Courtney Wai’s research grant almost fell apart last summer when the entire town she was supposed to work in shut down due to protests. With her goal of studying child labor in Potosà circling the drain, Courtney quickly rallied her friends for new accommodations – and found a senior thesis topic in the making.
A culmination of her education at Scripps, Human Rights or the Right to Humanitarian Intervention? The Politics of Aid and the Cochabamba Water Wars draws on Courtney’s experiences in both Bolivia and the Scripps College classroom. It was, after all, the encouragement of Professor Marina Pérez de Mendiola and the works of Karl Marx that brought her to South America in the first place.
“I studied abroad in Argentina and pulled critical analysis skills from race/ethnic studies classes,” Courtney says. “I examined concepts from a history class on the U.S./Mexico border and textual examples from Core I; even one Classics course I took helped me write my section on the philosophical origins of human rights.
“My trip to Bolivia definitely enriched the writing and understanding of my topics.”
Courtney plans to further her humanitarian interests with a job through Teach for America. She’ll work with underserved children in a border town in Texas, something that will put her critical thinking skills and knowledge of Spanish to the test.
“I’m honored to be a part of Teach for America,” she says. “They have such an ambitious vision for eliminating education inequality. Plus, the border is so symbolic considering the changing demographics in our nation right now.”
Although she’s looking ahead, Courtney already misses the Scripps environment, where lunches turned served up political discourse as well as food.