Overview
Stephanie Wright is a PhD candidate in the Security, Peace, and Conflict subfield of the Political Science Department at Duke University, conducting research on the effects of recognition of subnational groups on state identity and political participation in conflict-affected countries. Prior to joining Duke, she conducted qualitative interviews with Karen Refugees in Mae Rama Luang refugee camp on the border of Thailand and Myanmar to investigate the relationship between land, displacement, identity, and recognition for her undergraduate honors thesis at Washington University in St. Louis, for which she received the Todd Lewis Friedman Memorial Prize for Outstanding Work in International and Comparative Politics. At Duke, she has worked as a research assistant for Duke Political Science faculty on a project investigating the effects of economic interventions, such as employment programs and cash transfers, on peace and stability in conflict-affected countries. She is also a co-investigator on a project with Duke Political Science faculty conducting experimental surveys investigating the effect of social interactions on identity formation, expression, and politicization, with a focus on racial, ethnic, and religious identities in the U.S.