#  Conference Program 

 



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## 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**, J*D/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.



 

##  Related Links 

For information on past undergraduate thesis conferences, please visit the [conference website](http://conferences.wcfia.harvard.edu/undergraduate_thesis).