Graduate Fellowship Recipient

These fellowships are made possible by the generous support of the Marion and Frank Long family, the Jesse F. and Dora H. Bluestone family, and an anonymous donor. Learn more about the Reppy Institute’s graduate fellowship program.

Nicole T. Venker 

Recipient of Jesse F. and Dora H. Bluestone Peace Studies Fellowship, 2024-25

Nicole T. Venker is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment. Her research examines livelihoods, labor, and land relations along transnational routes of migration from Myanmar (Burma) to the United States.

Research Project
"Land, Livelihood, and Migration on the Margins of Myanmar"

My dissertation traces Myanmar migrants shifting relationships to land along their transnational journeys – from Myanmar (Burma), to Thailand, and to the United States. My work focuses on how migrants experience, envision, and renegotiate their relationship to land within sites of resettlement, and in a transitioning Myanmar. Along transnational routes of refugee migration, I investigate structures of mobility, changes in everyday practices related to subsistence, labor, and leisure, as well as migrants’ visions of environmental and social justice. The Jesse F. and Dora H. Bluestone Peace Studies Fellowship will allow me to conduct fieldwork in Thailand, extending my ongoing research in the US and Thailand.