Travel Grant Recipients 2023-24

Zara Albright

The David Scott Palmer Travel Grant has supported the fieldwork for my dissertation, which examines Latin American foreign policies towards the US and China in the 21st century. Specifically, I used the funds to help pay for travel to Santiago, Chile from October-December 2023, where I conducted interviews with current and former government officials, diplomats, private sector business associations, and civil society organizations. Travelling to these countries has significantly improved my dissertation by giving me access to firsthand knowledge of the policymaking process from the individuals who have been involved in key decisions. Interviewing them in person establishes a deeper connection and provides space for my interviewees to share their stories and insights beyond a simple question-and-answer format. Furthermore, the travel has enabled me to take advantage of opportunities to connect with other scholars and policymakers in the field. For example, I was a visiting scholar at the Millennium Nucleus on the Impacts of China in Latin America (ICLAC), a research center that hosted a joint half-day conference with the Chinese Embassy in Chile, where I met the ambassador, along with several Chilean diplomats and officials. I am immensely grateful to the BU Center for Latin American Studies for supporting my research as an emerging scholar in international relations. (Attached photos show me with the ICLAC team, and the gate at the Chinese garden in Santiago.)

Andrea Beltrán-Lizarazo

As part of my doctoral dissertation on the expansion of U.S. extraterritorial penal power, particularly in the context of the war on drugs, I am compiling a database of over 2,000 extradition requests made by the U.S. to the Colombian government. The David Palmer Award has directly contributed to the methodological capabilities of my research by funding a subscription to Chat GPT Plus to support training in data science, a specialized translation software to expedite the translation from Spanish to English, and the purchase of books relevant to my research.

Tijana Cupic

The funds provided by this scholarship were primarily used to cover my plane ticket to Mexico City. I also used part of it to pay for the hotel.

This travel grant allowed me to travel to Mexico City and present at a conference on Mexican literature at UNAM. I presented on women writers in contemporary Mexican literature and how their writing not only denounces gender violence but also challenges the already existing discourse on violence. The recent novels by female Mexican authors act as performative politics that serve as a form of resistance against gender violence.

I also had the opportunity to meet eminent scholars in my field at UNAM and connect with other researchers in Mexican literature.

Kayli Harshbarger

I used the David Scott Palmer Research Grant to travel to McAllen, TX and Brownsville, TX. The funds covered my flights (with United Airlines) and the transcription service (Otter) I used to transcribe formal interviews for my personal review during the writing stage of my thesis.

During my travel period, I shadowed a woman who works full time for a Christian organization on the US-Mexico border. I conducted formal and informal interviews and engaged in participant observation at several different ministry sites. This trip gave me an understanding of the types of humanitarian work that is being done along the border, as well as an opportunity to engage with Christians who are motivated to participate in this work.

Alex King

During winter break, I went on a research trip to Bogotá, Colombia for ten days to conduct interviews with a variety of experts involved in or knowledgeable on Venezuelan migration in Colombia, as well as gather other personal, first-hand insights on the topic. I spoke with a total of seven different actors, including US and former Colombian government officials, lawyers, professors, Colombian and Venezuelan civil society organizations, and representatives from international aid organizations such as USAID and the World Bank. In addition, I had many opportunities to speak informally with locals (not included in the thesis) and understand their perspectives on the issue, as well as observe the plight of Venezuelans living in Colombia’s capital. Overall, the trip was a success, providing me with a wealth of new insight that contributed greatly to the strength of and the analysis presented in my thesis.