Contributors

Alison Mariella Desir is currently pursuing her Masters in International Affairs, with a concentration in conflict and security, at The New School in New York City. As an undergraduate student at Columbia University, Alison majored in History and Latino Studies. She hopes to one day work abroad in Haiti, within the realm of sustainable development. She has traveled widely in recent years, Korea, Guatemala, Greece, Colombia, Haiti, and Ghana, to name a few countries she has visited. When Alison is not traveling, she enjoys singing and writing.

Anthony Lopez is a graduate student at New School University in New York City, where he is currently concentrating in Conflict and Security studies. As a journalism and media graduate of Rutgers University, he has worked in television news as well as sports and entertainment production.

Colin Geraghty, born in Boston (USA), lives in France, and follows international security issues, especially South Asian affairs. Not international enough for you? He holds a Master’s in International Relations from a school in Paris (where he is completing his thesis), dual US-French citizenship, and brings a combination of European and American perspectives to the table.

Corrie Hulse is a graduate student at the University of Washington, where her studies focus on international cooperation, protection of citizens, and humanitarian intervention. She is currently completing her master’s thesis centered on the Responsibility to Protect, particularly focused on questions related to international law, cosmopolitan norms and the ongoing genocide in Darfur.

When not writing about international affairs, Ed Hancox works in nonprofit development. He holds a M.A. degree in International Affairs from The New School where he worked as a research associate on a project examining Russia's transition from Communism. Before earning his Masters, Ed worked as a journalist, a disc jockey and as a technical writer with a multi-national electronics firm. His writings on global affairs can also be found at A World View.

Evan Lewis is currently the Research Associate at WorldPublicOpinion.org, where he participates in the creation and analysis of international polls on issues, such as Human Rights, democracy, Climate Change, international institutions, diplomacy, and terrorism.  At the same time Evan has worked with the Program on International Policy Attitudes, which studies American attitudes on domestic and international issues, such as US involvement in Iraq, Trade, Non-proliferation, America’s role in the world, and Healthcare Policy.

Grace Kim immigrated to South Africa with her family at the age of two, and is currently studying at Universiteit Stellenbosch for her MA in English with a focus on marginalized South African narratives. She loves bubbles, likes strawberries, dislikes cigarette smoke, and hates the feeling of nausea. When she’s not going through existential crises about her writing, her drug of choice is poetry and has had some of her work published by local journals and publications. Writing reviews is a new adventure for her. 

Jonas Claes is program assistant at the U.S. Institute of Peace’s Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention, focusing on conflict prevention, the prevention of mass atrocities, and security issues in Pakistan. Claes joined the Institute in January 2009 as a research assistant for Lawrence Woocher, Program Officer at USIP. He holds an M.A. in Security Studies from Georgetown University, an M.A. in International Relations from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium), and a B.A. in Political Sciences from the Katholieke Universiteit Brussel.

Josh is a graduate of James Madison University where he earned a degree in International Affairs and Middle Eastern Communities. After spending his junior year studying at Ben-Gurion University in Israel, Josh moved to Tel Aviv to serve as a volunteer coordinator for Amnesty International’s Israel Section, working to promote awareness of Israel’s less-talked about humanitarian crisis: the influx of African refugees.

Karl Fotovat studies and teaches philosophy and psychoanalysis in New York. He represses literary aspirations, runs a nonprofit prevarication organization for the wealthy, helps young ladies cross the street, and wavers between sardonicism and misanthropy.

Laura Rodríguez Arias is journalist, focusing on culture, politics and society for numerous online publications. Previously she worked for several print publications in Spain, and brought to fruition a cultural television program. Laura now lives in Uruguay where she is earning her Master’s in Latin American studies.

Lauren Young is currently a research assistant looking at governance and private sector investment in Africa at the Center for Global Development. Lauren joins CGD from Monrovia where she worked for the past year in Liberia facilitating projects related to returnee reintegration as a Grants Manager for the American Refugee Committee. She graduated from Stanford University with a BA in International Relations and honors in International Security Studies.

Lisa Guáqueta studied economics at Universidad Externado de Colombia and holds a master's degree in international affairs from The New School. Her interests include the urban dynamics of Latin America, especially the role of cities and local governments in international issues. She is both fascinated by and fearful of boarded up windows and doors, and, for some strange reason, takes many photos of abandonded industrial structures.

Marianna Gurtovnik's interests lie in foreign policy and international security. She has written on these topics for World Politics Review, Asia Chronicle, Transitions Online, and New Eurasia, among others. Marianna has also written research studies on the strengths and weaknesses of the U.S. Government's response to the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88) and the Suez Canal Crisis (1956) for the Congressionally-funded Project on National Security Reform. She holds a Master's Degree in Public Administration from American University in Washington, DC.

A native of Belgium, Marie Mainil holds a B.A. in International Relations from Drake University and a M.A. in Political Science from the New School for Social Research. While in NYC, she was a Women in International Leadership Fellow at International House and a student fellow at the India China Institute.

Matthew Young is a DJ, artist, and designer. Spinning records since 1993, he is an avid collector of soulful music from around the globe. With DJ sets ranging from house music in Washington, DC to reggae in Shanghai, he is currently active in the nightlife scene in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Matthew is called Chewie by his mates, DJ Chew Rocks by clubgoers, and Madhav by his in-laws.

A born and bred Capetonian, Miné Venter enjoys nothing more than wasting time with her three canine children, Sammy, Lani, and Lilo; spending countless hours in dark and musty second-hand bookshops; and frequenting the many coffee shops in and around Cape Town. She is currently conducting research for her doctoral studies at Stellenbosch University.

Navjot Singh, a British writer and freelance journalist, is the author of: Newcomer's Handbook Country Guide: China: Including Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenzhen (Firstbooks & InkwaterPress, U.S.A., 2008), and also China: The Business Traveller's Handbook (Stacey International, U.K., 2009).

Nicola Macnaughton graduated from Edinburgh University with a degree in Politics in 2006. She is currently volunteering with Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) – an international development organization that works through volunteers to fight poverty in developing countries.

Sandeep Pattnaik works for the National Center for Advocacy Studies (NCAS) in Pune, India, protecting the rights of indigenous people and the environment. Mr. Pattnaik has a long record of working to mobilize vulnerable communities, undertaking direct action, and using progressive legislation to hold the state responsible and accountable to the people.

Sarah Teitt is the Outreach Director at the Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protrect (APR2P), where she is responsible for designing and implementing strategies to foster dialogue among various government and civil society stakeholders in the region, facilitating the building of national R2P programmes, and encouraging the adoption of measures to implement the Responsibility to Protect in the Asia Pacific.

Sehba Sarwar is a multidisciplinary artist whose prose, poetry, video, and performance art tackle race, class and gender issues. Born and raised in a home filled with artists, educators and activists in Karachi, Pakistan, she learned at a young age to speak out against inequity. Over the last decade, Sarwar‘s writings have appeared in anthologies, newspapers, and magazines in India, Pakistan, and the U.S. Her work explores women’s issues at a global level and straddles two continents, moving between South Asia and the United States.

Soniah Kamal was born in Pakistan and raised in England and Saudi Arabia. She graduated from St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland with a degree in philosophy.

Vicente Garcia Groyon was born in 1970 in Quezon City, Philippines. His novel The Sky over Dimas (De La Salle University Press, 2003) received the Grand Prize from the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, the Manila Critics Circle National Book Award, and the Madrigal-Gonzalez First Book Award. He has published a collection of short stories, On Cursed Ground and Other Stories (University of the Philippines, 2004), and edited anthologies of short fiction. He teaches at De La Salle University-Manila.