Campus & Community

Committee on African Studies awards 51 summer travel grants

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Through its Africa Initiative, the Harvard Committee on African Studies has awarded 51 grants to Harvard students for travel to sub-Saharan Africa during the summer of 2009. The grants fund internships, language study, senior thesis research, master’s thesis research, and doctoral dissertation research. Twenty-four undergraduates and 27 graduate students were awarded grants, the largest number of grants ever given by the committee. The grants are funded by the Office of the Provost; an endowment established by Jennifer Oppenheimer ’89, J.D. ’93; and a gift from the Flowers family.

The Committee on African Studies has awarded summer research grants since 1984. More information on the grants and recipients for past years is available on the committee’s Web site at www.fas.harvard.edu/~cafrica/grants.html.

African Studies 2009 undergraduate grant recipients

Tobyn Aaron, Quincy House, comparative study of religion, will work with Human Capital Foundation as a teaching fellow to AIDS orphans in Ethiopia.

Tsion Aberra, Mather House, human evolutionary biology, will teach English, math, and science at a K-12 school in Ethiopia.

Hana Ali, Mather House, human evolutionary biology, will work at a human rights nongovernmental organization supporting HIV/AIDS patients in Ethiopia.

Jenne Ayers, Mather House, government, will be a State Department intern at the U.S. Embassy in Kigali, Rwanda.

Allison Brandt, Dunster House, anthropology, will work with Partners In Health/ Abwenzi Pa Za Umoyo, in Neno, Malawi.

Charlotte Chuter, Quincy House, organismic and evolutionary biology, will work for Support for International Change: HIV/AIDS Awareness Campaign, in Northern Tanzania.

Laura Dean, Dunster House, women, gender, and sexuality, will work for Support for International Change: HIV/AIDS Awareness Campaign, in Northern Tanzania.

Sangu Delle, Quincy House, African and African American studies, will research “The Value of Water Supply and Sanitation in Development: An Assessment of Agyementi, Ghana.”

Thomas Graziano, Quincy House, social studies, will research “Memorials, Collective Memory and State Building in Post-Genocide Rwanda.”

Christopher Higgins, Winthrop House, social studies, will work with New Hope Africa Children’s Ministries, a grassroots, nongovernmental organization in Uganda.

Rashmi Jasrajaria, Kirkland House, social studies, will research “Deconstructing Women’s Empowerment as It Relates to HIV Prevention in Northern Tanzania.”

Christopher Johnson-Roberson, Winthrop House, music and history of literature, will undertake intensive Zulu language study at Summer Cooperative African Language Institute.

Kathryn Leist, Adams House, organismic and evolutionary biology, will work with a nongovernmental organization in Tanzania that promotes AIDS awareness in rural villages.

Alina Mogilyanskaya, Quincy House, history and literature, will work with Les Amis, in Senegal.

Naseemah Mohamed, social studies, will work at Standard Limited newspaper in Nairobi, Kenya.

Anjali Motgi, Currier House, social studies, will research “Community-based AIDS Organizations in South Africa.”

Christina Newhouse, Adams House, government, will intern with WorldTeach, teaching children in South Africa.

Ayodeji Brian Ogunnaike, Currier House, African and African American Studies, will research “Islamic Divination: The Interaction Between Traditional Yoruba Divination and Islam in Nigeria.”

Anna Shoemaker, Currier House, social studies, will research “Alcohol and STI (sexually transmitted infection) Transmission in Ghana.”

Mackenzie Sigalos, Dunster House, government, will intern with the Victoria Institute of Science, Technology and Innovation as a technology pilot coordinator.

Marguerite Thorpe, Eliot House, social studies, will intern with Partners In Health in Neno, Malawi.

Aurelia Tichoux, Currier House, social studies, will intern with PRIDE Tanzania, working on microfinance.

Audrey White, Winthrop House, history, will research “An Exploration into the Evolution and Progression of Violence in British West Africa.”

Christina Zhou, Leverett House, economics and psychology, will intern with WorldTeach, teaching children in Namibia.

