Teaching
I offer undergraduate, Masters, and doctoral classes on war and peace, international relations, and African politics. I currently teach mostly at Barnard College, regularly in the School of International and Public Affairs, and occasionally in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, all within Columbia University. I also previously taught at Yale University.
In 2021, I received the Emily Gregory Award (Barnard’s only student-run professorship award) for excellence in teaching.
The page below details my classes and useful resources for students and scholars, not only from Columbia University, but from any university or stage in their career.
For Students
Classes
How can we build peace in the aftermath of extensive violence? How can international actors help in this process? This seminar focuses on international peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding efforts in recent conflicts.
PROGRAM AND INSTITUTION
Graduate seminar, SIPA, Columbia University
RESOURCES
This seminar focuses on recent conflict and post-conflict situations and uses studies of these conflicts as a lens for understanding the distinct dynamics of violence and peace settlements in civil wars.
PROGRAM AND INSTITUTION
Graduate seminar, SIPA, Columbia University.
RESOURCES
This seminar uses the literature on recent peace interventions as a lens for understanding the strengths and weaknesses of constructivist, critical, post-structuralist, and feminist approaches to international relations.
PROGRAM AND INSTITUTION
Graduate seminar, Political Science Department, GSAS, Columbia University.
RESOURCES
This research seminar focuses on recent conflict and post-conflict situations in Africa as a background against which to understand the distinct dynamics of violence and peace settlement in civil wars.
PROGRAM AND INSTITUTION
Graduate Research Seminar, Yale University.
RESOURCES
How can we build peace in the aftermath of extensive violence? Is that even possible? This colloquium focuses on international peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding in recent conflicts.
PROGRAM AND INSTITUTION
Undergraduate Colloquium, Barnard College, Columbia University
RESOURCES
This colloquium focuses on aid in Africa as a background against which to understand the political implications of aid in complex emergency situations.
PROGRAM AND INSTITUTION
Undergraduate Colloquium, Barnard College, Columbia University
RESOURCES
This class focuses on recent conflict and post-conflict situations in Africa and uses studies of these conflicts as a lens for understanding the distinct dynamics of violence, peace, and international interventions in civil wars.
PROGRAM AND INSTITUTION
Undergraduate Lecture Class, Barnard & Columbia Colleges, Columbia University
RESOURCES
This seminar coaches and supports students throughout the design, research, and writing of their senior theses, the capstone of academic work at Barnard.
PROGRAM AND INSTITUTION
Undergraduate Seminar,
Barnard College, Columbia University.
RESOURCES
Resources
Resources to find a job
Academic jobs
See the comprehensive list of resources (compiled by Anna A. Meier) here
… and Chris Blattman’s excellent guidance on negotiating your academic job offer (congrats!)
Jobs and internship opportunities in peacebuilding, development, humanitarian aid, and related fields
- Idealist
- Reliefweb
- Human Rights Job Board
- Peace and Collaborative Development Network (also includes a lot of fellowship opportunities)
- Other useful job boards
Useful advice
- getting a job in international development
- getting a job with an NGO (including with MSF)
- becoming a diplomat
- getting a job at the United Nations (see also here) and navigating the UN recruitment system
- finding a non-profit job abroad
- and why going to law school is not a good idea if you want to work in these fields
Publishing guidance for early-career researchers
Training, mentoring, and publication opportunities:
Videos with a lot of tips and information:
- Emerging African Scholars’ Virtual Workshop
- Panel Getting Published: Advice for the Early-Career Political Scientist
General advice and guidance:
- Unspoken norms and expectations
- AuthorAid
- Facebook page “Writing your journal article in 12 weeks”
- Overview of the scholarly book publishing process
- University of Laval’s guide (in French)
- the International Feminist Journal of Politics
- Book on top journal publications (with an extensive free preview)
Mentoring schemes specifically for African scholars:
Support, networking, and mentoring opportunities specifically for women and non-binary folks:
- Mawazo learning exchange
- Facebook group I should be writing
Applying to Graduate School
- Deciding whether to apply for a Ph.D. program (look at all of the pages linked from this blog post) and whether doing a Ph.D. would be a good use of your time (including if you are an aid worker)
- Choosing your Ph.D. program or your M.A. program
- Preparing your application: look at the advice posted here, here, here, here, and here
Practical tips for research in Congo and other conflict zones
- The Basics
- Ethical dilemma
- Dealing with danger
- Self-Care
- Trauma (here and here)
- Living in Goma
Favourite books
My syllabi are basically compilations—updated every time I teach a class— of my favorite books and articles on a given topic. So here are the lists of my top recommendations on:
- war and peace in general, and in Africa specifically,
- peacebuilding,
- humanitarian aid,
- constructivism and related theoretical approaches to international relations.
Library research guides
Current and former students
Click here if you would like to request a recommendation letter from me.
Click here if you would like to schedule an appointment during my office hours.
Tip: Before scheduling an appointment, please check your Google Calendar settings and confirm that your calendar is set to the following time zone: (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time. If you try to sign up online and the only open time slots you see are in the middle of the night (or at a time during which you know that I don’t hold office hours), it means that your calendar is set to a different time zone and that you should update the settings before scheduling an appointment.
Barnard political science majors
If you ever have any questions about the major:
-
- First, check the department website—if it doesn’t have the information you need, we want to know about it so we can update it! Here are some helpful links: FAQ, Course offering, Colloquium information, Major/minor requirements, External Credit Approvals, and Senior Poster Requirements.
- If you can’t find the information you are looking for on the department website, please email the administrator, Taylor Doran, at [email protected] and/or [email protected]. If she can’t help you, please contact the Associate Chair, Prof. Michael Miller, at [email protected].
- Finally, if you still need assistance, or you need approval from the department chair, email me at [email protected].