Short-Term Travel Grants Program

Grant Recipients 2007-2008

Research reports are organized by the authors' last name and are available for download in Adobe PDF.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M
N | O | P | Q| R | S| T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

Name: Alibali, Agron
Title and Affiliation: Visiting Fellow, Center for Democracy and Development, John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies
Dates: 7/1/2007-9/1/2007
Countries: Albania
Title: Constitutional Drafting through Foreign Assistance – Striking the Right Balance; The Case of Albania
Abstract: As the U.S. is involved in the Middle East, recent constitutional history in SEE countries could be a valuable asset in working towards skeptical Muslim nations. The project will focus on Albania’s recent constitutional history and the role of foreign participants in the drafting of the present Constitution. Striking the right balance between the country’s existing constitutional tradition and foreign constitutional assistance, if necessary, is a major task for both drafters and policy-makers. The project will analyze the constitutional drafting process, which brought about the current Constitution; it will compare the current Constitution with the previous one; it will analyze some of the main shortcomings, and will propose recommendations at the end. Lessons learned from the Albania case might apply in Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as other countries in the Middle East.

Name: Asay, Sylvia
Title and Affiliation: Associate Professor of Family Studies, University of Nebraska at Kearney
Dates: 6/16/07-7/1/07
Countries: Romania, Moldova
Title: Awareness of Domestic Violence within the Evangelical Community: Romania and Moldova
Abstract: Domestic Violence is a serious problem worldwide and is often perpetuated by complex social and cultural factors. The former post-communist countries of Romania and Moldova are no exception despite recent government attention. Evangelical churches have not addressed this problem and often perpetuate through scriptural misinterpretation a belief that men (husbands) have the right to put their wives in their place even if physically. The purpose of this project is to begin to assess the understanding of clergy and congregation members from evangelical churches in Romania and Moldova about domestic violence. The results of the project could be used to develop a training model that can be used in seminaries and educational settings to help evangelical clergy and lay personnel understand the nature of domestic violence and ways to affectively deal with domestic violence within their church congregations.

B

Name: Barratt, Bethany
Title and Affiliation: Assistant Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Roosevelt Univeristy
Dates: 1/5/08-1/20/08
Countries: Kyrgyzstan
Title: Regional Security, Aid Allocation and Human Rights
Abstract: What are the primary rationale applied to foreign aid decisions regarding transitional states, and to what extent does such aid produce its intended effects? These questions are critical as policymakers in the US and elsewhere attempt to aid the twin transitions to democratic political institutions and market economic forms in Central Asia. This project builds on my own expertise in the area of foreign aid policymaking, and that of my co-investigator in the security environment of the Central Asian republics.

Name: Boucek, Christopher
Title and Affiliation: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Princeton University
Dates: TBD
Countries: Uzbekistan
Title: Islamist Militancy in Uzbekistan: Mapping the Demography of the Islamist Opposition
Abstract: The objective of this research project is to gain insight into the membership of Islamist opposition organizations in Uzbekistan and to further the understanding of the development of these movements. The proposal seeks to collect demographic data about the backgrounds of persons alleged by the Uzbek government to be active in these movements and to search for patterns in their recruitment and radicalization. The data collected in this project will be used in the creation of original Geographic Information System (GIS) data maps, which will enable the visual representation of the data collected in this project and will facilitate a more detailed understanding of the development of militant Islamist organizations and networks in Uzbekistan.

C

Name: Carnaghan, Ellen
Title and Affliation: Associate Professor, Department of Policital Science, Saint Louis University
Dates: 2/27/08-3/14/08
Countries: Russia
Title: The Cultural Construction of Social Movements: Citizen Activism during the 2008 Russian Presidential Elections
Abstract: This project examines how citizen groups and political parties use and transform existing cultural frameworks in order to mobilize supporters during the 2008 Russian presidential elections. Of particular interest are the ways groups construct political appeals by drawing on nationalism and popular beliefs about previous political unrest. During a two-week trip to Russia, I will interview activists, collect a variety of campaign materials, and observe the behavior of activist groups and political parties.

Name: Case, Holly
Title and Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of History, Cornell University
Dates: 6/16/07-8/15/07
Countries: Croatia, Bulgaria
Title: Between the Lines: Contested Boundaries and the Fate of the Jews and other Minorities in Southeastern Europe during WWII
Abstract: Drawing on examples from 5 discreet, but related, territorial contests—for control of Transylvania, Slovakia, Northern Bukovina, Croatia/Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Macedonia—between 11 states or would-be states (Hungary, Romania, Slovak Republic, Croatia, Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, the Soviet Union, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia) this project explores how territorial considerations affected the timing and execution of policy vis-à-vis the Jews and other minorities in areas not under German occupation during WWII. The analysis highlights the need to consider genocide in a regional, transnational and comparative context in order to understand the conditions that gave rise to the Holocaust and other forms of mass violence against minority populations during WWII, and the ways in which tensions between states in Eastern Europe around contested territories still color interpretations of the Holocaust and ethnic violence in the region.

