Center for Advanced Genocide Research Awards 2014 USC Undergraduate Student Research Fellowship to Christina Schoellkopf

University of Southern California digital journalism and history major Christina Schoellkopf will spend the summer conducting research for her senior thesis in USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive as a 2014 research fellow.

The Student Research Fellowship program provides financial support and staff assistance to USC students of all levels and disciplines who wish to use the Institute’s testimonies in the Visual History Archive in their research. Students spend 60 hours over the summer conducting research in the Institute’s offices. Following the fellowship period students give a staff talk based on their work and findings and submit their final written work for archiving.

Schoellkopf’s research will focus on the Rwandan Tutsi Genocide collection, in order to complement and possibly inform her ongoing research into the genocide of Native Americans in California during the Gold Rush.

“Genocide is clearly the worst side of humanity, but instead of being afraid of it, I want to research it and understand it,” Schoellkopf said. “It’s amazing how many patterns [among different genocides] you see once you understand the themes.”

Schoellkopf began interning at the USC Shoah Foundation this semester with IWitness manager Jenna Leventhal. As the student engagement chair of Annenberg Ambassadors, Schoellkopf also worked with members of the Shoah Foundation Student Organization (SFISA) to host a talk by Yannick Tona, a survivor of the Rwandan Genocide, at USC for this year’s Genocide Awareness Month. She will also travel to Rwanda this summer on the Problems Without Passports course led by USC Shoah Foundation’s Amy Carnes.

Schoellkopf said that while her research focus is still a work in progress, she’s looking forward to exploring the Visual History Archive this summer with no time constraints and the freedom to explore different topics and themes, as well as the opportunity to present her findings to Institute staff.