Reedsburg's Schonfeld Awarded $22,000 Fellowship for a Hunting "Wanderjahr"

APPLETON, WIS. -- She was going goose-hunting with her dad at the age of eight. She earned her hunter's safety permit in the sixth grade. And at 18, she bagged her first buck -- an eight-pointer near Lake Redstone in Sauk County.

For Reedsburg's Sally Schonfeld, the chilly, predawn treks to the blinds in the marsh with her father are some of her fondest childhood memories. Those adventures, and many others, planted an affection for hunting and a reverence for the great outdoors which has since blossomed into an indelible passion for the natural world and the human connection to it.

Schonfeld, a 1998 graduate of Webb High School, soon will embark on a unique and intimate exploration of that connection in some of the world's most remote and exotic locales. A senior at Lawrence University, Schonfeld was recently named one of 60 national recipients of a $22,000 fellowship by the Providence, R.I.-based Thomas J. Watson Foundation. The fellowship supports a "wanderjahr" -- a year to travel and explore the world -- on a topic of the recipient's choosing.

Beginning in August, Schonfeld, 22, will begin a year-long investigation into the physical and spiritual connections to land and animals enjoyed by female hunters. She will spend approximately four months each in Tierra del Fuego at the southern-most tip of Chile, the savannah region of Tanzania and the Inuit community of Iqaluit, in Nunavut, Canada, living with, observing and participating in hunts with women who rely on hunting for their subsistence.

"Growing up in a small, Midwestern town, I've always had a sense of awe for the natural world as well as an underlying sense of adventure and curiosity, characteristics that were fostered by my parents," said Schonfeld, the daughter of Dr. Michael and Lucy Schonfeld, Reedsburg.

"Because females traditionally have not held the hunter role, gender is an important aspect in my investigation. I want to explore women's connections to the land and resources and see how those connections manifest themselves in the rest of their lives, through writing, story-telling, music, art and even child-rearing."

Through close and careful daily observation of women in these distinct locations and cultures, Schonfeld hopes to find answers to such basic questions as: how did the women learn their hunting skills; are they accepted as a valuable members of their culture as hunters; did they have a choice in this lifestyle; and what, if any, are their ideas of conservation and protection.

"As a hunter, woman, biologist, geologist, explorer and world citizen, I've always been passionate and curious about the natural world and the human connection to it," said Schonfeld, who was elected to Phi Beta Kappa last fall and carries a 3.86 grade point average while pursuing a bachelor's degree in both biology and geology.

During her year-long study, Schonfeld intends to live among the non-Western Yamana people and their mestizo kinfolk in Tierra del Fuego, the Hadza hunter gatherers of Tanzania, who rely on wild roots, fruits, honey, maize and game meat for sustenance, and the mostly Inuit people of the newly established Canadian territory of Nunavut, which grew out of the most comprehensive settlement ever reached in the world between a government state and an aboriginal group.

"Science is not purely discovery of laws of truth. It is inextricably linked with people and their times," said Schonfeld, who experienced the joys and challenges of living abroad last spring while participating in a 17-week off-campus study program in Costa Rica. "During my wanderjahr I want to examine cultural frames of reference -- social, religious, political, economic and historical. And when the year is 'done,' I expect to have a new perspective on women, hunting, and the Earth's resources that will guide my future work as an earth scientist and human being."

Schonfeld was chosen for the fellowship from nearly 1,000 nominees representing 50 of the nation's leading liberal arts colleges. Watson Fellows are selected on the basis of the nominee's character, academic record, leadership potential, willingness to delve into another culture and the personal significance of the project proposal.