May 31, 2018
Administered by the Office of the Dean of the College, the Brown University Distinguished Senior Thesis Prize recognizes exemplary senior thesis projects by undergraduates across the University. Oona Cahill, a concentrator in Middle East studies and history, is one of this year’s five recipients. Her thesis ‘The Power to Exclude: Rethinking the Role of the Merchant Class in the Construction of Kuwaiti Nationality,’ is described by the selection committee as an “excellent, ambitious, and well-written study of Kuwaiti national identity and the statelessness of the Bedoon jinsyya” and further “characterized by a well-focused research question, innovative argument, and excellent use of archival evidence.”