CURRENT STUDENTS

Rebeca Jasso-Aguilar PhD Candidate, specializes in social movements and economic sociology. She has done research on struggles against privatization in El Salvador and Bolivia. Her doctoral research focuses on current struggles in Mexico and Bolivia and the changing dynamics between social movements and political actors.

Soumia Dhar is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Communication at the University of New Mexico. At UNM Soumia’s area of emphasis is intercultural/international communication. Specifically, she is interested in studying the impact of new media technologies in Muslim societies, and aims to contribute to the academic discourse on Islam, democracy, and civil society.

Stacy Keogh is a Ph.D student in the Department of Sociology specializing in the sociology of religion, particularly as it pertains to political movements both in the U.S. and in Latin America. She is also affiliated with Southwest Institute for Religion and Civil Society at UNM and with the Department of Sociology at the University of Montana.

Cleophas Muneri is interested in the intersection of communication and democracy. His research interests focus on how cultural identities are constituted/reconstituted as different groups especially in postcolonial environments struggle for democracy.  At present, Cleophas is researching on how power relations and the struggle for democracy are being constructed in media and other civil society discourse in Zimbabwe.

Nick Rowell specializes in comparative politics and international relations. His research focuses on interactions between the state and civil society, particularly with respect to social movements and political violence. His dissertation examines the state's role in shaping radically different relationships between the Catholic Church and the human rights movement in six Latin American countries.