Michaela L. Gawrys

With a B.A. in both International Studies and Political Science and an M.A. in Geography, I am continuing my education within the discipline of Political Geography through the PhD program at Kent. Within Political Geography I center on concepts of identification, nationalism, and recognition as they pertain to border theory, conflict, secession, and new state development. Throughout my academic career I have continued to build upon my interests and research in understanding the interaction between identification and nationalism, and political borders. My Master's Thesis focused on the impact that the border of Kosovo had on citizen identification and levels of ethnic discrimination and my proposed Dissertation will expand on my study of Kosovo to better understand citizen interaction with the state development process. As far as regional expertise goes, I have done extensive research on and in the Balkan countries of Former Yugoslavia and have a broad knowledge base regarding other areas of Europe and Asia.