Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies
Freeman Prize awarded to Meg Anderson, graduating senior in government
Harrop and Ruth Freeman Prize in Peace Studies
The Freeman Prize goes to a Cornell graduating senior who has demonstrated a commitment to working for world peace. This year’s winner is Margaret 'Meg' Anderson ’21, for her achievements and continuing work in peace activities. Meg is a government major in the College of Arts & Sciences at Cornell and is interested in the intersection of international development and security studies.
In the summer of 2019, through an internship with the Einaudi Center’s Institute for African Development, she worked as a research fellow at the Southern African Institute for Policy in Zambia. There, she collaborated with locals to design and implement a research project on political repression and women’s health. The culmination of her efforts led her to publish “Disillusionment and Fear: The Impact of Zambia’s Religio-Political Climate on Sexual and Reproductive Health Organisations,” in the Southern African Journal of Policy and Development. Of this experience, Meg said, “my time in Zambia taught me that building peace starts with the promotion of human prosperity.”
For the last two years, Meg has been an undergraduate research assistant at the Gender and Security Sector Lab, led by Prof. Sabrina Karim (PACS Faculty). She started researching international security sector assistance programs, including U.S. police assistance programs, which involved a literature review as well as combing through Congressional records. According to Professor Karim, “Meg really showed how invested she was in this research by attending optional workshops lead by the DCAF Geneva Center of Security Governance,” going on to explain she was one of few undergraduates to participate.
Finally, it is worth noting that not only has Meg worked on strengthening civil society, women’s health, and security sector reform, but she is also a Fellow at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. In the fellowship, she learned from and researched under scholars committed to making a nuclear-free world. Fellows also met with a hibakusha, a Japanese survivor of the atomic bomb, with Meg stating, “[when] he lifted his shift to show his disfigured chest, my life was forever changed. That moment reinforced the fact that war and violence, like nuclear weapons, are institutionalized.”
She went on to say in her application for the Freeman Prize: “Our world is not safer and more secure with nuclear weapons and large militaries. It's safer and more secure when the citizens are fed, taught, and healed. It’s safer when our resources are spent on peace, climate change, and vaccinating the masses.”
These interests and her dedication to the research that she does through the various experiences she has engaged in demonstrate her commitment to peace. Meg plans to take all these experiences and skills with her into the workforce after she graduates.
Looking Ahead
"Growing up in a rural town in western Colorado, coming to Cornell gave me so many opportunities to work and study that I would have never had before. I specifically cite my time studying and working in Zambia and Jordan as the two biggest experiences that taught me how to think globally. I hope to use my education to make the world a more peaceful, prosperous, and safe place for everyone. My long-term goal is to work for the State Department or USAID in the intersection of international aid and security. Diplomacy is an important tool for shaping our world, and I would strive to make it an organization that reflects our diverse and forward-thinking generation. Above all, I wouldn't be here without the support of so many people and the wonderful institution of Cornell.”
–Margaret 'Meg' Anderson, '21
About the Freeman Prize
The Harrop and Ruth Freeman Prize in Peace Studies is awarded annually in the spring to a Cornell graduating senior. The Freemans established the prize to offer recognition and encouragement to Cornell undergraduate students actively engaged in promoting peace and to encourage continued work or education in the field of peace studies. It was established in 1984 to honor Ruth Freeman, the first woman on the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences. Ruth died in April 1988 and Harrop in October 1993. A bequest from the Freemans ensures that future Cornell students will be recognized for their achievements and continuing work in peace activities.
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Graduate fellowship enables academic success
Naomi Egel, PACS Fellow
“The Reppy Institute’s support made it possible for me to focus exclusively on my research, and I was able to make significant progress on my dissertation and job market paper.”
Naomi Egel is a PhD candidate in the government department and recipient of the Marion and Frank Long Fellowship from the Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies. She used her graduate fellowship with the Reppy Institute to make substantive advances on her dissertation research. Naomi spent the Spring 2021 semester editing the theory chapter of her dissertation, writing one case study chapter of the dissertation, and working on her job market paper.
She presented her job market paper at the 2021 International Studies Association (ISA) conference and at the European Consortium for Political Research workshop on small states in international organizations. In addition, despite her inability to travel for archival fieldwork, she was able to conduct five additional interviews with diplomats and civil society members for her dissertation over Zoom.
Although the pandemic forced her to revise much of her research plans, the Reppy Institute’s support enabled Naomi to devote her time to both her dissertation and to other academic projects. During the Spring 2021 semester, she submitted a coauthored project for peer review and received two revise-and-resubmits for coauthored papers submitted in Fall 2020. Naomi and her coauthor resubmitted the first revised manuscript in April 2021 and are in the process of revising the second manuscript. In addition, Naomi published a policy piece in War on the Rocks and wrote a policy paper for the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.
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Announcing the winners of the Freeman Fellowship competition for undergraduates
The Reppy Institute offers the Harrop and Ruth Freeman Fellowships to encourage Cornell undergraduates to pursue summer work related to peace studies and conflict resolution in an otherwise unpaid position with a not-for-profit organization. We are pleased to announce this year's four winners.
Vanessa Olguín
Rising Senior, Government (A&S)
Vanessa will be interning at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) as a Protection Intern where she will be providing direct assistance to persons of concern (asylum seekers, refugees, and stateless people) through the Detention Hotline. Within the Protections and Solutions Unit, she will also be conducting research to support individual asylum cases and participating in relevant briefings, meetings and conferences with government agencies and NGOs.
Craig Schulman
Rising Senior, Policy Analysis and Management (CHE)
Craig will be working as a Policy Intern with the Advocacy Department at the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES). Based in San Antonio, Texas, RAICES is a nonprofit organization that promotes conflict-resolution and peace by providing free legal services to immigrant children, families, and refugees. As an intern, he will be working alongside attorneys in RAICES’ Advocacy Department at the forefront of issues in the immigration system and governance.
Amy Alagor
Rising Senior, Biology and Society (CALS)
Amy’s internship is based on providing free medical services at health clinics that primarily serve communities in the Bronx that have been impacted by coronavirus. She will also be connecting patients with resources if they are facing food insecurity, domestic violence, and issues related to environmental injustice.
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Naomi Egel, PACS/IES: Einaudi Student Path (video)
"One of the strengths of the Einaudi Center and Reppy Institute is how they bring together scholars working on related issues, but from a variety of perspectives," says Naomi Egel, a PhD student in government at Cornell. She participated in the Einaudi Dissertation Proposal Development Program and received Einaudi Center, Reppy, and IES financial support for research travel to Geneva, Switzerland.
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Eun A Jo, PACS/EAP: Einaudi Student Path (video)
Eun A Jo is a PhD student in government and a Peace and Conflict Studies Fellow with the Einaudi Center's Judith A. Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies. Through support from the Reppy Institute, East Asia Program, and Einaudi Center more broadly, she has been able to travel for research to explore comparative questions of peace and conflict.
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Resources for Nuclear History Go Online
The Nuclear Freeze Movement, launched by Randall Caroline Forsberg, resulted in the largest ever anti-nuclear protest in the United States. Forsberg also founded and directed the Institute for Defense and Disarmament (IDDS), which published the Arms Control Reporter, a monthly publication that summarized news of arms control and disarmament measures, between 1974 and 2007.
The Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) recently initiated a project to digitize the volumes for 1982-1991; these are now posted under a CC license open to the public via HathiTrust at https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000068634.
Additional papers from the IDDS archive will become available in digital form later this year. The project has been funded by a grant to PACS from Cornell Library's program to support Digital Collections in Arts and Sciences. Learn more about the IDDS archive project here.
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Race Matters: Research Questions in International Relations
May 20, 2021
11:00 am
The Einaudi Center’s global racial justice research team presents the inaugural session of Race Matters, a new webinar series that fosters in-depth conversations on colonial questions and racial justice across international relations.
This panel brings together global experts for a candid appraisal of disciplinary instruments (methods, archives, concepts, ontologies, and epistemologies) and institutions (practices of knowledge production and incorporation as policy). The debate centers the question: How effectively do our tools for producing and shaping knowledge and policy serve the cause of advancing racial equality and justice globally?
Some of the panelists critique methods and lines of inquiries in scholarship on race and racism. Others presume an insurgency by self-determining political communities—including in the academy—against colonizing institutional practices and in favor of the expansion of archives and imaginaries.
This conversation represents an initial framing of questions and critiques that will continue in four additional Race Matters panels through the fall 2021 semester. Read more about the series below.
Moderator: Siba Grovogui, Africana Studies, Cornell University
Panelists:
Daniel Bendix, Franziska Müller, and Aram Ziai, coeditors of Beyond the Master’s Tools? Decolonizing Knowledge Orders, Research Methods, and Teaching (2020)Mustapha K. Pasha, Meera Sabaratnam, and Robbie Shilliam, series editors of Kilombo: International Relations and Colonial QuestionsDiscussants: Oumar Ba, Political Science, Morehouse College; Sarah Then Bergh, Africana Studies PhD candidate, Cornell University
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Race Matters: A webinar series sponsored by Cornell’s Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, Africana Studies and Research Center, and Department of Government
Race Matters brings together international relations experts for critical conversations on colonial questions and racial justice across international relations. Join us to explore scholarship on race and racism and the policies, institutions, and systems that perpetuate racial inequality and violence worldwide. Continuing throughout 2021, Race Matters will identify opportunities for transformative change and highlight collective and individual actions toward a more just world.
Learn about the Einaudi Center’s work on racial justice and all of our global research priorities.
Register now: https://cornell.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hYI75wwITDOvrOW_ZTHY6Q
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Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies
East Asia Program
Southeast Asia Program
Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Institute for African Development
Institute for European Studies
South Asia Program
Can Incentives Sway the Vaccine-Hesitant?
Sarah Kreps, PACS
The article cites research from Sarah Kreps, professor of government, showing that the prospect of being paid $100 had no statistically significant impact on whether people wanted the COVID-19 vaccine, but that having to pay a $20 copay did make people less enthusiastic.
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TODAY: Teach-in #StopAsianHate
Join Us for Teaching and Listening
May 7 (noon–2:00): Join us for a teach-in and listen-in to support Cornell's Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities.
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Climate Change and the Sacred: Lessons from COVID-19
GPV Fellows Karim-Aly Kassam and Frederick R. McDonald
Global Public Voices fellows Karim-Aly Kassam and painter and poet Frederick R. McDonald in Medium.