Kaden Paulson-Smith

Kaden Paulson-Smith is a third-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science with an African Studies Minor and specializing in comparative politics and political theory. Before coming to UW—Madison, Kaden worked for Teaching, Research, & International Policy and AidData at the College of William & Mary’s Global Research Institute. Kaden graduated from Smith College with a BA in Government and Certificate in African Studies. Kaden’s dissertation project seeks to understand why there is political repression of nonnormative gender and sexuality in post-colonial contexts and how individuals have resisted this institutionalized violence in the case of Tanzania. This summer, Kaden will use their Scott Kloeck-Jenson International Fellowship in the United Kingdom to intern at an international refugee and asylum-seeker organization that provides services for gender and sexual minorities. While in the UK, Kaden will conduct archival research on the development of British colonial institutions that policed gender and sexuality norms in East Africa.

Read Kaden Paulson-Smith’s fellowship report here.