Pardee School Students Awarded CAS Research Internships
Two students at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University – Cristina Morrison (Pardee BA ’22) and Ariana Thorpe (Pardee BA ’22) – were recently awarded 2020-21 Social Science Research Internships in Social Justice and Sustainability from the College of Arts and Sciences.
Morrison and Thorpe will work on the project entitled, “Race and Radioactivity in New Mexico and Namibia,” under the supervision of Jayita Sarkar, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Pardee School. The research project will examine how infrastructures of nuclear technologies have systematically disenfranchised communities of color in New Mexico, where the first atomic weapon was tested in July 1945, and in uranium-rich Namibia, one of the last countries to become decolonized in Africa.
“In studying the Trinity Test Site, I intend to shed light on the injustices endured by Hispanic and Native American communities for generations,” said Morrison of her research. “As a native New Mexican with family history ties to the Manhattan Project, I am eager to better understand the human contexts of the landmark detonation at Trinity, and I look forward to listening and learning from those who have experienced the effects of nuclear radiation most intimately while supporting these communities in their ongoing struggle for justice.”
“While improving my research skills, I look forward to exploring the social aspects of radioactivity,” said Thorpe. “The technical aspects and high politics of radioactivity are often discussed in scholarship, but discussion on the various ways groups that are directly affected is overlooked in favor of policy.”
The project was conceived while Thorpe and Morrison developed case studies as part of the Nuclear Sites Project at the Pardee School’s Global Decolonization Initiative. Thorpe will work on the Rössing mine in Namibia while Morrison on the Trinity test site in New Mexico.