Polson Institute for Global Development

News

Matching Research Funding Program
November 10, 2007
The Polson Institute's Matching Research Funding Program (see link below for more details about the program) was formally announced in June 2007 and made one award during its first cycle which ended in October. This Polson Institute initiative provides matching funds to Development Sociology faculty who have obtained grants that already include funding for graduate research assistants or postdoctoral associates.

Cycle two of the Matching Research Funding Program is now open for proposals and inquiries. Cycle 2 awards will be made after July 1st 2008 during the 2008-2009 fiscal year, but you should contact me if you are planning to submit or wish to clarify the best way to frame a proposal. Because the timing of external awards varies and Polson resources are limited, it is important that I am notified about possible applications as early as possible and then kept abreast of the funding situation.

Doug Gurak, Director (dtg2@cornell.edu)
Polson Institute for Global Development

Events

April 1, 2008
KRISTEN MAHER
Professor of Political Science, San Diego State University

"Folk Economics at the Border: Image, Ideology, and Asymmetry"
12-1:30 p.m., ISS Conference room (146 Myron Taylor Hall)

The economies of neighboring cities San Diego and Tijuana are deeply interdependent, and yet many residents on the San Diegan side of the border imagine the relationship as much more asymmetric, even parasitic. Using photographs from the two cities as prompts for conversation in qualitative interviews, this study examines the "folk economics" underlying popular perceptions in San Diego. What ideological commitments or identity projects are at work, and what do they make possible politically?

Kristen Hill Maher's research examines the complex positions international labor migrants occupy in relation to state policies, economic forces, and social attitudes. In particular, she analyzes how the rights and claims to equality that migrants formally hold are hard to claim in practice. This phenomenon is especially true among female migrants working in the service sector, or in jobs that have traditionally been relegated to women.

For more information on the Cornell Migration Issues Group, please click here.