Past visiting scholars and
postdoctoral fellows
Ifat Maoz, Ph.D. (msifat at mscc.huji.ac.il) a social
psychologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and
Journalism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was in residence at the Asch
Center during the 2002-2003 academic year, and from August 2006 to February
2008. Her work here focused on patterns
of communication and interaction between groups in conflict and the effects of
bias mechanisms on attitudes toward conflict and its resolution. She has also
initiated and remains involved in collaborative research with directors at the
Asch Center. This research includes analysis of public opinion data in
protracted conflicts, uncovering the psychological foundations of political
attitudes towards conflict and towards its resolution.
Alan Keenan, Ph.D. (akeenan23 at earthlink.net) was a
Visiting Scholar at the Solomon Asch Center during the 2005-2006 academic year.
With funding from the United States Institute of Peace he is working on a book
manuscript entitled Between
the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: On the Politics of Human Rights and Civil
Society Building in Sri Lanka. The book will examine the complex
politics of human rights in Sri Lanka, with particular focus on the difficult
relations between the discourses of "human rights" and of
"conflict resolution."
Shane O'Neill, Ph.D., was a
Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Asch Center in
2005. He is a Full Professor of Political Theory at Queen's University in
Belfast, where he is Chair of the 35-member School of Politics and
International Studies. Shane studied at University College Dublin (BA in
History andPolitics, MA in Moral and Political Philosophy) and subsequently for
his doctorate at Glasgow University in Scotland. He was a member of the
Department of Government in Manchester University, England, before moving to
Queen's University in 1994. His research interests can be located at the
interface between Anglo-American normative political theory and continental
philosophy, particularly hermeneutics and German critical theory. In his
published work he has investigated a variety
of critical approaches to social scientific research and has examined a range
of questions concerning the
demands
of justice and democracy under conditions of pluralism. His main project at
present focuses on the normative dimensions of ethnonational conflict.
Adebayo Okunade, Ph.D., is Professor of Political Science at the University
of Ibadan and Director of the University’s Centre For Peace and Conflict
Studies (CEPACS). He was a visiting scholar at the Asch Center during 2005 as
part of a MacArthur Foundation funded collaboration between CEPACS and the Asch
Center. Dr. Okunade’s current research examines terrorism and counter-terrorism
from the perspective of categorical moral imperatives. This study proffers some
categorical political, economic and social imperatives for change and for the
repositioning of Africa beyond merely “oiling” the economy of the North,
thereby reducing its current status as a burden to the international system and
making it a relevant partaker in globalization. Professor Okunade is also
pursuing research related to Blair’s New Labour and the “Northern Ireland
Question;” political conditionality and aid in Africa; and the laws of armed conflict and modern warfare. He has written over 50
articles, chapters, or books bearing on issues of communal conflict.
Rotimi Suberu, Ph.D. is a Professor of Politics at the University of
Ibadan, Nigeria. He was a visiting scholar at the Asch Center during 2005 as
part of a MacArthur Foundation funded collaboration between CEPACS and the Asch
Center. Dr. Suberu is coeditor of Federalism and Political Restructuring in
Nigeria (1998) and author of Ethnic Minority Conflicts and Governance in
Nigeria (1996) and Public Policies and National Unity in Nigeria
(1999), as well as a number of articles on Nigerian politics published in both
Nigerian and international journals. He was a fellow at the United States
Institute of Peace in 1993-1994 and served as a visiting scholar at the
University of Florida (1995), the Woodrow Wilson International Center for
Scholars (1999-2000), and Northwestern University (2002).
Florian Bieber, Ph.D. received his doctorate in Political Science from the
University of Vienna. During the 2004-2005 year, he undertook a research
project on institutional design in multiethnic states of the former Yugoslavia
under the mentorship of Asch Center Director Brendan O’Leary. More information
about Dr. Bieber's current work is available at his website: www.policy.hu/bieber
Amal Jamal, Ph.D., a political scientist and Associate Professor of
Political Science at Tel Aviv University in Israel, spent a year in residence
at the Asch Center (2002-2003) furthering his research and writing related to
political communication; state building and civil society; minority politics
and democratic theory; and Palestinian and Israeli politics.
Malathie Dissanayake, a psychology graduate of the University of Peradeniya in
Sri Lanka spent two years at the Asch Center (2002-2004) as part of a
post-baccaulaureate and graduate student visiting scholar program that brings
talented overseas students to the Asch Center and the University of
Pennsylvania for informal but structured programming in order to help advance
their graduate-level studies.
Sonia Roccas, Ph.D., a social psychologist from the Open University in
Israel, spent a year in residence at the Asch Center (2000-2001) during which
time she pursued her research program examining group identification, the
management of ethnic identities, and the phenomenon of "collective
guilt" (guilt associated with wrongdoing by a group with which the
individual identifies). She also initiated and remains involved in
collaborative research with directors at the Asch Center.
Gameela Samarasinghe, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and senior lecturer in the
Department of Sociology at the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka, was a visiting
scholar at the Asch Center for a short visit (one month) during 2002. During
this time she initiated collaborative pursuits with the Asch Center's Director
of Refugee Initiatives and also furthered her work on psychological distress
and coping behaviors under conditions of protracted conflict.
Andrew Ward, Ph.D., a social psychologist and Associate Professor at
Swarthmore College, spent a year at the Asch Center (2000-2001) furthering his
research and writing on sources of false polarization--that is, the
motivational and cognitive factors that lead partisans to overestimate the
extremity and consistency of each side in a contentious dispute (the result of
such overestimation is likely to be missed opportunities for discovering common
ground between the sides, resulting in inappropriate exacerbation or
maintenance of intergroup conflict).
