Nolan and Sherman-Stokes Awarded CFD 2023 Seed Grant

Guatemala National Palace – Guatemala City, Guatemala (Source: diegograndi/Getty Images)

Rachel Nolan, Assistant Professor of International Relations at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, has been awarded one of the BU Center on Forced Displacement (CFD) inaugural seed grants.

The Center supports research and engagement with forced displacement and humanitarian emergencies that is truly interdisciplinary and of the highest scholarly and ethical standards. CFD is interested in new ideas, technologies, scholarship, awareness, and solution identification that will improve the human condition of vulnerable persons who are forced to leave their homes.

When asked to comment on her receipt of the seed grant, Nolan said, “This generous grant will make possible paid research assistance by BU students as well as a research trip to Guatemala in order to write an academic article on the history and present of policing in Guatemala – and why it can be so difficult for certain citizens to make complaints or see crimes against them investigated.”

Over the last ten years, Guatemala has consistently been at or near the top of the list of countries of origin for asylum-seekers in the U.S. Professor Sarah Sherman-Stokes, through her work as Associate Director of the Immigrants’ Rights and Human Trafficking Program at Boston University School of Law, has seen how asylum cases can turn on whether judges understand this lack of access. She is collaborating with Nolan to put together a peer-reviewed study of policing that will also help support expert witness reports for asylum cases. Nolan, like most experts on Central America, is frequently asked by immigration lawyers to provide expert witness reports for such cases.

For a list of all CFD seed grant recipients, visit the CFD website.

Rachel Nolan is a historian of modern Latin America. Her research focuses on political violence, Central American civil wars, childhood and the family, historical memory, and U.S.-Latin American relations. She is currently completing a book manuscript on the history of international adoption from Guatemala. Read more about Professor Nolan on her faculty profile.