Interview with Shauneille "Shaun" Blair, December 8, 2020
Project: Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project
Interview Summary
Shauneille "Shaun" Blair served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Fiji from 2016 to 2018 in the Community Youth Development Program. Blair is a Black Indigenous American. Her parents taught her the importance of understanding people of different backgrounds. She joined Peace Corps in her early 40s. Her decision was influenced by her sister and two friends who are RPCVs. Blair’s language and culture training was conducted in a village near Nausori, after which she was posted to Waya Island in the Yasawa Group. Her accomplishments include creation of a Youth Akro Skills Program in her village that was subsequently spread to other parts of Fiji. The interview discusses her reasons for joining; living with her host family during training; job assignment; living and working at her post; differential treatment of females and volunteers of color by Host Country Nationals, including Peace Corps Staff; and returning to the U.S.Interview Accession
Interviewee Name
Interviewer Name
Interview Date
Interview Keyword
Fiji (Country of service) 2016-2018 (Date of service) Peace Corps Job: Community Youth Development Community Youth Development Program Older volunteers Youth Akro Skills Acrobatics Nausori, Fiji Waya Island, Fiji Black Indigenous Americans People of color Diversity in the Peace Corps Female volunteers Women volunteers Women of colorInterview LC Subject
Peace Corps (U.S.) Peace Corps (U.S.)--Fiji Acculturation Communication and culture Culture Culture shock Intercultural communication Interpersonal communication and culture Interpersonal relations Interpersonal relations and culture Language and culture Language and languages Lifestyles Manners and customs Voluntarism Volunteers Minorities Misogyny Race discrimination Race relations Racism SexismInterview Rights
All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.Interview Usage
Interviews may only be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.Restriction
Interviews may only be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.
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Blair, Shauneille Interview by Julius Sztuk. 08 Dec. 2020. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
Blair, S. (2020, December 08). Interview by J. Sztuk. Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington.
Blair, Shauneille, interview by Julius Sztuk. December 08, 2020, Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
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