2015 Undergraduate Associate Thesis Conference
February 5–6, 2015
Center for Government and International Studies, South Building 1730 Cambridge Street, Belfer Case Study Room (S020 on the concourse level)
Thursday, February 5
12:15 p.m. Welcoming Remarks
Steven B. Bloomfield, Executive Director, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.
12:30–2:30 p.m. Globalization and Its Discontents
Chair: Kyle Jaros, China Public Policy Postdoctoral Fellow, Ash Center, Harvard Kennedy School; Former Graduate Student Associate, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.
- Ralph “Tre” Hunt (African and African American Studies and East Asian Studies) Alternate Explanations for Zimbabwe's Decision to Implement a "Look East" Policy in 2003.
- Anja Nilsson (Social Studies) Switzerland’s Banking Secrecy and How It Survived an International Financial System Dominated by the Anglophone Tradition.
- Amy Sparrow (Social Studies and East Asian Studies) Food Safety Development in China: The Pressure of Globalization, Scandal, and Activism on Legal Reform.
Fifteen-minute break (refreshments will be available)
2:45–5:30 p.m. America Latina: Institutions across a Long Hemisphere
Chair: Alex Fattal, Postdoctoral Fellow, Mahindra Humanities Center; Former Graduate Student Associate, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.
- Daniel Barcia (History) Restless Liberty: Territorial Florida’s Maroon Haven and the Largest Slave Rebellion in US History, 1835–1836.
- Julia Cohn (History and Literature) Embracing Then Abandoning Pan-American Ambitions: How Diego Rivera’s Pan American Unity and La Gloriosa Victoria Depict His Fluctuating Optimism for Hemispheric Unity.
- Mayumi Cornejo (Government) State Intervention and the Development of Peasant Auto-Defense Organizations in Peru.
- Manuel Andrés Meléndez (Government) Toward an Institutional Theory of Conservative Party Schisms: El Salvador’s Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) in Comparative Perspective, 1980–2010.
Friday, February 6
8:30 a.m. Continental breakfast (available outside of room S020)
9:00–11:45 a.m. Understanding Youth and Families Transnationally
Chair: Asad Asad, PhD Candidate, Department of Sociology; Graduate Student Associate, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.
- Nafisa Eltahir (Sociology) Colorism in Comparative Perspective: Examining How Young Sudanese and African-American Women Experience Their Skin Color.
- Diego Huerta (Anthropology) HIV/AIDS Knowledge amongst Young, Gay Latino Immigrants.
- Alyssa Leader (Psychology) Long-Term Correlates of Exposure to Sexual Violence in Sierra Leone: An Exploration of Outcomes and Mediating Factors.
- Eliza Pan (Social Studies) Reconfiguring the “Flexible” Family: Mainland Chinese Astronaut Households in Canada.
11:45 a.m.–1:30 p.m. Lunch (available outside of room S020)
1:30–2:45 p.m. International Relations in Contemporary Perspective
Chair: Marco Basile, JD/PhD Candidate, Harvard Law School, Department of History; Graduate Student Associate, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.
- Hilary Higgins (Government) Counternarcotics to Counterinsurgency: Assessing the Transformation of US Economic Assistance to Colombia, 1998–2002.
- Hannah Mullen (Government) How Institutions Shape Initiatives to Reform Military Justice Systems: United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.
Fifteen-minute break (refreshments will be available)
3:00–5:00 p.m. Sustaining Environmental Purpose
Chair: Shelby Grossman, PhD Candidate, Department of Government; Hartley R. Rogers Dissertation Completion Fellow; Former Graduate Student Associate, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.
- Debbie Onuoha (History and Literature and Anthropology) Murky Waters on a Gold(en) Coast: Progress and Pollution along the Korle Lagoon in Accra, Ghana.
- Elizabeth Pike (Social Studies) A Tale of Two Eco-Cities: The Case for Community Participation in Eco-City Development.
- Hilton Simmet (Social Studies) Dreaming the “Dark Mountain”: Time, Economy, and Development in Senegal’s Eco-Villages.