Throughout U.S. Political Strife, Pupil Research Occasion Politics in Kenya – Susquehanna College

August 15, 2022

By Haley Dittbrenner ’25

With the US mired within the Jan. 6 hearings, Supreme Courtroom rulings and challenges to homosexual marriage, Catherine Chodnicki ’25 turned her consideration to get together politics on the opposite facet of the world — Kenya.

Beneath the mentorship of Kirk Harris, assistant professor of political science and director of the international studies program, Chodnicki examined how political events in Kenya change, merge and diminish within the context of a presidential election. She additionally studied the best way every candidate campaigned. The Kenyan presidential elections started Aug. 9, 2022, which influenced Chodnicki’s choice to tackle the mission.

“I feel the factor I’ve loved essentially the most is the Kenyan politics. It’s a really totally different ambiance than American politics and it was very refreshing to see the world working in another way than we do right here,” Chodnicki, of Bel Air, Maryland, stated. “It will get onerous to see the best way the remainder of the world works if you get caught within the USA bubble, and this mission has jogged my memory that the world could be very totally different from what we expertise right here in America.”

Over the course of the summer time, Chodnicki — a double main in environmental studies and French studies with a minor in Africana studies — labored with database software program, created interactive maps and analyzed the political survey course of. Chodnicki was additionally tasked with gathering analysis for Harris’s tasks.

“The analysis I offered for Dr. Harris’s upcoming tasks could be very particular, and he allowed me to collect info and current it in ways in which I got here up with,” she stated. “He tweaked it right here and there and gave me recommendations on extra environment friendly methods to arrange info. I’m a learner who likes to determine issues out, and I’m blissful he allowed me to take action in a reasonably risk-free atmosphere.”

Chodnicki analyzed presidential candidates by watching their behaviors, which helped her acquire an understanding of the Kenyan political local weather.

“This expertise has allowed my thoughts to develop, and the thoughts is anybody’s biggest superpower,” she added. “That’s one of the best ways this summer time assistantship has helped me put together for postgrad endeavors.”

After she graduates from Susquehanna College, Chodnicki is contemplating journey or attending a world graduate college for a level in environmental conservation and worldwide politics, with hopes of working in rewilding or worldwide environmental coverage.