David L. Boren Awards for International Study

A Boren Fellow from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign conducted research towards her doctoral dissertation on educational policy studies in Kenya. She studied Swahili and educational practices among the Turkana people.

While living in Kenya, the Fellow did research for her dissertation on the Turkana women’s access to formal education in Kenya. She encountered a challenge when she discovered that the Turkana people spoke a different dialect of Swahili from that which she had previously studied, but she was able to learn this dialect quickly by taking classes and conversing with local women at the water pumps.

The Fellow’s interest in Africa began in childhood, when she spent time living in South Africa. Since then, she has maintained a strong interest in the people and culture of that continent, majoring in indigenous peoples studies as an undergraduate. In addition, the Fellow studied and lived in Rwanda, worked and researched in Tanzania, and taught a class on African studies to incarcerated youth in the United States. After her experiences in Africa, the Fellow began her master’s degree in educational policy studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After completing her master’s degree, she was accepted into the Ph.D. program for educational policy studies.

After completing her doctoral degree, the Fellow looks forward to serving in the federal government. She is especially interested in working with the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs or in the Department of Labor’s Directorate of Educational Policy and Development.