Sander Thoenes Research Award Recipients Announced

Division III students Emily Drummer, Ellyn Gaydos, Rachel Ithen, Martha Pskowski, Maiwenn Raoult, and Roberto Rodriguez are recipients of the 2012 Sander Thoenes Research Awards.

These annual awards honoring the memory of Hampshire graduate Sander Thoenes 87F go to students working in international relations, peace studies, or journalism. Preference is given to projects conforming to the spirit of Thoenes' remarkable, if tragically brief, career as a foreign correspondent.

Thoenes, the Jakarta correspondent for the Financial Times (London), was killed in 1999 by Indonesian militia while in East Timor reporting on its attempts to become independent. His death drew international attention, and then-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan released a statement saying, in part: "It is largely thanks to the courage and determination of men and women like Sander that crimes against humanity are brought to the attention of the world's conscience."

The Thoenes Awards support fieldwork and other research costs involved in completion of the final project required of all students for graduation from Hampshire College.

Recipients' projects:

Emily Drummer 09F—examines the role of female usherettes in "motion picture palaces," and the film industry in 1920s and 30s urban America.

Ellyn Gaydos 09F—focuses on the trucking industry, accompanying truck drivers across the country.

Rachel Ithen 09F—producing a nonfiction film about her grandfather, who was one of 3,000 American volunteers to travel to Spain in the late 1930s and fight against the spread of fascism.

Martha Pskowski 09F—conducting field research in Chiapas, Mexico, on REDD+; interviewing conservation organizations implementing REDD+, and social movements resisting it.

Maiwenn Raoult 09F—plans to photograph young women who attend the CARE Center while discussing their views on and experiences of education. The Care Center is a GED program for teen mothers in Holyoke.

Robrerto Rodriguez 09F—examines writings by three key figures of Peruvian intellectual history, the Marxist Jose Carlos Mariategui and the poets Cesar Vallejo and Jose Maria Arguedas; the title is Uprooting the Lettered City: Written Interventions in the Andes Between 1928-1969.