G

Name: Gedeon, Shirley
Title and Affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Vermont
Dates: 2/1/08-4/1/08
Countries: Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Title: Challenges to Financial System Development in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Abstract: This is a study of the structural aspects of financial fragility in the economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The purpose is to determine the patterns of response by the commercial banking system and the manufacturing and industrial sectors to the regime of monetary and fiscal discipline imposed by the ten year currency board regime. A secondary goal is to study proposals - both from within the BiH academic community and from the Balkan region - that are focused on monetary system reform and the development of regional monetary integration and cooperation with the European Union as well as within a Southeast European zone.

Name: Grillot, Suzette
Title and Affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Oklahoma
Dates: 6/1/07-6/15/07
Countries: Macedonia, Serbia
Title: Securing the Community: Reconciliation, Trust and Integration in the Western Balkans
Abstract: This project studies the development of a “security community” in the Western Balkan region (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia). The IREX request is to support research in two of these countries (Serbia and Macedonia). Specifically, the project explores the extent to which trust and mutual responsiveness is developing within and among the countries in the area, and how such trust and responsiveness enhances peaceful security policy and cooperation and decreases tension and potential for violent conflict. The project also assesses the extent to which international actors, such as the OSCE, EU, UN, and NATO, are succeeding in transferring the norms of the Euro-Atlantic, liberal, security community to the Western Balkan region.

Name: Gross, Peter
Title and Affiliation: Director and Professor, School of Journalism & Electronic Media, University of Tennessee
Dates: 12/3/07-12/13/07
Countries: Tajikistan
Title: Media and Journalism in Tajikistan: The Systems, Their Effects and the Influences Shaping the Media
Abstract:This project is part of a larger study that will provide a reliable, comprehensive analysis of Tajik media for the many non-profit organizations, regional and Western governments and news outlets that need an accurate and disinterested account of the growth of journalism, not only in Tajikistan, but throughout Central Asia in order to provide guidance to diplomatic and public diplomacy policies, strategic economic, political and media development planning and assistance.

H

Name: Hormel, Leontina
Title and Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Idaho
Dates: 7/1/07-8/1/07
Countries: Ukraine
Title: A Comparative Analysis of Gender, Labor, and Export-Oriented Business in Two Ukrainian Towns
Abstract: This research seeks to examine the degree to which international assistance enhances the ability for small urban areas to adjust to political and economic changes and the degree to which advances are felt equally for men and women as they navigate labor markets under these circumstances. To test the effects of foreign advice and technical assistance on gender relations, governance and growth of export-oriented business, a comparative examination of two central Ukrainian towns is proposed. Komsomolsk, in Poltava Oblast’, has received special attention from a variety of international agencies; whereas, Svetlovodsk, in Kirovograd Oblast’, has not. In examining two contrasting experiences, the research can locate more effectively the impacts specific to foreign advising and locally-generated decisions. Research conclusions will further understandings about the role of foreign and state intervention in shaping gender relations and building markets in post-Soviet Ukraine.

K

Name: Knox-Voina, Jane
Title and Affiliation: Professor, Department of Russian, Bowdoin College
Dates: 5/26/07-6/27/07
Countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
Title: Kazakh Cinema: Nation Building along the Silk Road
Abstract: The purpose of this project is: 1)To study Kazakh film as a tool for nation building, for re-creating ancestral spaces and “Kazakh” spirit; 2)To examine newest state subsidized spectacles that re-imagine a Kazakh nation and culture built on legendary defenders of frontiers like cowboys in foundation myths of America; and, 3) To analyze and document the possibility of independent Kazakh film that would include women both directing and in greater film roles, to investigate independent Kazakh film as a vehicle better suited to carry out this mission.

Name: Kuperman, Alan
Title and Affiliation: Assistant Professor, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas
Dates: 7/8/07-7/31/07
Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia
Title: Explaining Serb Atrocities of the 1990s
Abstract: This project explores when and why Serbia did and did not support the perpetration of atrocities during three successive Balkan wars of the 1990s - in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo - each of which exhibited different patterns of such violence. It tests five competing hypotheses: pure rationality; norm-constrained rationality; habit; vengeance; and anarchy. It will utilize interviews in Serbia and Bosnia to supplement the secondary literature and the evidence currently being collected by the InternationalCriminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague. The objective is to determine whether and how international efforts (diplomatic and military) can deter or prevent such atrocities.

