Discovering the Center for Human Rights, Gender, and Migration
Discovering the Center for Human Rights, Gender and Migration
By: Nydia Monroy
About four years ago, I began my journey as an undergraduate student at WashU. I can remember all of the firsts: Moving in, Bear Beginnings, classes starting, joining clubs and my first course in my major, Latin American Studies. My major provided me with a gateway to Latin America’s past, present, and future as well as knowledge of its cultures, politics and history. I gained a better understanding of the regions current state in a global network, especially at the forefront of policy reform and development- an area that I was personally fascinated by. Reading about the conquest of the Aztec and Inca Empires, the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, analyzing gender roles within Latin American telenovelas- the interdisciplinary format within my major allowed me to study my own history and understand Latin America through various lenses.
I had stumbled upon a field of study I didn’t have the opportunity to dive into earlier in my academic career. I was eager to soak in material, connect with my peers, and learn from my professors.
As a first generation, Latina student I feel that the route I took in my studies wasn’t what I initially expected, but it introduced me to topics I’m profoundly passionate about. My studies emphasized my already inquisitive nature, as I sometimes found myself leaving a classroom with more questions than answers. I sought to understand myself, my roots, Latin American culture, politics, international relationships, history, current state of affairs, and more. Learning about these subject areas has never been limited to the material covered in my courses, but rather intertwined with my everyday life. Being the daughter of two Mexican immigrants has shaped many different aspects of my life, especially in today’s America, and there came a point in my college experience in which I realized my studies and my experiences were connected in many ways. Issues such as unjust immigration policies, the prevalence of machismo culture, and the abuse of human rights taking place at the U.S. Mexican border were occasionally themes a course would touch on, but never the sole focus. Throughout my undergraduate experience, my desire to both spend more time learning about these subjects and make an impact led me to seek experiences and possibilities.
I spent eight weeks abroad in Perú last summer, where I realized that although I had learned a lot in the classroom, experiencing and seeing different parts of Latin America first hand added another layer of understanding. I had the opportunity to take courses on Peruvian culture and traditional forms of medicine, but along the way I also learned from museums, historical tours, and the communities and people I crossed paths with. It was evident to me that there was a beautiful diversity, history, and culture present in Perú that its people celebrated and others should be knowledgeable of, but there were also underlying inequities and unjust similarities the country shared with Latin America as a whole. Eight weeks wasn’t nearly enough time to tackle issues such as food scarcity, lack of medical resources in the country’s rural areas, and deep rooted biases that had led to various human rights abuses over the years, but I left with the desire and urge to want to bring awareness to parts of the world that are too often neglected.
As I prepared for the start of my senior year, I knew I wanted to make the most of my last year at WashU. Shortly after arriving back to Missouri in July, I went to work looking for opportunities to expand my horizons and I found the Center for Human Rights, Gender and Migration. While I am constantly discovering new resources and connections related to WashU, I had never heard anything about such a center or areas of the university that were working in this intersection. The Center in itself is an entirely new entity and as a student that had longed for a bridge between matters and topics that I felt I couldn’t fully tackle without touching on the other, I was ecstatic to find out there would be something at WashU that could ignite that work and conversation.
As a current Administrative Intern for the Center, my work has been nothing short of rewarding, stimulating, and honestly an experience I couldn’t have fully conceptualized the moment I enthusiastically accepted to intern for them. Working under Kim Thuy Seelinger and Julia Uyttewaal as well as alongside my co-intern Matthew Ho has made me critically reflect on the various layers behind the difficult work the center touches on. The Center for Human Rights, Gender and Migration bridges research, policy, and practice to improve evidence-based response to serious human rights abuses, but it also is an exciting example within WasU in its efforts to increase collaboration across schools, students, and disciplines.
My work included researching and compiling information on professors across the university doing important work among the refugee community, local non-profits such as the M.I.C.A Project that serves low-income immigrants, and finding resources for victims of gender violence. While inputting data and various pieces of information could be tedious, I was fully immersed in information and resources I wouldn’t have otherwise heard about, learning about new projects, and overall fascinated by the connections individuals and organizations were making to support marginalized communities.
This was just the beginning, and I was already head over heels envisioning the extent of the impact the Center’s work could have even outside of WashU and St. Louis. I read through documents in Spanish and news platforms regarding the situation of insecurity at Mexico’s southern border to support research efforts, built databases, researched various human rights topics, prepared presentations, met graduate students, and hashed out the workings of social media platforms. Even in smaller, administrative tasks like scanning pages of a book, I was constantly learning. The knowledge gained and skills acquired throughout my time working for the Center complemented and enhanced the education I was obtaining in the classroom.
In the future, I hope to further engage and work in a field that allows me to bring important human rights conversations to the forefront. The Center introduced me to others who shared the sentiment of wanting to invoke change and make an impact in global and local matters regarding human rights. I hope to find and connect with many more people who are similarly driven to carry that mission on by working in the non-profit sector, seeking opportunities that allow me to continue to work in Latin America and research immigration related manners, and ultimately pursue another degree in higher education that allows me to cultivate those experiences into much needed change. I want to continue advocate for my Latinx community and do what I can to foster positive relations between the Latinx community and our own governing and political systems.
Working for the Center has been above and beyond what I could have hoped for and as my last days as an intern approach, I can tell you that the feeling is bittersweet. I’m excited to turn a new page and wrap up my classes but I’m going to miss picking up a cup of coffee before heading to work at the Center’s office and engaging with immigration issues, acknowledging the work of women in the field, and having the opportunity to combine my interests and what I’m learning in my studies to address human rights issues.
I can’t wait to see how the Center continues to bring together faculty, staff, and students across the university and the community it builds in St. Louis and beyond.
