Dr. Girma NegashResearch Interests
My specializations in political science are comparative politics (with African and Latin American area studies), international relations (law), and political theory, in that order. My doctoral dissertation was on the Ethiopian Revolution. Thus my first scholarly area of study and postdoctoral research involved a study of the multidimensional complex of factors regarding decision to migrate against a backdrop of population exodus from Ethiopia and Iran, in the aftermath of their revolutions. The Rockefeller Foundation funded study and publications prescribed changes in immigration and refugee policy and procedures.
Since 1990 my research focus shifted from migration to two research areas: politics and the arts and peace studies. The first turn in research interest came from my commitment to introduce students to a broader understanding of the nature of politics by examining “the political” in artistic expression opened up an avenue for research. I am an active member of the Politics and Arts Group, an international organization committed to the comparative and interdisciplinary study of art as a form of political discourse, as descriptive and interpretative of the political, or the interpretation of art in terms of its political significance.
The second research area representative of my scholarship since the year 2000 is “apology, forgiveness, and reconciliation” – a growing area of scholarship in response to a world in need of conflict resolution, reconciliation, and healing among peoples and nations. This interest originated from my years as a graduate student at the University of Colorado (Boulder) when I was a research assistant at the Conflict and Peace Studies Center assisting prominent scholars in the field, such as Elise Boulding and Francis Beer. That experience coupled with my contributions as teacher and founder of our own Peace Studies course at USC Aiken motivated me to pursue my research in this area.