08.01.09

2009-10 Postdoctoral Fellows: Soumita Basu and Maya Eichler

We are delighted to welcome the two winners of the 2009-10 Hayward R. Alker Post-Doctoral Fellowship competition, Soumita Basu and Maya Eichler. This year's competition sought scholars who are doing innovative research on Gender and Global Issues. Below are their short bios and areas of interest.

SOUMITA BASU
Soumita Basu completed her PhD in International Politics at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (UK) in July 2009. Her thesis explores the passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women and Peace and Security, using an agency-based approach to ‘emancipatory security praxis’. Soumita has worked with Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace (WISCOMP), New Delhi, and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), New York. Her research interests include critical security studies, feminist International relations, Gramscian thought, security praxis and the United Nations.

MAYA EICHLER
Maya Eichler will defend her Ph.D. thesis in Political Science at York
University (Toronto) in August 2009. Her areas of specialization are
International Relations, gender studies, and Russian politics. Her dissertation is entitled "Militarized Masculinity in Post-Soviet Russia: A Gendered Analysis of State and Society in the Context of the Chechen Wars" and examines the relationship between gender and the state’s conscription policy and waging of war. During her postdoctoral fellowship Maya will continue her work on conscription and also embark on a new project that explores the gendered effects of the privatization of military security.

Soumita and Maya, welcome to USC!

Email us at lascis@usc.edu or call (213) 740-0800 to learn more.