Jennifer Riggan

Dr. Jennifer Riggan is an Associate Professor of International Studies in the Department of Historical and Political Studies at Arcadia University. Her research addresses a variety of issues including nationalism, citizenship, state formation, borders and bordering, militarism, development, humanitarianism and education in Africa. During the 2016-17 academic year, she was a Fulbright Scholar at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia and she is the 2018-19 Georg Arnhold Professor in Education for Sustainable Peace. She is engaged in an ongoing study of the effects of education on political belonging and onward movement among Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia. She was previously a Spencer/ NAEd postdoctoral fellow and has also been a Fulbright student fellow and a Social Science Research Council international dissertation field research fellow. Her book entitled, The Struggling State: Nationalism, Mass Militarization and the Education of Eritrea, is an ethnographic study of the role of Eritrean teachers as state actors under authoritarian, militarized governance. She has published on the changing relationship between citizenship and nationalism, the de-coupling of the nation and state, and the relationship between militarization, education and development.