Canadian Consortium on Human Security

The 2007-2008 CCHS Human Security Fellowship competition received a record number of applicants. This year’s search yielded a diverse breadth of applicants from all corners of Canada representing a variety of disciplines and institutions. They emphasize the continually expanding parameters of interdisciplinary approaches to human security.

All applications were reviewed by a national CCHS Executive Council subcommittee. PhD dissertation research awards are valued at up to C$7500.00 each.

This year’s nine award holders are geographically dispersed across the country. Their field work activities will take place in Northern Ireland, Ghana, Nigeria, Southeast Asia, Lebanon, Scandinavia, Rwanda, Spain, Morocco, Israel/Palestine and Canada. CCHS Fellows continue to impress, in their commitment both to the human security agenda and to the advancement of policy relevant research at Canadian institutions.

The 2007-2008 Fellows and their topics are:

Nevin Aiken – Political Science, University of British Columbia

 “Overcoming Intractability: Intergroup Reconciliation and the Politics of Identity in Transitional Justice”

 

Aiken will travel to Northern Ireland to build on dissertation research that he hopes will “establish a framework for the independent relationship between transitional justice and intergroup reconciliation, while also drawing inferences which might be used to inform peacebuilding processes in current and future divided societies.” He will complete his fieldwork later this year in South Africa.

 

Fellow Profile  I Field Note

Edward Akuffo – International Relations, University of Alberta

“Canada's Policy toward the African Union's Peace and Security Architecture and the West Africa Peace and Security Initiative: Towards a Constructivist Analysis and Implications for Policy”

 

In addition to interviews in Ottawa, Akuffo will conduct field work in Accra, Ghana and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This far-reaching field experience will help Akuffo work toward his research goal of “providing a fuller understanding of the role of human security in Canadian foreign policy while mapping future directions of Canadian government policy towards AUPSA and WAPSI.”

 

Fellow Profile  I Field Note

Robert Barrett – Strategic Studies/Conflict Analysis, University of Calgary

 “Strategy and the Forces of Group Violence in Africa: the case of Toto Local Government”

 

In order to gain a better understanding of “the social and psychological forces that lead previously non-violent citizens to join deadly groups,” Barrett will use his Human Security Fellowship to continue conducting field work in Nigeria and to begin key interviews with the Canadian Forces Staff College in Toronto and UN DPKO Best Practices Division in New York.

 

Fellow Profile  I Field Note

Shane Barter – Political Science, University of British Columbia

“Peace by Piece: Village Responses to Intrastate Conflict”

 

“Why do intrastate wars so stubbornly resist resolution?” Driven by this question, Barter will travel to Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand in order to investigate “how traditional village conflict resolution mechanisms adapt to separatist and ethnic violence.”

 

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Elinor Bray-Collins – Political Science, University of Toronto

“Rallying Religion: The Politics of Youth and the Mobilization of Religious Movements”

 

Using Lebanon as a case study, Bray-Collins’s research examines the relationship between youth politics and ethno-religious movements. She will use her Human Security Fellowship to support key dissertation activities, including observing student elections at Lebanon’s major universities where, she contends, “student councils have become a heated site of political contestation between religious parties and one of the key venues for the mobilization and recruitment of youth.”

Fellow Profile  I Field Note

Heather Exner-Pirot – Political Science, University of Calgary

 “Human Security Versus Traditional Security: The Case of the Canadian Arctic”

 

One of the few researchers focusing on Arctic Human Security, Exner-Pirot will use Fellowship funds to travel to Norway and Finland to collect data on circumpolar human security policy. She will also travel to Ottawa to meet with various government and NGO representatives involved in Arctic Canada.

 

Fellow Profile  I Field Note

Erin Jessee – Interdisciplinary Humanities, Concordia University

 “Inscribed Intent: A Cultural History of the Rwandan and Bosnian Genocides”

 

Jessee’s groundbreaking dissertation research examines what she terms “inscribed intent.” Her work presents “a new possibility for demonstrating genocidal intent by investigating the interface between the disciplines of oral history, anthropology, international law, and forensic archaeology.” By bridging these diverse disciplines, Jessee believes that she “could improve the prosecution’s ability to demonstrate genocidal intent” at international tribunals and courts. She will use fellowship funds to continue fieldwork in Rwanda and to plan for her next phase of research in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

 

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Heather Johnson – Political Science, McMaster University

 “Borders, Asylum and Agency: Towards a Theory of Non-Citizenship”

 

Johnson’s research examines “the challenges and changes in the international refugee regime, with an emphasis on global power relations and interconnections.” Johnson’s ambitious dissertation project plan involves conducting research in Tanzania, Spain, Morocco and Australia in order to gain a greater understanding of the intersection of borders, asylum and agency. Her Human Security Fellowship will contribute to the completion of her second phase of research in Spain and Morocco, where she will examine tensions and conflicts at their border. She will also attend the International Association for the Study of Forced Migration’s January conference on the theme of the European/North African border encounter.

 

Fellow profile  I Field Note

Charmaine Stanley – Political Science, University of Toronto

“The Mouse that Roared? ICT, Civil Society and Peacebuilding in Israel/Palestine”

 

Stanley will travel to Israel/Palestine to research her case study on “whether information and communication technology (ICT) empowers civil society and helps them transcend the violence and political sensitivities of conflict zones, or whether the conflict itself shapes ICT in ways that limit civil society, enable greater state control or reinforce inequalities rooted in the conflict.” She contends that her research “sheds light on an as yet poorly understood area of peacebuilding, and provides guidance to policy-makers as the communications revolution sets into motion new dynamics in conflict zones.”

 

Fellow Profile   I Field Note