Undergraduate Institution: New York University Undergraduate
Major: Anthropology (minors in French, Math, and Sociology)
MAPSS Graduation Year: 2015
I attended MAPSS with the intention of gaining a firmer grounding in foundational social theory and anthropology, as well as to advance my long-term research interests on youth in Rwanda. Through MAPSS, I took several excellent courses that challenged how I was thinking about my intended research. Notably: New Perspectives on Vulnerabilities with Don Kulick, The Politics of Translation with Susan Gal, Ethnographic Methods with Elina Hartikainan, and Postcolonial Intimacies with Jennifer Cole and Rochona Majumdar. Additionally, I learned a great deal from my participation in the African Studies Workshops. For my MA thesis, “Similar Until We’re Different: Political Affect and Youth Humanitarianism in Invisible Children,” I analyzed a youth-to-youth humanitarian movement and illustrated how young people generate affect as a political (rather than soft or apolitical) force. Under the advisement of Jennifer Cole, I used my thesis to expand my knowledge of anthropological theories of youth and childhood and explore the relationships between youth, political change, and global humanitarianism. In Fall 2015, I began a Fulbright Research Fellowship in Rwanda. I am grateful to the office Graduate Student Affairs for helping me achieve this honor, and for the continued support of Professor Cole and my MAPSS preceptor, Elina Hartikainan.
