Professor Claire Decoteau (Department of Sociology) is looking for an undergraduate research assistant to conduct research related to her project that analyzes the ways in which Somali refugee populations make sense of the high rates of autism within their communities. For this project, the student would be analyzing newspaper articles on Somali immigrants in the two cities in which the project is based: Minneapolis, MN and Toronto, ON. Somalis have mostly immigrated to North America from 1991 until the present – the largest group immigrating in 1991 after the collapse of the Barre regime in Somalia. Prof. Decoteau is interested in understanding the various public discourses which emerge in these two cities as Somali immigrants become a significant minority population. The student will download and code newspaper articles analyzing the ways in which Somalis are represented in these two cities. The project should appeal to students interested in racial formations, immigration, the African diaspora, and/or mental illness. It will involve the use of Dedoose coding software, and the student will gain skills in learning how to code and analyze archival data.
10-20 hours per week is preferred. Interested students should send Prof Decoteau (decoteau@uic.edu) a CV/resume, list of experiences in conducting primary research and reasons for interest in this position. Prof. Decoteau would prefer to hear from students prior to the start of the term: January 11th.
