Interview with Louis Meucci, June 6, 2021
Project: Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project
Interview Summary
Louis Meucci served as a Peace Corps Education volunteer in Tonga from 1979-1981. He was interested in Peace Corps before his graduate studies at the School for International Training (SIT). Many classmates were RPCVs, including three who served in Tonga. He chose to join the Peace Corps to satisfy an international work requirement for SIT, and he and his then wife also went to Tonga in 1978 while his eight year old son from another marriage remained in the U.S. Other events affected Tongans' view of PCVs, including the 1976 murder of a female volunteer and the shooting of Ronald Reagan in 1981. He served in two sites in Tonga, and in both he found that his graduate education helped him to recognize when his challenges were intercultural rather than personal. He also learned many cultural lessons through his dog, which he and his then-wife brought to the United States. His second assignment was teaching English to secondary and college students, which was something that he continued in a 40-year career in international education after the Peace Corps.Interview Accession
Interviewee Name
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Interview Keyword
Nuku'alofa, Kingdom of Tonga Kingdom of Tonga Tongan language Teaching English as a Second Language John. F. Kennedy Peace Corps of the United States School for International Training Brattleboro, Vermont Pets International education International development Teaching in secondary schools Teaching in colleges US influence abroad Psychological assessments Peace Corps training Master's thesis Community development Sexual taboos Intercultural differences Legal proceedings Conceptions of fertility Assasination attempt on Ronald Reagan Vacations Fort Lauderdale, Florida RPCVsInterview Rights
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Meucci, Louis Interview by Craig Tower. 06 Jun. 2021. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
Meucci, L. (2021, June 06). Interview by C. Tower. Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington.
Meucci, Louis, interview by Craig Tower. June 06, 2021, 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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