Sixteen student researchers from Northwestern University in Qatar join the Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South (#IAS_NUQ) as part of the second incoming cohort of its flagship Global Undergraduate Fellowship program.
The #IAS_NUQ Global Undergraduate Fellowship is a year-long program designed to support students interested in pursuing research projects focused on the Global South. Selected fellows receive mentorship, participate in training and workshops, and attend #IAS_NUQ events while producing original research on a topic of their choosing in different forms, including research papers, multimodal and multilingual publications, documentary films, and other creative digital forms. The final projects are published by the #IAS_NUQ’s press and presented to the wider Northwestern Qatar community.
Researchers joining this year’s cohort were selected from a competitive pool of applicants. Working with their #IAS_NUQ mentors, they will research cultural, economic, and social issues in Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, as well as other topics in the Global South, including the music industry in Zambia, gender, feminism, and mobility in Pakistan, consumption and identity in Qatar, legacies of countercultures in Nepal, Rwandan youth, freedom of expression in Kazakhstan, and African legacy in Colombia.
Haya Al-Kuwari, a third-year student majoring in communication, is among the student researchers awarded a fellowship this year. As the first Qatari #IAS_NUQ fellow, she will be leading an ethnographic study examining the factors influencing Qatari women’s appetite for luxury spending and how their attitudes toward luxury brands have shaped their preservation of modern Qatari identity.
“This [research topic] came from a conversation I had with my father about how young women in Qatar are buying [designer] abayas at high prices when they can get the exact same design from a tailor for much less,” said Al-Kuwari. “Abayas themselves are a cultural item representing modesty, and with my research on consumer behavior, I’m looking at the cultural aspects of this phenomena and how young Qatari women have come to associate abaya with luxury.”
The #IAS_NUQ Global Undergraduate Fellowship is a year-long program designed to support students interested in pursuing research projects focused on the Global South. Selected fellows receive mentorship, participate in training and workshops, and attend #IAS_NUQ events while producing original research on a topic of their choosing in different forms, including research papers, multimodal and multilingual publications, documentary films, and other creative digital forms. The final projects are published by the #IAS_NUQ’s press and presented to the wider Northwestern Qatar community.
Researchers joining this year’s cohort were selected from a competitive pool of applicants. Working with their #IAS_NUQ mentors, they will research cultural, economic, and social issues in Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, as well as other topics in the Global South, including the music industry in Zambia, gender, feminism, and mobility in Pakistan, consumption and identity in Qatar, legacies of countercultures in Nepal, Rwandan youth, freedom of expression in Kazakhstan, and African legacy in Colombia.
Haya Al-Kuwari, a third-year student majoring in communication, is among the student researchers awarded a fellowship this year. As the first Qatari #IAS_NUQ fellow, she will be leading an ethnographic study examining the factors influencing Qatari women’s appetite for luxury spending and how their attitudes toward luxury brands have shaped their preservation of modern Qatari identity.
“This [research topic] came from a conversation I had with my father about how young women in Qatar are buying [designer] abayas at high prices when they can get the exact same design from a tailor for much less,” said Al-Kuwari. “Abayas themselves are a cultural item representing modesty, and with my research on consumer behavior, I’m looking at the cultural aspects of this phenomena and how young Qatari women have come to associate abaya with luxury.”
2023 #IAS_NUQ Global Undergraduate Fellows and their research topics
Another fellow selected for the program is second-year journalism student Sashreek Garg, who will explore the integration of Tibetan refugees with local communities in India. Through the fellowship, he will produce a documentary examining the lives of Tibetans in exile in the McLeod Ganj suburb of Dharamshala, India, and how they are preserving their cultural heritage through the Norbulingka Institute and other cultural preservation sites.
“The potential impact of my project is significant as it can contribute substantially to the discourse on the preservation of cultural heritage, the experiences of refugees, and the dynamics of cross-cultural interaction,” said Garg. “As an undergraduate student, this opportunity provides me with a feat in my academic journey, and I’m eager to connect with academics researching the Tibetan diaspora and share my findings with the academic community.”
