My name is Kareem Faraj. I am a U3 student pursuing an Honours Major in Political Science and a Minor in History, and am the recipient of an Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award (ARIA). In the summer of 2022, I had the opportunity to intern with Professor Jennifer Welsh, providing research assistance for “Localization in World Politics” project. This interdisciplinary research project seeks to study localization across the areas of forced migration, protection of civilians, humanitarianism, and transitional justice.
More specifically, I reviewed and summarized literature on norm contestation and on the history of localization for the project’s Special Issue. Towards the end of my internship, I also began producing the Localization in World Politics Podcast, particularly the episode on the history of localization. I was interested in an ARIA project because I wished to acquire hands-on research experience working with a distinguished professor. The topic of the research project was also deeply interesting to me: As a Political Science Major with a focus on international relations, I have always been fascinated by how local actors interact with international norms and dynamics.
When doing this type of research, it is easy to fall into a routine of sitting indoors at your desk for long periods of time. After a couple weeks of work, I realized that I needed to get out a bit into the sunshine and fresh air. Luckily, I have a back porch, and this became my alternate workstation. I tried to work outside every day, even under an umbrella on the rainy days!
I also found that reviewing mountains of literature can feel overwhelming, particularly when working independently and remotely. A tool that I used to stay on track was the Pomodoro Technique. This time management system helps you to break your work into twenty-five-minute chunks (called pomodoros) with five minute breaks in-between.
A major highlight of my ARIA research was recording the first podcast episode with Dr. Andrew Phillips and Dr. Adam Kochanski on the history of localization. While conducting the literature summaries, I had studied much of Dr. Phillips’ work, so it was particularly rewarding to interview him. Because this was the first podcast episode, a lot of work, planning, (and stress) went into organizing the recording session. It was a great feeling to have all the pieces come together.
The recording session was also memorable due to its timing. Because Dr. Phillips was located in Australia (a 14-hour time difference), Dr. Kochanski was located in Europe (a 6-hour time difference), and I was located in Montreal, scheduling a good time for everyone was difficult. In the end I found myself recording the session at 2 am, Montreal time!
My internship was jointly funded by the Arts Internship Office and Professor Welsh. These funds allowed me to focus exclusively on research during the summer rather than split my time (and attention) between a job and academic work. I would particularly like to thank the Max Bell Foundation, whose generosity allowed me to pursue this ARIA research opportunity and to expand my horizons as a scholar.