Dr. Jennifer Riggan, associate professor of Historical and Political Studies, will continue her research into Eritrean refugees at the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research during the summer of 2019. Dr. Riggan is conducting the research through the Georg Arnhold Program on Education for Sustainable Peace Visiting Professorship.

One of 88 applicants for the Visiting Professorship 2018/19 program, Dr. Riggan was selected based on her research into how Eritrean refugees are hosted and provided for in Ethiopia. As part of the program, Dr. Riggan will develop the theme for the annual Arnhold Symposium, which she hopes to focus on how countries host refugees. She plans to invite scholars from various African nations to speak about how refugees are provided for, even when political relations are strained.

“It’s a great opportunity to not only have my writing supported, but to meet scholars and provide a comparative dimension to my research,” said Dr. Riggan. “I think my research and that of my colleagues in Ethiopia is fairly cutting edge, so it will be nice to have the recognition of a national institute.”

Dr. Riggan was the 2016 recipient of a Teaching/Research J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship award. Her book, “The Struggling State: Nationalism, Mass Militarization, and the Education of Eritrea,” was recently named an honorable mention recognition from the Comparative and International Education Society’s Jackie Kirk Outstanding Book Award Committee.

The Georg Arnhold Program has three components: the Georg Arnhold Visiting Research Professorship, the annual Arnhold Symposium, and the Georg Arnhold International Summer School on Education for Sustainable Peace. In the summer program, which will focus on education in emergencies, Dr. Riggan will speak about educational opportunities provided to Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia.

The Georg Arnhold Program aims to promote research into education for sustainable peace. It is awarded annually to distinguished scholars from the humanities, political and social sciences, education sciences or law to conduct research projects or complete work on major publications on new concepts of maintaining and stabilizing peace within society.