Monday, February 22, 2021
12 p.m. – 1 p.m.
Email WatsonEvents@brown.edu to register for the seminar.
Yang-Yang Zhou is an assistant professor of political science at the University of British Columbia. She studies national identity, conflict, and development in the context of migration, particularly within the Global South.
A central focus of her research is to bring evidence to questions, and often misperceptions, within scholarly and public debates about the effects of migrants on host communities. How does the presence of forcibly displaced migrants affect local development and public goods provision, conflict, and voting behavior? For minority citizens who share ethnic and cultural ties with migrants, what explains why they are sometimes inclusive and pro-migrant, but other times, they seek to differentiate themselves by excluding or “othering” migrants? And in contexts marked by anti-migrant prejudice and discrimination, can certain types of interventions — like prolonged intergroup contact between locals and migrants — work in reducing tensions? These projects span multiple regions, including East Africa, Central Asia, and South America.