Three sociology doctoral students, Karthik Balaji Ramanujam, Deepika Hooda, and Kevin Nazar, organized Mason's first Global South Graduate Student Conference, held on May 5-6, 2022. These students are active in the Global South Research Hub of the Center for Social Science Research (CSSR), affiliated with Mason's Department of Sociology and Anthropology (SOAN).
This interdisciplinary and international conference included ten panel discussions featuring student presentations drawn from around the globe (North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa, Europe) and from humanities and social sciences disciplines. Mason faculty and students from SOAN, and the Global Affairs and Cultural Studies programs, joined hands as a discussant-pair for each panel.
Professor Anne Garland Mahler from the University of Virginia, who is a scholar on Global South solidarity, served as the keynote speaker. The conference also gave two student awards based on paper submissions, with a committee of four faculty-student pairs deciding on the awards.
This conference showcased the wonderful work the CSSR does in developing professional leadership skills and network connections among graduate students, and was made possible through the CHSS Interdisciplinary Programming Support Fund. "It shows the commitment of our graduate student body and faculty to collaborate in engagements with global questions of inequality and inclusion," said Manjusha Nair, associate sociology professor and director of the Global South Hub.
May 04, 2022
