IFP Application Deadline: This Sunday 10/13!
International Field Program Application
Application Deadline: Sunday, October 13 at 11:59pm
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Apply to 2020 IFPSite-Specific Info Sessions
Migration Studio: The Balkans
The Balkans IFP examines the dynamic between security and society with particular attention to issues of identity and migration along the Balkan route. It traces the physical, political, legal, social, and economic terrain that structures and defines the interactions between various actors along one of the main historic migration paths. As we shift our gaze from the Turkish Aegean coast, from one island “hot spot” to another, across Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia, we engage with histories of empires and their collapse, ancient and more recent migration flows, and the cultural sediment they have left behind.
Student research agendas, internships, and media projects are arranged along several thematic axes connected to broader topics of security and society; identity relationships, the conversations and the conflicts they spark, and the actors that claim them; migration, refugee issues and policies; EU and regional politics; the built environment, camps, spaces of confinement, and the paths and actors of mobility; as well as the institutional and legal structures and the dominant discourses that frame these topics. You can read more about the Balkans program on the IFP blog.
Cuba
Cuba is witnessing profound change. The economic overhaul begun by Raul Castro in 2010; the end of the charismatic leadership of Fidel (1959-2008) and, later, Raul Castro (2008-2018) that came with the election of Miguel Díaz-Canel to the presidency in 2018; and the troubled diplomatic relationships with the Trump administration counterbalanced by the strengthening of ties with the EU are redefining the meaning of the Cuban Revolution in its 60th anniversary.
This shifting environment positions Cuba as an ideal site to explore issues related to socialism, economic transformations, race relations, gender and sexuality, informal economies, poverty, food security, and urban planning as they unfold.
The objective of the Cuba IFP is to provide you with a unique research-oriented experience in which lectures and interactions with your peers from different countries provide you with a more in-depth understanding of global problems at play in a specific context. Studying the emergence of neoliberal practices in an allegedly market-less economy, of class and race disparity in a purportedly classless and post-racial society, and of gender equality in a highly gendered reality — these are some of the building blocks of a political grammar the Havana IFP will provide you with in order to ideally make you better citizens of your own country. You can read more about the Cuba program on the IFP blog.
Open Society Foundations:
Global Drug Policy Program
Open Society Foundations (OSF) are the world’s largest private funder of independent groups working for justice, democratic governance, and human rights. The Foundations’ Global Drug Policy Program works with policymakers, academics, and grassroots organizations to challenge and question the way the world approaches drugs and drug policy. Organizations supported through grants by the Global Drug Policy Program reinforce the mission statement of the program: to promote drug policies rooted in human rights, sustainable development, social justice, and public health. This summer, the Global Drug Policy Program is piloting the Build-Your-Own IFP, a program that will reflect the academic interests and motivations of students. Graduate students can apply to an internship in Europe with an NGO in London (UK) or a foundation in Warsaw, Poland, or in the Middle East with a treatment center in Beirut, Lebanon. With the help of the faculty adviser and host organization, students will carry out their own independent research project that focuses on the effects drugs have on international and cross-cultural issues such as human rights, gender expression, social justice, governance, public health, and development. Learn more about the global drug policy program.
South Africa
There is much talk about the importance of participatory, bottom-up approaches to urban development, but reading about it is not enough to understand it, support it, critique it, and help make it better. Students in this program have a unique opportunity to join the efforts of the leading global network of urban poor working to improve their own neighborhoods, or an African research hub dedicated to the theoretical and practical re-thinking of urban development paradigms from a Southern perspective.
The South Africa field program, offered by The New School’s Studley Graduate Program in International Affairs, helps master’s, undergraduate, and PhD students reach communities and projects in the townships of Cape Town, South Africa. This program is unlike a traditional internship and it also goes beyond a narrow focus on community service. Instead, it provides students with a critical perspective that is grounded and relevant. The spring coursework prepares you to understand and engage with environmental and social justice battles as well as participatory urban policy narratives.
The summer fieldwork offers you a first-hand perspective of how community-led urban development processes take shape in reality. You can read more about the South Africa program on the IFP blog.
Argentina
The Argentina IFP focuses on social policy, urban poverty, and inequality within the context of Metropolitan Buenos Aires, the third largest metropolitan area in Latin America, which produces 46 percent of Argentina’s GDP. The academic partner and host organization of the IFP is the Centro de Estudios de Ciudad (CEC), a research center focusing on urban issues within the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). In the past, students have researched a variety of topics including the emergence of social movements (e.g. the movement to legalize abortion in 2018), the effects of regional trade policies, and the role of community participation in relocation projects.
One of the placement organizations and projects in 2020 will be Buenos Aires’ housing institute and its citywide slum upgrading initiative. The patterns of social exclusion and inequality are perhaps most visible in Buenos Aires’ informal settlements, where living conditions are dire and poverty is high. Students will conduct fieldwork and interviews with residents in informal settlements affected by the upgrading project and produce a research report on topics related to housing, social inclusion, community participation, and migration. You can read more about the Argentina program on the IFP blog.
United Nations Summer Study (UNSS)
You want to work for social justice at the global level, but most United Nations study programs take you sightseeing. Do you want just a cursory tour, or do you want to immerse yourself in international affairs?
The United Nations Summer Study (UNSS) program, offered by The New School’s Julien J. Studley Graduate Program in International Affairs, puts graduate, undergraduate, and PhD students on the ground in the United Nations and in New York City. Unlike other UN study programs, UNSS takes you beyond a narrow focus on security and diplomacy to investigate development, human rights, humanitarian action, peacekeeping and peace-building, and environmental and reform issues. UNSS coursework prepares you to understand and engage with contemporary issues, policies, and debates in international affairs. UNSS practicums, not found in any other UN summer program, enable you to gain hands-on experience in consultancy work with the UN system.