L

Name: Light, Matthew
Title and Affiliation: Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Massachusetts
Dates: 12/20/07-1/26/08
Countries: Ukraine
Title: The Regulation of Muslim Religious Communities by Ukrainian Governments: Tolerance, Repression, or Control?
Abstract: The research will be conducted in Kharkov, Ukraine’s second-largest city. The goal is to understand how regional governments in Ukraine respond to migration flows, both officially (through legislation and policy statements) and unofficially (through informal practices); and to understand how immigrant communities are being integrated into regional politics. Special attention will be paid to integration of the Muslim community. Sources of data will include official documents, the local press, key informant interviews, and participant observation. The research complements the author’s earlier field work in Russian regions (2005-06), undertaken with an IARO from IREX.

M

Name: Misco, Thomas
Title and Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Education, Miami University
Dates: 5/7/07-5/23/07
Countries: Romania
Title: Exploring Holocaust Education in Romania after Decades of Historical Silence: Promises and Challenges for Democratic Citizenship
Abstract: This research study seeks to understand the current state of Holocaust education in Romanian classrooms and how sociocultural and political forces influence its treatment. Holocaust education is a relatively new phenomenon in Romania, where it constitutes a controversial issue and closed area. Addressing controversial issues in classrooms leads to pluralistic, tolerant, and open-minded societies and a number of critical skills for the development of democratic citizens. Given the benefits of addressing controversy, this ethnographic study of educators, students, and community members seeks to examine the curricular and educational promises and challenges of opening Holocaust education to informed and rational investigation in public schools. Because of Romania’s accession to the European Union in 2007, this study also examines Romania’s efforts to develop democratic skills and dispositions, which includes, but is not limited to, the Holocaust as it occurred in Romania.

N

Name: Nettelfield, Lara
Title and Affiliation: Adjunct Associate Professor, Harriman Institute, Columbia University
Dates: 5/15/07-7/15/07
Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina
Title: Srebrenica’s Legacy: Survivors Turned Activists (Collaborative grant with Sarah Wagner)
Abstract: In this research project, we examine how survivors of the Srebrenica genocide, the majority of whom are widows, have become such significant political actors in post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina. Drawing from extensive research conducted among these populations, we argue that the success of these women’s activism derives from their ability to appropriate discourses of international law in their pursuit of “truth and justice,” and to negotiate their image and message through international and local media. This research grant will enable us to conduct primary research in Bosnia-Herzegovina with international officials and Srebrenica survivors and to compile archival material for a larger project that will result in a co-authored manuscript.

Name: Neu, Joyce
Title and Affiliation: Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow 2006-2007, U.S. Institute of Peace
Dates: 1/1/08-2/1/08
Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo
Title: Pursuing Justice During Armed Conflict: Facilitating or Obstructing Peace?
Abstract:With the new International Criminal Court pursuing justice before wars are over, it is critical that we gain a better understanding of how peace processes are facilitated or impeded by the simultaneous search for justice. Does the search for justice remove negotiators’ tools (offers of amnesty, exile, etc.), do indictments prevent key actors from coming to the negotiating table, does the search for justice make peace more palatable? This project rests on the presupposition that justice is the sine qua non of durable peace and examines whether the timing of investigations and indictments during peace processes can facilitate rather than obstruct peace.

Name: Nguyen, France
Title and Affiliation: Associate at Social, Health, Assessment, Research and Education (SHARE) Institute
Dates: 9/30/07-11/21/07
Countries: Moldova, Russia
Title: Lessons Learned for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control: Comparative Assessment from its Evolution in Russia to the Emerging Threat in Moldova
Abstract: An examination will be conducted of the evolution of HIV/AIDS in Russia, a country with an established epidemic and highest incident rate in Eastern Europe, compared to Moldova, a newly independent nation experiencing the early stages of the disease with low prevalence. Eastern Europe is a region with one of the fastest growing rates of HIV/AIDS in the world, and injecting drug use is the main mode of HIV transmission, particularly in both Russia and Moldova. The project has three main goals: to understand how the epidemic has been transfomed and the current status of HIV/AIDS in both countries, to assess lessons learned that can be applied to combating the disease and supporting HIV prevention efforts, and to develop a short report with recommendations based on the study’s findings. Data sources will include interviews with leaders of NGOs, as well as experts in organizations focused on HIV/AIDS and injecting drug use to obtain professional perspectives. In addition, focus groups with HIV-positive and HIV-negative injecting drug users will provide points of views of people most affected by the disease.

