Cresa Pugh

Cresa Pugh is a Doctoral Student in Sociology & Social Policy. Her current research interests include ethnic and religious conflict in Southeast Asia, particularly Myanmar, and the role of collective memory and identity in shaping peacebuilding efforts in post-conflict societies. In her work she employs qualitative research methods—including interviews, participant observation, and focus group discussion—and most recently conducted fieldwork in Rakhine State, Myanmar to study inequality within ethnic and religious minority communities.

Cresa is also interested in the international criminal justice and prison landscape, with a particular focus on how neoliberal policies and globalizing forces have produced a transnational system of mass incarceration. Generally the themes and areas in which her work is situated include: international peace and conflict, political sociology, transnational studies, punishment and justice, migration and development, and global human rights.