Each year ICI provides six New School students with a travel and research grant to study in India or China. Students work in the field and conduct academic research. The 2014 cohort of Student Fellows joined us in a special Chat n’ Chai series focussing on their work. East student discussed their research methodology and presented their findings at the Theresa Lang Community and Student Center in The New School.

Carolina Coviello: Carolina explored the improvement in Chinese labor standards. She also investigated how this process has impacted both the manufacturing market and the relationship between China and the international companies, like Adidas, which have outsourced there.

Joe Wheeler: Joe engaged in discourse with women working toward gender equality externally (via national reform) and internally (via community reform) in India. He explored how the Uniform Civil Code is understood by both sides, the advantages and disadvantages of both solutions to this complex problem, as well as the lived ramifications of discriminatory Personal Law and real world persecution of religious minorities.

Mikaela Kvan: Mikaela looked at China’s labor laws and used China as a baseline to evaluate the growth of Cambodia’s garment industry through the voices of women who work at various levels throughout the garment manufacturing process. The research assessed the physical effects of the growth of this industry on emotional outcomes in identity and personal expression. Her study took place in Shenzhen, China and Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Tomas Uribe: Tomas researched how music is used as a tool for empowering youth and analyzed and evaluated the applicability and relevance of music education in the lives of at-risk youth based on two case studies in Mumbai (Mewsic) and New Delhi (Music Basti).

Marina Kaneti: Marina traveled to Hong Kong, Guandong, and Shanghai to conduct research of archival collections at several locations. This research, part of her broader PhD Dissertation work, examined the links between migration and business at the end of the nineteenth – early twentieth century.

Below are videos of the event including as well as some candid conversations with the students.

Chat n Chai – 2014 Student Fellows:

ICI Conversations – 2014 Student Fellows: