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Students on the Market

stacy.a.clifford@vanderbilt.edu
Curriculum Vitae
Major Field of Study: Feminist Theory, Liberal Political Thought, Contemporary Democratic Theory, Disability Studies, Feminist Research Methods, and Qualitative Research Methods
Dissertation Title: "Indispensable Idiocy: Cognitive Disability and the Social Contract"
Dissertation Defended: May 3, 2011
Dissertation Abstract: What is the connection between cognitive disability and political theory? Most political theorists have assumed that no longstanding connection exists and presume that disability is a relatively recent topic of theoretical interest. This assumption, however, elides the actual history of cognitive disability within political theory. Beginning with the work of John Locke, my dissertation uncovers how the concepts of cognitive disability and modern citizenship emerged simultaneously, co-constructing the limits of personhood, the scope of justice, and political agency. Guided by feminist theory and methodology, my project utilizes observations of current disabled self-advocates to rethink the meaning and activity of citizenship.
Dissertation Advisor: Brooke Ackerley
Dissertation Work: Working Paper 1

i.kusmierczyk@vanderbilt.edu
Curriculum Vitae
http://ikusmierczyk.wordpress.com/
Major Field of Study: Comparative politics and international relations
Dissertation Title: “Water Over the Bridge: Examining Transnational Municipal Networks of American and Canadian Local Governments in the Context of Canada-U.S. Bilateral Environmental Relations within the Great Lakes Basin”
Dissertation Abstract: Bilateral environmental relations between Canada and the United States have been studied from the perspective of federal, state, and provincial governments including non-state actors. However, the role local governments play in this mesh of cross-border relations remains poorly understood because they have long been considered insignificant actors, unable to break the bounds of their tight constitutional constraints, and thus largely ignored. This dissertation analyzes the increasing policy repertoire of American and Canadian local governments engaged in cross-border environmental policymaking around the Great Lakes basin, focusing in particular on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, which is the only example of a transnational municipal network operating across the border between Canada and the United States.
Dissertation Advisors: Donald Hancock and Marc Hetherington
Dissertation Work: to follow

carrie.russell@vanderbilt.edu
Curriculum Vitae
Major Field of Study: Public law, constitutional law, civil rights and liberties, identity politics, southern politics, race and politics
Dissertation Title: “Reckoning with a Violent and Lawless Past: A Study of Race, Violence and Reconciliation in Tennessee”
Dissertation Abstract: Using theories of racial threat, transformational justice and the principles of equal protection that undergird the Rule of Law in constitutional democracies, this project examines how a legacy of unacknowledged historical injustice influences the legitimacy of democratic institutions. Through systematic analysis of census data, newspaper archives and property records, I offer evidence in support of the proposition that past refusal of local, state and federal institutions to provide due process or the equal protection of law to Black Tennesseans hindered Black economic growth and trust in government amongst all Tennesseans. Further, the legacy of injustice remains a critical obstacle for present day governmental legitimacy within Tennessee. By examining their communal efforts to overcome similar obstacles, I find the best policies reflect the specific needs of the communities where wrong-doing took place. I conclude with public policy proposals that could pragmatically further these efforts in Tennessee.
Dissertation Advisor: Carol Swain
Dissertation Work: Chapter 1