Sheetal Joshi 2/25/26 Sheetal Joshi 2/25/26

Decolonisation In India: Departure From Subjugation Of Western Thought

When I initially came up with the idea of writing this research paper on how decolonisation in India has taken place, what practices it has implemented, and whether the postcolonial identity has affected foreign policy decisions, I hypothesized that decolonisation practices had slowed or stopped after the initial wave of independence had swept away. This hypothesis stemmed from my personal perspective on my country, which seemed deeply engrossed in Western thoughts and ideas. The former-colonial caste, legal and political systems, its language, clothing style, social activities, popularised sports, and western medicine are truisms of the skin India still has to shed.

Israa Hatem Aljaish 2/18/26 Israa Hatem Aljaish 2/18/26

Education under Siege: Resilience, Agency, and the Refusal of Normalization

This paper examines how higher education in Gaza operates as an anthropological site of resistance rather than mere adaptation. Drawing on Ahmed Kamal Junina’s study, Displaced but not Replaced (2025) and broader crisis-education studies, it argues that the persistence of learning under siege is not simply resilience in the psychological sense, but a collective moral stance that reclaims intellectual life amid systematic destruction. Education becomes an act of Sumud, steadfastness, as students and teachers assert existence through knowledge and community.

Nur Aksamija 2/11/26 Nur Aksamija 2/11/26

The Power of Youth Movements Past and Present: Investigation in a Serbian Context

The 2024 Novi Sad mobilization in demand of justice for 15 civilians who tragically lost their lives to a collapse in infrastructure evolved into a globally-recognized movement against corruption, authoritarian populism, and media control in Serbia. By contextualizing this movement with the Serbian student protests of the early 1990s, the power of youth as collective agents for positive change and societal progress is emphasized and understood; unfortunately, the limitations faced by student movements, both historically and today, are revealed as well. By revisiting the successes and pushbacks to movements of the past, student activists globally, and those simply striving for a better world, can find themselves with newfound motivation, strategy, and, most importantly, hope.

Cynthia Brain LLM 2/4/26 Cynthia Brain LLM 2/4/26

The UN Youth Peace & Security Agenda & Youth in 2026: Domestic Accountability and U.S. Non-Profits

The United Nations Youth, Peace & Security Agenda was adopted in response to growing recognition that young people are disproportionately affected by conflict while systematically excluded from decisions that shape war, peace, and security. United Nations Security Council Resolution 2250 explicitly affirms youth as “important and positive agents of change” in conflict prevention and peacebuilding. However, current patterns of unilateral military intervention—especially by powerful states acting outside the UN Charter framework—undermine the very legal and political conditions necessary for meaningful youth participation.

The January 2026 U.S. military intervention in Venezuela highlights this contradiction. Although it was presented domestically as a security and law-enforcement operation, the action sparked widespread concern among UN member states and independent UN experts about violations of sovereignty, non-intervention, and the prohibition against the use of force. These concerns are not isolated reactions but reflect a broader legality crisis that directly involves the UN YPS Agenda. Specifically, how youth are recognized as active stakeholders in prevention and active participation in decision-making mechanisms, from local to global processes. As we discuss the current systemic gaps in international mechanisms, we must not forget the determined youth already holding local peace and decision-making positions across the United States and the globe through non-profit spaces. Thus, understanding the consequences of foreign policy through a global-to-local lens ensures that youth are actively recognized as partners in conflict prevention, accountability, and peacebuilding.

YTN Group 1/28/26 YTN Group 1/28/26

Decolonising Data Collection in Humanitarian Work

Decolonising monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) is increasingly recognised as essential to producing evidence that genuinely reflects local realities. In practice, however, many MEL processes continue to rely on standard tools, externally set indicators, and donor-driven timelines that leave little room for communities to shape what is measured or why. These routines can unintentionally marginalise local knowledge, narrow the types of insights that are captured, and reinforce unequal power dynamics between international actors and the people affected by their programmes.

Meaningful change does not require overhauling entire systems. It can begin with small, deliberate shifts: involving communities from the earliest stages, recognising local knowledge as expertise rather than an add-on, and enabling young people to contribute beyond data collection roles. These everyday choices make space for more honest conversations, richer insights, and findings that resonate with the contexts they come from. Bringing reflexivity, humility, and a critical awareness of power into MEL practice opens the door to evaluations that are not only methodologically strong but also more just, responsive, and grounded in lived experience.