into everyone. There was a lot of hatred and raw feelings and that affected you in some way or form."

Nadel said that life was tough in Kosovo. He said there was no heat and electricity for 10 days at a time and that in the winter the snow would blow into the buildings. Even driving around the country was harrowing.

"I had to go to a mine training course which taught you about land mines and that you can't really see them," he said. "We were driving in the mountains one day after the rain and drove over a washed out mine lying in the middle of the road."

Nadel said he need not explain what that experience felt like.