Strategic Initiatives Funding
OIP Doctoral Fellowships for International Research and Writing
2008-09 Recipients
Narayan Dhakal – Nepal
Conservation Biology (CFANS)
Socioeconomic well-being and biodiversity impact assessment of a citizen initiated resettlement program in Chitwan National Park, Nepal
Dhakal will conduct research in Chitwan National Park, Nepal and recently resettled Padampur Village in Chitwan, Nepal. He will be conduct a biodiversity survey and a socioeconomic survey. The focus of Dhakal's research is to assess the effect of resettlement on biodiversity enhancements and socioeconomic conditions of residents after resettlement.
Ritika Ganguly – India
Medical Anthropology (CLA)
Preserving Culture and Practicing "Good Science" in Traditional Medical Research in India
Dhakal's research explores the impact of international evidence-based traditional medical research in transnational settings. She will examine research practices used to legitimize indigenous remedies through an extended ethnographic look at scientific research processes at an Ayurvedic laboratory. Rapid changes in production of pharmacological knowledge in Ayurveda - India’s traditional medicine - necessitate an interdisciplinary approach to exploring the cross-cultural uptake of quality control standards, double blind tests, good manufacturing, and scientific practices. Through interviews and participant observation in government, non-government spaces, Dhakal's research will illuminate contexts that develop Ayurvedic global knowledge that is at once both Indian and evidence-based.
Gulseren Kozak-Isik– United Kingdom
Sociology (CLA)
Institutional Conflicts and Reconciliation Attempts: A Comparative Study of the (Re)construction of Islam Legal, Religious and Political Institutions in the U.S. and U.K.
Kozak-Isik's research will focus on Islamic political legal and religious institutions, such as the caliphate (Islamic state), the umma (Islamic people of the world), and the Sharia (the law of Islam), that are considered problematic for Western institutions of the secular nation state, representative democracy, civil and individual rights, and state legal hegemony. Kozak-Isik will look at how Islamic organizations have (re)constructed, reproduced, interrelated, and innovated Islamic political, legal, and religious institutions in the U.S. and the U.K., where they are confronted with alternative and possibly conflicting Islamic and host country norms, values, and principles or organization and behavior. Through archival research, in depth interviews, and participant observations, Kozak-Isik will provide answers to questions that have plagued scholars and the public alike: to the extent that there are conflicts between Islam and the West, what are they and what are the possibilities for compromise and resolution.
Xiumei Pu – China
Feminist Studies (CLA)
Indigenous Spirituality and Women in Southwest China
Pu will research indigenous beliefs and practices, healing methods, and folk tales in the Sichuan Province and Tibet in China. Pu will conduct archiveal research regarding historical documents on Chinese religions and indigenous spiritualities
Dennis Rentsch – Tanzania
Conservation Biology (CFANS)
Bushmeat Hunting in the Serengeti Ecosystem: Nutritional and Socio-economic Drivers
Rentsch will research the socio-economic factors which motivate households to consume bushmeat, determine whether bushmeat is cheaper than alternative sources of protein and therefore more likely to be consumed by households in times of hardship, the relationship between the loss of chickens to Newcastle disease and consumption of bushmeat, and whether improved poultry production will reduce their consumption of bushmeat.
Susan Swanson – Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal, UK
Late Medieval and Early Modern Art of Europe (CLA)
The Work of the Magi: Adoration Imagery and Visions of Globalization in Early Modern Europe
Swanson will establish a research base at the Warburg Institute in London where she will participate in scholarly activities related to her research, while utilizing their photographic collection of art works. She will conduct research in five locations in Europe.
Fawn Wilderson-Legros – France
French Theater, Film, and Social Sciences (CLA)
Representations of Marginalized groups in French Theatre and Cinema
Wilderson-Legros's research will focus on historical representations of marginalized groups in French media, specifically in theatre and cinema, and on how these representations informed the evolution of a French national identity. The representation of marginalized groups – referred to as “Others” - has contributed to a process of group identification among French from the metropolis, among persons from the (former) colonies and among immigrants - during the period of the Third Republic, from 1870 to 1940.
Yongling Zhang – China
Comparative & International Development Education (CEHD)
Citizenship education in China: A comparative study of eighth-grade students’ civic attitudes in Shanghai and Hong Kong
Zhang's research examines citizenship education in China, through eighth-grade students’ civic attitudes and engagement in a comparison of Shanghai and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. As the mediator of civic knowledge and engagement, civic attitude reflects students’ perception of citizenship education and is shaped by socialization patterns such as classroom climate. She will analyze the components of civic attitude and factors that influence it.
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