The Tessler Fellows Fund will support a graduate student at the University of Michigan in Political Science who is being mentored by faculty in the Center for Political Studies, with a preference for those who study comparative politics and need funding for fieldwork and data collection. Multiple types of data collection are eligible, including dissertation-related fieldwork to gather quantitative or qualitative information. This fund provides awards up to $6,000.
Application Process
Information about the competition, award amount, and eligibility, along with links to apply, will be available on this website at the end of the calendar year.
Please email any questions to [email protected].
Award Winners
By Patrick Peralta
Project Description
My project addresses a question of global significance: how do survivors of mass violence cope when institutional remedies fail? This challenge is especially relevant in Southeast Asia, where impunity in the wake of dictatorship and genocide has not been the exception, but the rule. Indeed, key transitional justice mechanisms, such as tribunals and truth commissions, have been piecemeal or absent for decades. Focusing on Cambodia and the Philippines, this project suggests that one particular process, forgiveness, enables and even empowers victim communities to survive cultures of impunity. It uses archival research and semi-structured interviews to explain the fraught condition of coexisting with perpetrators, some of whom, with widespread support, retain political power.
I am ever inspired by my research subjects, who share with me their experiences and views as victims of state violence. Through my fieldwork, I get to witness their strength, resilience, courage, and tenacity in the face of extreme odds. Such communities reveal the best of humanity, and their stories must continue to shape the public sphere.
By Hanna Lee
Project Description
Thinking that authoritarian legacy can be one powerful source of many citizens’ support for illiberal elite behavior, my academic pursuit has focused on understanding the influence of authoritarian legacy on the calculus of when and why people abandon democratic values. Specifically, my current research examines, both theoretically and empirically, 1) different channels of authoritarian legacies, and 2) factors explaining heterogeneity in legacy effects.
By Rebecca Wai
Project Description
I am working with a development program funded by the Danish embassy called, “Northern Uganda Resilience Initiative” to evaluate their farmer group program. Most of their evaluation focuses on agricultural productivity, so my dissertation will add value by helping them understand how farmer groups influence peace and cooperation between refugees and hosts too – which is also a goal of NGOs but is usually targeted with separate programs. I hope that with my work, I will help inform the design of NGO farmer group programs and show that these programs can both increase peace and economic productivity.