Understanding the Maoist/Leftist Insurgency in India [Research Assistantship]

Department: Political Science
Professor Emmanuel Teitelbaum
Project Description: Professor Emmanuel Teitelbaum (Department of Political Science) is seeking a part-time research assistant (15-20 hours per week) for a project on conflict in India. Since 2004, India has been home to a leftist extremist movement in eastern and southern India, in the form of a Maoist insurgency. The project involves the creation of a dataset of incidents of Maoist violence in India from 2004 to the present. We seek to broaden our understanding of the scale of violent insurgencies and the government’s various responses to them, by identifying all such incidents at the village levels all over India.
Duties: Research assistants will be required to read news reports of Maoist insurgency-related events over the last 10 years from Indian news sources, and code them. The preferred candidate will have some familiarity with South Asia, and preferably a basic understanding of Indian politics and society.
S/he should also have critical thinking and analytical skills necessary to comb through news reports and identify pertinent details. Finally, they should be experienced in spreadsheet applications like Excel.
Time Commitment/Credits: 10 or more hours per week (average); 3 credits
To Apply: Please send your resume and a brief statement regarding your interest and relevant experience to ejt@gwu.edu and piplaniv@gwu.edu. Please indicate in your email how many hours per week you are available to work.