CFD Team Spotlight: Cat Abou-Khalil, Graduate Fellow
The Newsletter Team sat down for an interview with one of our graduate fellows, Catherine Abou-Khalil, for an interview about her work, passions, hobbies, and special CFD projects. The transcript of our interview is below.
CFD Team: Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m born and raised in Massachusetts! I will talk about this in further detail later on, but my mother immigrated from Lebanon to Massacuttes in the 90s and we have stayed here ever since. While I am a Political Science PhD candidate, I simultaneously got a graduate certificate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGS). In my research I enjoy bringing in strategies learned in WGS. My research lies within the intersections of international relations and comparative politics. Broadly I study forced migration and human rights, specifically people’s experiences in conflict and forced migration through an intersectional lens of race and gender. I believe identity impacts a lot of people’s experiences, especially through difficult situations.
CFD Team: What is your role within the Center?
I’m a Sawyer Seminar Graduate Fellow here at the center. Part of my role includes helping organize and plan the seminars. I’m currently working on the February seminar titled “Gender, Race, and Intersectionality in the Global Regime,” which I’m very excited about! Another main part of my role is doing research! Right now that mainly consists of finishing my prospectus which is on understanding the prioritization of access to resources, representation, and inclusion of refugees in discussion of these policy decisions primarily at the international level: the United Nations.
CFD Team: Tell us about some of your passions and hobbies outside of academia. What makes you you?
I find myself hobby-hopping often, I can’t really stick to one thing. I guess I’m still learning what makes me, well, me. I enjoy random hobbies like yoga, cross-stitching/embroidery, reading, and caring for my plants! I would say, though, that the most important thing to me is the community I have around me and the people in my life. I always make time for my loved ones like my family, partner, and friends. Time with them is so precious to me. Some of the things I enjoy doing with them are shopping, going to concerts, and even staying in to do fun activities like paint nights, watching movies, or cooking!
CFD Team: What drew you to this position?
I was longing for a community that understood how important it is to study migration and look at it from different interdisciplinary perspectives. The work done here at the center is so important, it highlights the various, often overlooked, aspects of a migrant’s life such as healthcare and education access, in addition to their journey to and across borders.
CFD Team: Why is this a field that has brought you to dedicate your career path to it?
The reason why I am so passionate about what I do is so deeply personal. My family has experienced displacement during the Lebanese Civil War and we still deal with the pain of that to this day. My mother got married and moved to the United States without her family in the 90s after the war and it’s been difficult dealing with our family being separated in different parts of the world. But since this opened doors of opportunities for me, I have decided to use it as a way to connect with others who have similar experiences and uplift their voices. In undergrad, I worked as a coordinator for an after-school homework help program working with refugees from Myanmar. I connected with the students and learning more from them and about their experiences further opened my eyes to how big of an issue it is that our voices and struggles are often unheard and led me down this path of research and work.
CFD Team: Can you tell us something you’re proud of?
Something that I’m proud of is being a first-generation college student and making it this far into my education. I am the first in my immediate and extended family to go to a Ph.D. program and it has been a very challenging road, especially navigating these systems. But here I am!