Welcome Back, Second-Year MA Candidates! We are delighted to welcome back our second-year MA candidates as they continue their endeavors and their theses and projects.
Mona Ashour is an activist and member in the United Nations Association (UNA) and UNICEF and her academic and community service efforts are directed towards the prevention of gender violence and Violence against Women (VAW). After finishing an internship as Director of Events with Gainesville UNA, she started a new internship as Director of Advocacy. Ashour begins this academic year as “President of Ambassadors” in Off-Campus Life, a Division of UF Student Life. In October 2023, she was awarded a Certificate of Outstanding Merit by the UF International Center.
Rose Capo is currently working on her master’s project under the supervision of committee chair Dr. Jillian Hernandez that is a documentary film centered on self-identifying queer Floridians and how they use digital media to access a comprehensive sex education. Rose aims to have her documentary accessible for free online and used as a sex education resource.
Ecem Ece is interested in LGBTQ+ activism, queer space and migration, transnational feminism, as well as queer and feminist methodologies. Currently, Ecem is working on their manuscript on the evolving dynamics in families of origin of lesbian, gay, and trans children through their coming out, alongside their mothers’ exploration of ally activism within the queer movement in Turkey.
Ceci Luna is working on their thesis, “Pendejx Pleasure Praxis: -X and -E and Queer Latinx World-Making,” which critically examines the relationship between gender-inclusive suffixes such as -x and -e as a tool for queer Latinx gender and sexual expression and the articulation of queer Latinx imaginaries under the advisement of Dr. Jillian Hernandez. Ceci Luna was awarded a grant from the Charles T. Woods Endowment and a Grinter Fellowship in support of their research.
Angel McGee is a second-year MA student. She is currently writing her MA thesis under the guidance of Dr. Alyssa Zucker. Her research includes Black Joy as a means of resistance to social inequality and racial injustice. Angel conducted the oral history interviews of several Black men living in Western Europe and is using the #blackboyjoy movement as a means of exploring the intersections of race, class, gender and nationality with her co-researchers.
Tegan Smith is currently working on her thesis project under the supervision of Dr. Hina Shaikh. Her project thinks together ecofeminism and counterhumanism as critiques of and alternatives to the Western system of knowledge. Tegan Smith was awarded a a grant from the Charles T. Woods Endowment and a Grinter Fellowship in support of her research