“Writing a senior honors thesis was the most rewarding part of my four years as a PICS student. I’ve spent the past year conducting a comparative, journalistic study of resistance art in Palestine and Kashmir. I was inspired to research this topic after traveling to Palestine in the summer of 2022 to intern in human rights and to study Arabic. During my internship, I met several artists in the city that I was living in and had a whirlwind introduction to the Palestinian art scene. After returning to Ann Arbor, I was able to reflect on this experience, configure my research questions, and embark on the thesis writing process with a cohort of phenomenal PICS seniors. Though all of our theses vary across different disciplines and geographies, we grew together as researchers and as scholars over the course of the past year. Writing an honors thesis was the perfect culmination of my PICS and UofM experience. I look forward to using the skills and lessons that I gleaned from this experience as I pursue my master’s degree in Modern Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oxford in the coming year.”
Name: Elizabeth Tower
Majors/Minors: BA International Studies (Comparative Culture and Identity); minor, Religion ‘23
Hometown: Jenison, MI
Affiliations: The Muslim Coalition, Interfaith Advisory Board, SAFE Umich
Future Plans: “After graduation, I will be attending the University of Oxford for a MSc in Modern Middle Eastern Studies.”
Fondest memory of her experience in PICS: “Writing my senior honors thesis with a great cohort of other PICS seniors!”
