2022 – 2023 Research Fellows

José is a junior majoring in International Relations. Although born in the United States, José lived in México until he moved back to the U.S. at the age of twelve. His experiences as a foreign-born Mexican and as a migrant U.S. citizen have presented José with questions about his identities and how they provide him with certain privileges, including legal rights. These questions constitute the basis for many of Jose’s research interests– he is interested in studying how conceptions of a national identity determine the treatment of people living within a nation-state. This has served as an inspiration for his research project at Mgrublian, which explores the systemic erasure of a Black identity in the Mexican national identity–Mexicanidad–and the Mexican state’s treatment of Afro-Mexicans. Additionally, his project analyzes the implications of the recent Constitutional recognition of Afro-descendant communities as part of Mexico’s pluricultural composition.

Valentina is a senior from El Paso, Texas studying International Relations and Human Rights, Genocide, and Holocaust studies. Living on the US-Mexico border, she was exposed to many injustices within immigration beginning at a young age. Learning about human rights abuses experienced by immigrants, and the driving forces that push these populations into the United States inspired her to dedicate her academic and professional career to this field. Apart from being a student assistant, she is a part-time assistant for Human Rights Watch, a research fellow with the Mgrublian Center, and a 1Gen mentor. She is excited to continue working with the Center as they highlight critical human rights issues around the world.

Emma is a sophomore at CMC, dual majoring in Psychology and Film Studies with a Legal Studies Sequence. The past summer, she traveled to different countries as an Appel Fellow and researched how the media affected people’s perception of Covid. She also conducted the winter break passion project through the Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies to analyze the “California Dream” construction in Chinese culture. As someone born in China and lived in Asian countries most of her life, she started reflecting on her previous understanding of Asian culture and history after seeing them from the western perspective. Having worked in multiple NGOs, she has had first-hand experiences encountering inequality in rural areas of Asian countries. Through this research fellowship, she wishes to examine how the historical, cultural, and economic factors lead to the current human trafficking network in Asia.

Sasha is a sophomore at CMC from Seattle with a Post-Soviet Estonian background. She is majoring in International Relations and potentially focusing on human rights. On campus, she works at the Gould and Soll centers and pole vaults on the CMS track team. As someone who sees the effects of Russian propaganda (especially throughout the Ukrainian war) amongst her own family and a majority of the Russian population, she wants to deep dive into why so many people are influenced by the lies the Kremlin is spreading. Why do people support a war that is causing massive human rights abuses? She is very grateful to have the support of her advisor Professor Lower and the Mgrublian Center for this project.