Middlebury College's annual Senior Honors International Thesis Presentations create a forum for students to showcase their international research to an audience of faculty, staff, and students. Although seniors' work must be on an international topic, the students may be majors in any department or program. The result is a rich array of honors-level international theses. For previous years' presentations and award winners, please consult our Annual Reports. Thesis Awards
2009 Senior Honors International Thesis Presentations
Abigail Blum (political science and African studies) “Overcoming the ‘Hollow Ring’: The Implementation of Socioeconomic Rights Rulings in South Africa”
Jessica Clayton (international studies) “The Development Impact of Remittances in Latin America: A Comparative Analysis of Panel Data and Household Surveys”
Callie Collins (international studies) “Hopeless Heroes, Fractured Evolutions: Finding Albert Camus’s Absurd Man”
Nicole Conti (history of art and architecture) “Illness and Devotion on Hieronymus Bosch’s Triptych of the Temptation of St. Anthony in Lisbon”
Elizabeth Crane (English, and sociology and anthropology) “Intimacy with an Other: Imaginings of 中美跨国婚姻 and White-Chinese Interracial Marriages”
Torrey Crim (international studies) “Negotiating the Boundaries of Spiritual and Ethnic Identity: Alice Lakwena’s Holy Spirit Movement in Historical Perspective”
Julie Ellenberger (international politics and economics) “Balancing Integration and Policy: France, Maghrebi Women, and the Republican Model”
James Fallon (political science) “Political Violence in Post-War Lebanon”
Daniela Fiedler (international politics and economics) “Islamic Finance – Complement or Substitute? – An Empirical Analysis”
Harriet Fox (political science major, studied abroad in Cape Town, South Africa: “Will of the People: NGO Strategy and the Progressive Realization of Human Rights in South Africa.”
Elizabeth Herron-Sweet (international studies) “The Right to Memory and Truth: Evaluating the Consequences of Transitional Justice Policy in Brazil”
Marie Horbar (international studies) “Collected Memory, Collective Memory: Italy’s Present-day Remembrance of its Fascist Past”
Josannah Keller (Chinese, and sociology and anthropology) “Recreating the Exotic: China’s Changing Representation in The New York Times and National Geographic”
Claire Kelly (international studies) “Inspiring Love and Resistance in Occupied France: The Poetry of Louis Aragon and Paul Eluard”
Jessamy Klapper (international studies) “Introduction to a Dinosaur-Poet: Usama Al Dinasoury”
Rachel Korschun (environmental studies) “Square Peg, Round Hole: A Case Study of the NGO-Village Interactions of TFCG and Sagara Village, Tanzania”
Ioana Literat (film and media culture) “Easy Learning: Entertainment-Education as a Tool for Social Change in Developing Countries”
Elisabeth McMorris (international studies) “Cultural Objects in the Age of International Consciousness: The 1954 Hague Convention, the 1970 UNESCO Convention, the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention”
Susanna Merrill (Russian and religion) “Seeing the Possessor/Non-Possessor Conflict through the Visual Theology of the Virgin of the Burning Bush”
Michael Nevadomski (English) “‘Blots on an Admirable Tale, Admirably Told’: Strategies of Textual Manipulation and Untranslation in Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton’s The Arabian Nights”
Caitlin Pentifallo (political science) “Going for the Gold: Explaining Motivations for Olympic Games Bidding”
Emre Şahin (political science) “Romani Political Mobilization in Spain and Turkey: A Comparative Analysis”
Mohammed Shoushi (international studies) “Redirecting Social Change: Intersections of Multiculturalism and Sexual Diversity in Contemporary Japan”
Ria Shroff (Spanish) “Cuerpo femenino, arte y memoria: representaciones y reinterpretaciones artísticas y Literarias de Eva Perón” (Feminine body, art and memory: Eva Perón and her artistic literary representations)
Emily Sage Sipchen (international studies) “On the Edge of Urbanization: Shantytown Residents and the Rise of the Housing Crisis in Chile”
Louise Song (international politics and economics) “The Sinification of Capitalism: Moderating with Foreign Ownership Laws”
Abigail Willman (international politics and economics) “Drivers of Migration and Remittances: A Study of the United States and Latin America”
Sakura Yagi (international studies) “The Doxa of a Hegemonic World Order: The Defining of the Japanese ‘Self’ Vis-à-Vis the Chinese and American ‘Others’”
Chi Zhang (international studies) “To Be or Not To Be—A Writer’s Burden: Suicide and the Modern Experience in Twentieth-century China and Japan”
2008 Senior Honors International Thesis Presentations
Andrew Amstutz (history and Italian) "Transformations in Islamic Ideology: Jamaat-e-Islami in Pakistan and India"
Amy Beck (international studies) "El legado de Tupak Katari" (The Legacy of Tupak Katari)
Sage Bierster (international studies) "Os Meninos da Casa Dom Bosco: Coming of Age in a Shelter"
Alexandra Coleman (international studies) "The Spanish Response to the Madrid Train Bombings of March 2004: Counterterrorism and Immigrant Integration Policy"
