I’m excited to share with you some new content from our SIPA Stories website. You’ve already read our Week In The Life series, and now I’m sharing with you excerpts about how our Seeple spend their summers. Every Friday this month you’ll read about the summer days of a different student.
In this first edition, meet Lotta Segerstrom, MIA ’15. Lotta conducted research in Myanmar for the Center on International Conflict Resolution. Below are a couple of photos from her time abroad.
Hometown: Stockholm, Sweden
Before SIPA: Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Goals: Work on sustainable and responsible resource extraction in post-conflict societies.
Summer Experience: ICR Practicum, Center on International Conflict Resolution & Pyidaungsu Institute, Yangdon and Dawei, Myanmar
Click on each image for a larger view.
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- I traveled to Myanmar together with four other graduate student researchers to conduct research for SIPA’s Center for International Conflict Resolution.We worked with a Burmese peace research organization to carry out a study on how investments in natural resources impact conflict. Our case study was the Dawei Special Economic Zone (DSEZ), which is currently being constructed in southern Myanmar. The team spent five weeks in the southernmost region of Tanintharyi, where we undertook extensive field research, including over 70 interviews with farmers in remote villages, government officials, civil society actors, and private sector actors.
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- Without a doubt, the best part of the whole practicum in Myanmar was the opportunity to visit isolated villages and interview farmers about their experiences. Their accounts of what it was like to see foreign investors appear unannounced on their land deeply affected the whole team.
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- Flipflops and umbrellas are essential accessories wherever you go in Myanmar. This girl wanted to join the focus group discussion and had no problem climbing up the ladder.
Read more about Lotta’s summer here.
