Jordan Corson
Teachers College
Ed.D. Curriculum and Teaching
Jordan’s project, “Educations of Out of School Youth in Tepito”, engages narratives of out of school youth by investigating the education of those “without education.” To do so, he will spend the summer conducting ethnographic research on the dynamic everyday educations of youth in an informal market in Mexico City.
Kelsey Woodrick
Teachers College
M.A. in International Educational Development
Karen and Mon-Mixed School Models seeks to explore an emerging mixed schooling system in Karen and Mon communities and its influence on fostering ethnic and national reconciliation in Burma’s peace building process. It will highlight teacher, student and community perceptions of the mixed educational system as well as analyze classroom instruction, local and national resources and curricula to determine the model’s influence on the linguistic and cultural inclusivity necessary to build sustainable peace between ethnic groups.
Aslihan Saygili
Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
Political Science, Ph.D.
Aslihan’s dissertation explores why some governments accommodate ethnic minority demands for self-determination, while others adopt no-concessions policies and tools of repression. Her focus is specifically on how the domestic political and institutional context within states can incentivize leaders to seek peaceful resolution of separatist disputes. She will use the AC4 grant to conduct archival research and semi-structured elite interviews in Turkey and the Philippines, which have long been troubled by armed separatist conflicts.
Kunaal Sharma
Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
Political Science, Ph.D.
Kunaal’s research uses experiments among Sunni and Shia young adult men in India to test the effect of different types of persuasion on reducing religious extremism. His work takes place in the context of Sunni-Shia violence in Lucknow, the capital of India’s largest state.
Marlana Salmon-Letelier
Teachers College
Ed. D. International Educational Development
Through the lens of social identity and self-categorization theories, Marlana investigates (1) how simultaneous multicultural and nationalistic school practices shape group identities at the individual, local, national and global levels and (2) how shifts in identities relate to changes in tolerance levels and interconnectedness across ethnic and religious groups. Her research focuses on integrated Federal Unity Colleges (FUCs) in Nigeria that use a quota system to ensure an ethnically diverse student body and were founded with the intention to unite Nigerian youth. Drawing from literature on education in conflict settings, integrated schools, citizenship and multicultural education, and intergroup theory, this project will contribute with an innovative exploration of the simultaneous implementation of multicultural and national unity practices in diverse schools in conflict settings while also considering intergroup relations in the context of a state affected by Islamic extremism.
Mary Pham
School of International & Public Affairs
Master in International Affairs
Mary’s peace and civil capacity building activities this summer will take place in two ethnic states in Burma that continue to experience regional violence and conflict, Rakhine State and Kachin State. Her scope of research is to examine best practices of civil society strengthening that can drive positive social change and increase justice, rights, peace and development in Burma, focused on these two particular under-supported areas experiencing ongoing regional conflict. Mary will take a dual-level approach in her work: she will perform bottom-up, grassroots peace education workshop initiatives with local civil society organizations in Kachin and Northern Rakhine State and conduct short-term research on international aid effectiveness to see how to improve civil capacity building mechanisms. Mary’s twofold project will provide insight for international aid donors to become more aware of where to strategically prioritize funding in these under-supported areas and will provide support for local civil society to facilitate constructive dialogue that promotes peaceful co-existence.
Sophia Antoun
Teachers College
Master in Arts
Cairo is home to some of Egypt’s fastest growing Chinatowns, in which many Chinese Muslims are finding opportunity that is otherwise obscured by discrimination and religious regulation in their native China. Egyptians’ acceptance and interest in this new Chinese community may prove that despite a deeply sectarian history, Egyptian society is a place of peaceful diversification and cultural integration.
Zachary Zill
School of Professional Studies
M.S. in Sustainability Management
Zach’s research “Capital Offense: Discarded People, Discarded Spaces and Washington, D.C.’s Criminal Justice Infrastructure” will examine environmental and spatial inequalities associated with Washington, D.C.’s criminal justice system. By analyzing patterns of incarceration and urban redevelopment within the city, and patterns of waste disposal and prisoner warehousing in the city’s rural hinterlands, he hopes to shed light on the hidden burdens associated with the production of a “revitalized” capital city.
Rachel Macauley
School of International & Public Affairs
Masters in International Affairs
Rachel will be working with N-Peace (Engage for Peace, Equality, Access, Community and Empowerment) – a multi-country initiative facilitated by the United Nations Development Program at Bangkok Regional Hub in Thailand, and the country offices from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, Nepal, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Myanmar and Pakistan. N-Peace has two key objectives: (i) to support and promote the leadership of women as peace builders; and (ii) to provide a platform for engagement and dialogue between different stakeholders to promote the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda.
Rahma Ahmed
School of International and Public Affairs
Master of Public Administration in Development Practice
Rahma will be conducting an internship with UNICEF’s Adolescents Development and Participation Section in Jordan, researching on the latest trends and best practices in social media engagement in the MENA region, in order to maximize youth digital engagement.
Carolina Duque Arango and Elliot Wheeler
School of Professional Studies
M.S. in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution (NECR)
Elliot and Carolina will travel to various sites in El Salvador to study how the 2012 to 2013 truce between El Salvador´s two largest gangs was implemented and sustained through negotiation and mediation efforts at the local level. The team will analyze and compare what factors and initiatives contribute to sustaining gang violence reduction.