O

Name: Oluic, Steven
Title and Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Geography & Environmental Engineering, US Military Academy
Dates: 7/7/07-7/29/07
Countries: Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Title: Serbia’s Sandzak – A New Region of Balkan Instability?
Abstract: The Sandzak region of Serbia, nestled between Bosnia, Kosovo, and Montenegro, is populated by a Muslim majority. Recent reporting and the activities of Islamists in neighboring Bosnia and Kosovo, indicates that radical Islam may be making inroads into this region and transforming a traditionally moderate Muslim community into one of a more radical and militant nature. The development of the Sandzak into a region conducive to the presence of radical and militant Islam causes alarm in security and defense establishments in Europe. The goal of this research is to investigate and provide insights on the reality of these concerns by interviewing regional officials, local clerics and scholars, and by exploring the landscapes of the Sandzak and recording the presence and interpreting the meaning of new Islamic symbols and mosques.

P

Name: Paxson, Margaret
Title and Affiliation: Senior Associate, Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Dates: 10/2/07-12/1/07
Countries: Russia
Title: The Story of Memory in a Kabardian Village: Preparatory Field Research
Abstract: Ms. Paxson will conduct preliminary research for a project on the theme of social memory in the Northern Caucasus. The grant will support field-site exploration (including consultations with local ethnographers, historians, and other social scientists). The broader project—of which this short-term grant proposal is a first step—will include long-term fieldwork in a village in Kabardino-Balkaria. Research on social memory in there will be patterned after my first large ethnographic project, Solovyovo: The Story of Memory in a Russian Village (2005), and will require the investigation of narratives of the past and narratives of belonging, patterns of social organization, ritual, religious practices, commemoration, and important symbolic representations.

S

Name: Simic, Andrei
Title and Affiliation: Professor, Department of Anthropology, Univeristy of Southern California
Dates: 6/1/07-7/17/07
Countries: Serbia
Title: A Longitudinal Study of Refugees in Serbia: Implications for Serbian Domestic and Foreign Relations Policies
Abstract: This longitudinal study is based on interviews with refugees from the recent wars of secession in former Yugoslavia who now reside in Serbia. It explores their attitudes toward the United States and the West, their political and ideological orientation and conceptualization of "democracy and free markets," the strength of their nationalist and/or chauvinist sentiments, attitudes toward other neighboring ethnic groups, and possible repatriation to their native regions.

Name: Smith, Tammy
Title and Affiliation: Research Fellow, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Dates: 1/1/08-1/15/08
Countries: Kosovo
Title: Institution Buliding and Deepening Gender Inequalities in Post-Conflict Kosovo
Abstract: This project examines the impact of post-war recovery efforts by international organizations on gender inequalities in Kosovo. Since 1999, offices such as USAID, UNMIK, UNDP and OSCE have implemented a surfeit of developmental programs designed to bolster women's participation in the political, economic and public spheres. Evidence suggests, however, that gender inequalities are deepening across a range of dimensions, including women's access to employment, property and credit, while human rights challenges - such as the trafficking of women into sexual slavery and increasing rates of domestic violence - have been exacerbated by these broader, systematic challenges. Though the current project examines the international community's performance in Kosovo, it is situated in a much broader project that investigates how gendered policies have been reproduced across mission sites and agencies, despite the reservation of expansive powers by international authorities that could have been deployed to achieve greater gender parity early on in mission areas. As the US continues to engage in post-war recovery in the Balkans and elsewhere, the results of this study will provide crucial analysis for improved programming to achieve greater participation of women in the economic, political and social transitions that support the implementation of fragile peace agreements.

W

Name: Wagner, Sarah
Title and Affiliation: Lecturer and Assistant Wing Tutor, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University
Dates: 6/29/07-7/26/07
Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina
Title: Srebrenica’s Legacy: Survivors Turned Activists (Collaborative grant with Lara Nettelfield)
Abstract: In this research project, we examine how survivors of the Srebrenica genocide, the majority of whom are widows, have become such significant political actors in post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina. Drawing from extensive research conducted among these populations, we argue that the success of these women’s activism derives from their ability to appropriate discourses of international law in their pursuit of “truth and justice,” and to negotiate their image and message through international and local media. This research grant will enable us to conduct primary research in Bosnia-Herzegovina with international officials and Srebrenica survivors and to compile archival material for a larger project that will result in a co-authored manuscript.