Aaron Colodny (political science) "The Strength of Judicial Activism in the European Union"
Shannon Donegan (economics) "Does Food Aid Work? An Evaluation of the Effects of Two Child Health and Nutrition Programs in Rural Haiti"
Rachel Furman (history) "The Influence of the Popular Media on Jewish Refugee Admittance in Britain and Ireland"
Joseph Giacomelli (geography and history) "Fascist Cartogrophy: Mario Morandi's Sintesi Geopolitiche (1939-1942)"
Ryan Gillette (economics and Russian) "The Effect of Bureaucracy on Corruption: Evidence from the Russian Federation"
Amanda Goodwin (political science) "Ethnic Minority Voting Behavior Explained: Resources, Mobilization, and Motivation in Context of the 2005 British Election"
Andrew Goodwin (political science) "The Economic Logic of Political Reform in China"
Jessica Haber (religion) "Visiting the Prophet Samuel Today: Comparing Jewish and Muslim Experiences"
Naomi Harper (English and Spanish) La Gringa Sabe Español: Poems That Speak Across Boundaries"
Morgan Heysse (Japanese) "Death's Panorama: Japanese Families, Physicians, and Patients' Roles in End-of-Life Care and Their Impact on Informed Consent"
Elizabeth Huntley (international studies) "Washing Away the Shame: Tracing the Evolution of Law and Social Discourse of Honor-Based Gender Violence in Syria"
Dana Isaac (sociology and anthropology) "Man is the Remedy of Man. The Disconnect Between the United Nations Development Goals and Sengalese Society"
Olivia Kenna (political science) "The Third Wave of Transitional Justice in Argentina"
Talia Lincoln (sociology and anthropology) "Non-Governmental Organizations in Northern Thailand"
Eric Lonstein (international politics and economics) "The Markets and Media in China: An Event Study"
Theodore May (history) "In Search of an Identity: Shi'a Political Mobilization in Modern Lebanese History"
Douglas McRae (international studies) "José Vasconcelos’s La Raza Cósmica and the Formation of Chicano Transnational Identity"
Sarah Nelson (international studies) "Vers une théologie sous l’arbre: Beyond Authenticity and Africanization in Jean-Marc Élas's Liveration Theology"
Kelsey Nykiel-Bub (Japanese) "Socialization of the Child in the Early Education Systems of Japan and the United States Focusing on the Japanese Concept of Amae"
Christopher Rominger (history) "Al-Nahda in the Middle East: Common Ground in the Struggle for Modernity"
Joel Simpson (international studies) "Toqui Caupolicán: a Historiographical Analysis of the Mapuche Warrior's Life in Pablo Neruda's Canto General"
Bethan Stipe (international studies) "Purpose in Displacement: Sudanese Youth Engaging Christianity in Cairo"
Donald Stuart (psychology and religion) "'I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.' The Prosperity Gospel in the South African Context"
Dylan Wajda-Levie (German) "Representations of German National Identities during the Soccer World Cup in 2006"
Jeffrey Walker (Japanese) "Machida Kou and the Punk Rock Literature of Japan's New Poverty"
Alexandra Widas (international studies) "Energy Resources: Roots of Russian Power"
Jaime Zug (international studies) "Mission Mistake or Future of Faith? Africa in the Anglican Crisis"
2008 Senior Honors Thesis Award in International Politics and Economics
The Senior Honors Thesis Award in International Politics and Economics was established by the Center for International Affairs and is awarded annually for the best senior thesis in international politics and economics.
Eric Lonstein (international politics and economics) "The Markets and Media in China: An Event Study"
2008 International Studies Award
The International Studies Award is presented to the graduating senior who, in the judgement of the International Peak Committee, has written the best senior thesis in the area of international studies, broadly conceived. Eligible students include majors in International Politics and Economics, International Studies, and majors in other disciplines whose theses have an international focus.
Amy Beck (international studies) "El legado de Tupak Katari" (The Legacy of Tupak Katari)
2007 Senior Honors Thesis Award in International Politics and Economics
The Senior Honors Thesis Award in International Politics and Economics was established by the Center for International Affairs and is awarded annually for the best senior thesis in international politics and economics.
David Restrepo (international politics and economics): “W(h)ither Coca? Drug Policies, Insurgencies, and Their Effects on the Andean Drug Trade”
2007 International Studies Award
The International Studies Award is presented to the graduating senior who, in the judgement of the International Peak Committee, has written the best senior thesis in the area of international studies, broadly conceived. Eligible students include majors in International Politics and Economics, International Studies, and majors in other disciplines whose theses have an international focus. Laura Kuhl (sociology and anthropology, and environmental studies): “Losing a Stigmatized Commons: Identity and Community Solidarity for Ecuadorian Concheros”