About me
I am a doctoral candidate in Comparative Politics and International Relations at the University of Chicago, a 2024-2025 Harry F. Guggenheim Emerging Scholar, and a 2023-24 USIP-Minerva Peace and Security Scholar. My research interests include political violence and its legacies, covert action, and human rights, with a particular focus on Latin America and qualitative methods. In my dissertation project, Weaponizing Uncertainty: The Politics of Disappearance in Latin America, I explore the logic behind the use of disappearances as a political violence tactic by both states and nonstate actors, with a particular emphasis on their communicative potential.
In addition to the Harry F. Guggenheim Foundation, the United States Institute of Peace, and the Minerva Research Initiative, my research has been supported by the University of Chicago Center for Latin American Studies, the Pozen Family Center for Human Rights, the Center for International Social Science Research, and the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts.
I have an MA in Political Science (2021) and an MA in the Social Sciences (2017), both from the University of Chicago, and a BA in Communication summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania (2015).
You can find my CV here. Please feel free to email me at mistevens [at] uchicago [dot] edu.
In addition to the Harry F. Guggenheim Foundation, the United States Institute of Peace, and the Minerva Research Initiative, my research has been supported by the University of Chicago Center for Latin American Studies, the Pozen Family Center for Human Rights, the Center for International Social Science Research, and the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts.
I have an MA in Political Science (2021) and an MA in the Social Sciences (2017), both from the University of Chicago, and a BA in Communication summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania (2015).
You can find my CV here. Please feel free to email me at mistevens [at] uchicago [dot] edu.