African Studies 2009 graduate student grant recipients

David Amponsah, a Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) doctoral student in the Study of Religion: “Religious Markings: Colonialism, Missionization, and the Native Burden in Ghana, 1874-1957.”

Tobenna Anekwe, a Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) doctoral student in Population and International Health: “The Effect of Vaccination on Educational Attainment in Rural South Africa.”

Emmanuel Asiedu-Acquah, a GSAS doctoral student in History: “Youth Culture and Popular Politics in Colonial and Postcolonial Ghana.”

Adefolakemi Babatunde, a Harvard Medical School (HMS) student: “Investigation of Program Practice Concerning Use and Distribution of Micronutrients in Multiple HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment Centers in Central Kenya.”

Emmanuel Bagenda, a Harvard Law School (HLS) S.J.D. student: “Revisiting the Formal and Informal Spheres: Lessons from Uganda.”

Venise Battle, a Harvard Divinity School (HDS) master’s of theological studies student: “Mami Wata: Arts, Gender and Devotion in a West African Tradition.”

Jody Benjamin, a GSAS doctoral student in African and African American Studies: Bamana language course in Bamako, Mali.

Stephanie Bosch, a GSAS doctoral student in African and African American Studies: Bamana language course in Johannesburg.

Bolanle Bukoye, an HSPH master’s student in Population and International Health: “Malaria Control Methods Among Pregnant Women and Children in Kwale, Kenya.”

Connie Chung, a Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) doctoral student: “Gender in Place and Relationship: The Relational and Spatial World of Street Girls in Zambia and Tanzania.”

Sarah Eltantawi, a GSAS doctoral student in the Study of Religion: “Stoning Punishment in the Islamic Tradition and Its Application in Modern Nigeria.”

Michael J. Esdaile, a GSAS doctoral student in History and Middle East Studies: “The End of Empire in the Aden Colony: The Role of Indigenous Social and Commercial Networks.”

Claire Grace, a GSAS doctoral student in History of Art and Architecture: “South African Urbanity in Contemporary Art.”

Catharine Hale, a GSAS doctoral student in History of Art and Architecture: “Asante Schools and Cross-Cultural Encounters in Ghana.”

Christine Jeon, an HSPH master’s student in Epidemiology: “Impact of Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics on TB Treatment Delay and Drug-Resistant TB African Miners in South Africa’

Raquel Kennon, a GSAS doctoral student in Literature and Comparative Literature: Yoruba language course in Nigeria.

Sharon Kivenko, a GSAS doctoral student in Anthropology: “Mobile Bodies: On the Transnationalization of Malian Dance and Music.”

Carla Martin, a GSAS doctoral student in African and African American Studies: “Sounding Creole: The Politics of Cape Verdean Language, Music and Diaspora.”

Ian Mills, a Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) master’s student in Public Administration: “Assisting in the Promotion of Democratic Governance in Botswana.”

Rugemeleza Nshala, an HLS doctoral student: “The Extractive Industry in Africa: An Examination of Regulatory and Tax Laws Reforms of the 1990s in Tanzania and Zambia.”

Philip Osafo-Kwaako, an HKS doctoral student in Public Policy: “Health Insurance, Child Health and Educational Outcomes in Western Nigeria.”

Devaka Premawardhana, a GSAS doctoral student in the Study of Religion: “Transnational Pentecostalism: The Discourse of Spiritual Warfare in Brazilian Missions to Mozambique.”

Pamela Scorza, an HSPH doctoral student: “Development of a Psychosocial Intervention for Adolescents in Rwanda.”

Chana Teeger, a GSAS doctoral student in Sociology: “Selling Memory and Making Identity: Apartheid Commemorations in South Africa in a Global Age.”

Loic Watine, an HKS master’s student in Public Administration and International Development: “Randomized Controlled Trial on a Microfinance Program in Rural Togo.

Brian Wood, a GSAS doctoral student in Anthropology: “Poverty Reduction Through Community-based Forest Management in Babati, Tanzania.”

Shannon Wright, an HDS master’s of divinity: “Facilitating Church-based Restitution and Reconciliation in South Africa.”