CSWS Graduate Student Research Grant

Rosa at her home with a lamb from her flock / photo by H. Moulton.

Futuremaking in a Disaster Zone: Indigenous Women and the Everyday Politics of Climate Change in Peru

by Holly Moulton, PhD Candidate, Department of Environmental Studies

In the summer of 2019, I took a bus to my friend Rosa’s house, which is located in the middle of a Quechua community within a glacial lake outburst flood hazard zone in the Peruvian Cordillera Blanca. In the family’s garden there is a spectacular view of Andean peaks in all directions. There is a sense of being in an oasis, shielded from the noise of the street right outside the gates and the bustle of the town of Huaraz below.
Daizi Hazarika, PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology

The Rise of Witch-Hunting & Witch-Killing in Assam, India

by Daizi Hazarika, PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology

During the winter of 2023, with the help of a CSWS graduate student research award, I had an opportunity to visit Assam, India, for two months to conduct dissertation research on witch-hunting and witch-killing. During my field trip to Assam, I conducted research in Guwahati (the capital city of Assam) and a village called Dabli, among the Rabha community (a tribal community of Assam) in the Goalpara subdivision of this region. In Guwahati, I interacted with several government officials regarding their perceptions of the current-day witch-hunting in Assam and the steps taken by the Assamese government to combat this practice.
Rosa M. O'Connor Acevedo, PhD Candidate, Department of Philosophy

Disclosing Enslaved Women’s Resistance in Puerto Rico’s History of Slavery

by Rosa M. O’Connor Acevedo, PhD Candidate, Department of Philosophy

On February 20, 1824, a mayor in Puerto Rico writes to Governor Miguel de la Torre pleading for support to apprehend a fugitive slave referred to in the colonial documents as “Negra Martha.” According to the letter, Negra Martha ran away from the grips of her enslaver, Daniel Peterson, two years before the letter was written describing the maroon woman’s whereabouts.
Annie Ring, PhD Candidate, Department of Philosophy

White Women’s Linguistic Terrorism

by Annie Ring, PhD Candidate, Department of Philosophy 

J.L. Austin’s How to Do Things with Words demonstrates that language is not just descriptive but in some cases is performative. That is, Austin’s speech act theory argues that language itself performs, changes, or does things in the world. Speech act theory classically considered institutions like marriage, where a pronouncement weds people into a legally binding relation, or boat christening, where naming and blessing a boat before the maiden voyage protects its passengers (Austin).

W. Jamie Yang, PhD Candidate, Department of Sociology

A Queer Quantitative Inquiry: Sexual Injustices and Social Contexts

My dissertation builds on a stance that views pleasure and safety as fundamental human rights. I am motivated by a wish to democratize pleasure for all, and specifically the questions, “What prohibits individuals from fully enjoying the sexual aspect of their humanity,” and “When it comes to sexual encounters, why do some groups of people consistently have a better and easier time than others?” I use critical feminist theory and queer quantitative methodology to examine how social contexts influence young adults’ experience with sexual injustices and sexual victimization.
Min Young Park, PhD Candidate, Department of English

Tempting Bad Taste: Unreading the Failure of Art, Fashion, and Food in Late Modernist Novels

by Min Young Park, PhD Candidate, Department of English

Nella Larsen’s Quicksand opens with a vivid portrait of Helga Crane’s room. It is brimming with furniture and garments of her “rare and intensely personal taste” (1). The emphasis on the privacy of her taste is easily overlooked as it is soon followed by a disturbing remark by a white priest who claims that “Naxos Negroes…had good taste” because “[t]hey knew enough to stay in their place” (3)...

The cover of "Drawing the Line: Indian Women Fight Back"

Re-examining Context, Culture, and Medium: Gender in South Asian and South Asian American Graphic Novels

by Anu Sugathan, PhD Student, Department of English

My interest in graphic narratives as a research topic emerged during my master of philosophy studies. While contemplating my thesis, I discovered various Indian graphic novels by contemporary writers and artists that brought back memories of my childhood comic books like Balarama, Balabhumi, and Champak. However, unlike earlier comic books, these graphic novels stood out due to their distinctive style, paper quality, and thematic depth...

Pictured from left are María Galindo, Christina Rivera Garza, and Magela Baudoin

Power of the ‘Multitude’: Women’s Autobiographical Writings in Latin American Literature

by Magela Baudoin, PhD Candidate, Department of Romance Languages

Women’s autobiographical writing has historically faced devaluation within the realm of so-called “high” literature (Huyssen 2006). This marginalization stems from several factors: firstly, the misguided association of “literary” with “fiction,” which tends to discredit narratives perceived as not purely imaginative (Lejeune 1989; Molloy 1996); secondly, entrenched paradigms in modern Western thought...

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