S. K. Menon (shankar3 at
psych.upenn.edu) has been a research fellow in residence at the Asch Center
since 2001. A native of India, Mr. Menon holds an MA in Economics from Patna
University (India) and studied Development Finance at Birmingham University in
the United Kingdom. He worked for the Indian Administrative Service for 30
years where his duties included work in the Defense Ministry, the Commerce
Ministry, and the Department of Culture. S. K.’s research at the Asch Center
examines crosscultural issues of personal and community forgiveness as it
occurs in India and the United States. Toward this end he is studying
perceptions of intergroup conflict in the United States (between Blacks and
Whites) and in India (between Muslims and Hindus).
Carolyn Ristau (car31 at
columbia.edu) was a 1999 Asch Center Summer Fellow in the first
summer program. She holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of
Pennsylvania. She is presently also affiliated with the Dept. of Psychology at
Barnard College of Columbia University in New York City and works with the NGO
Pro-Natura International-Nigeria (PNI-N). Her background has been as a
cognitive ethologist conducting experimental field studies of animal cognition
and behavior. Presently she focuses on human conflict and risk analysis in
Nigeria’s strife-torn Niger Delta and beyond. She is also involved in
community development efforts through PNI-N’s programs in Nigeria. Her field
work has included sites in mainland USA, Alaska, and Africa.
Catherine Byrne was a postdoctoral fellow in residence at the
Solomon Asch Center. A native South African, Dr. Byrne earned her doctorate
from the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Social Psychology at the University
of Nevada, Reno (2002) and her M.A. in International Peace Studies from the
Joan B. Kroc Institute at the University of Notre Dame (1995). During her year
at the Center, Cath developed a number of articles for publication based on her
doctoral dissertation research. The articles address theoretical and empirical
aspects of social psychological and sociological “accounts theory” as applied
to a human rights context. How real victims respond to perpetrators'
explanations for such severe atrocities is the focus of one of the papers.
Another addresses victims’ evaluations of participating in the South African
Truth and Reconciliation Commission and a third examines the logistical,
emotional, and ethical challenges of conducting a research project with such
traumatized individuals. Cath is currently an Assistant
Professor in the Social Justice Program in the Psychology Department at the
University of California-Santa Cruz.
Britt Cartrite was a postdoctoral fellow in residence at the Solomon Asch
Center. Dr. Cartrite earned his doctorate from the University of Colorado at
Boulder (2003) and a masters from the Graduate School of International Studies
at the University of Denver (2000). During his time at the Asch Center Britt
worked on a number of projects, including extending his dissertation research
on ethnopolitical mobilization in Western Europe to develop a model grounded in
a Complex Adaptive Systems framework. He also collaborated with Professor Ian
Lustick on "Virtualstan," an agent-based model evaluating the impact
of succession crises on three distinct types of authoritarian regimes. Based on
fieldwork in Scotland conducted in May 2004, Britt also explored the impact of
local cultural variation on identity formation and subsequent political
activism. In addition, Britt worked on a project testing hypotheses of voter
behavior in European Parliament elections and taught courses for the Department
of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. Britt is currently an
Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department at Alma College.
Julie Chalfin was a postdoctoral fellow in residence at the Solomon Asch
Center. Dr. Chalfin earned her doctorate from the Ph.D. Program in Social
Psychology at Claremont Graduate University (2003). During her year at the
Center, Julie supported the efforts of the Center's Refugee Initiatives
Program. This included developing, implementing, and evaluating psychosocial
programs that assist refugees living in refugee camps, and collaborating with
local and international organizations that address refugee issues. Julie also
developed articles for publication based on her doctoral dissertation research
which addressed the application of models in social psychology to understand
the international conflict management process. In addition, Julie represented
the Asch Center at the Alliance for International Conflict Prevention and
Resolution meetings and facilitated collaborative relationships with local
organizations in South Africa. She spent a second year as an Asch Center
Postdoctoral Fellow in Washington DC working at Save the Children.
Al-Hassan Conteh was a research fellow in residence at the Asch Center from
2001-2005. A native of Liberia, Dr. Conteh received his Ph.D. in demography and
regional science from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993. His research work
includes crosscutting issues in human security, conflict prevention in Africa,
and education in emergencies. He is currently writing a book on population,
identity, and group dynamics as factors in the Liberian civil war. Al-Hassan is
a past president of the Liberian Studies Association and the current editor of
the Liberian Studies Journal. He was founding chairman of the new
Liberia Institute dedicated to actively involving technocrats in all fields to
work for the attainment of durable peace, democracy, and good governance in
Liberia. Dr. Conteh is now the President of the University of Liberia in
Monrovia.
Darren Schreiber was a postdoctoral fellow in residence at the Asch Center.
Dr. Schreiber received his Ph.D. in Political Science from UCLA in 2003. He
also holds a law degree from the U.C. Davis School of Law and specialized in
civil rights litigation before returning to academia. Darren?s research centers
on emergence and complexity theory in political science. His dissertation
research used functional brain imaging (fMRI) to study the neural substrates of
political cognition and affect. He has shown that ideological sophisticates
differ from political novices in their heightened use of the posterior
cingulate, a brain region associated with automatic emotional evaluations. His
research at the Asch Center involved integrating the neural level findings
about individual political cognition into his model of political party dynamics
with an aim of developing a general theory of the emergence of ideology.