Also among the researchers awarded a fellowship is Perizat Nigymadilova, a second-year communication student from Kazakhstan. An avid visual illustrator, Nigymadilova will produce an animated documentary looking at how freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in Kazakhstan has been undermined after recent anti-corruption protests and the government’s crackdown on protestors and independent media.
In welcoming the new cohort and highlighting the program's impact, Marwan M. Kraidy, dean and CEO of Northwestern Qatar, said: “Our Global Undergraduate Fellowship program is already marking its impact as it enables our students to realize their scholarly potential.” He added: “I am delighted to welcome the new cohort and particularly pleased with the diversity of their research topics and their enthusiasm to explore different research questions in our region while contributing to the production of knowledge from and about their communities.”
The incoming cohort is the second to join the Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South’s flagship Global Undergraduate Fellowship program. #IAS_NUQ recently marked the graduation of the inaugural group, who presented their research projects in a community event celebrating their work.
“The potential impact of my project is significant as it can contribute substantially to the discourse on the preservation of cultural heritage, the experiences of refugees, and the dynamics of cross-cultural interaction,” said Garg. “As an undergraduate student, this opportunity provides me with a feat in my academic journey, and I’m eager to connect with academics researching the Tibetan diaspora and share my findings with the academic community.”
Also among the researchers awarded a fellowship is Perizat Nigymadilova, a second-year communication student from Kazakhstan. An avid visual illustrator, Nigymadilova will produce an animated documentary looking at how freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in Kazakhstan has been undermined after recent anti-corruption protests and the government’s crackdown on protestors and independent media.
In welcoming the new cohort and highlighting the program's impact, Marwan M. Kraidy, dean and CEO of Northwestern Qatar, said: “Our Global Undergraduate Fellowship program is already marking its impact as it enables our students to realize their scholarly potential.” He added: “I am delighted to welcome the new cohort and particularly pleased with the diversity of their research topics and their enthusiasm to explore different research questions in our region while contributing to the production of knowledge from and about their communities.”
The incoming cohort is the second to join the Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South’s flagship Global Undergraduate Fellowship program. #IAS_NUQ recently marked the graduation of the inaugural group, who presented their research projects in a community event celebrating their work.
2023 #IAS_NUQ Global Undergraduate Fellows and their research topics:
- Arham Khalid, Institutional Hijab Ban in India: Uniformity or Islamophobia?
- Christopher Fwalanga, Facebook, Success, and the Contemporary Music industry in Zambia
- Dushime Uwonkunda Sylvie, Ururimi Rwacu Rukaduhuza (Kinyarwanda as a Site to Imagine, Create, and Commune)
- Fariha Ahmed, Warriors on Scooters: Women’s Mobility and Independence in Pakistan
- Fatima Rizwan, Aurat ki Kahani: Feminism Redefined through Three Generations of Pakistani Women
- Haleema A. Khan, Floods in Pakistan and their Gendered Impact on Women from the Handicraft Industry
- Haya Al Kuwari, Money Talks: Consumption, Identity, and Visibility in the State of Qatar
- In’utu Imbuwa, Clothing, Music, and Social Media as Vehicles for Political Messages in Zambia
- Mishaal Hasan Shirazi, Social Media, Activism, and Changing Discourses of Domestic Violence Reporting in Pakistan
- Neige Tresor Ikuzo, Voices of the Post-Genocide Generation: A Guide to Understanding Rwandan History
- Perizat Nigymadilova, Freedom of Expression and Peaceful Assembly in Kazakhstan
- Rediet Adugna Lemma, Economic Violence Against Women in a Patriarchal Society: the Case of Ethiopia
- Sashreek Garg, Little Lhasa: A Site of Cultural Preservation by Tibetans in Exile
- Sebastián Mármol Gaviria, African Legacy in Colombia: The Untold Story of Being Palenquero in Colombia
- Sonia Uwase, Faith as a Source of Agency: Muslim Women as Rescuers in the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi
- Sudesh Baniya, After the Hippies Were Gone: Remnants of Countercultural Interactions in Nepal
