On Friday, October 17, two ISHR students presented at the 2025 Columbia Undergraduate Research Symposium. Below is an abstract of their projects:
Tooli Shariah GS’26, Human Rights, Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies
Faculty Supervisor: Andrew Nathan
My Best Friend the Goat: Bedouin Bonds with Camels, Goats, and the Art of Survival
Abstract: For Bedouins, survival in the desert has never been a solitary act. It has always been shared—with goats, camels, and other animals that provide food, milk, transport, and even companionship. This project examines the unique human–animal bond within Bedouin communities, demonstrating how goats and camels serve not only as sources of survival but also as friends, teachers, and symbols of resilience. Goats, with their stubborn charm, have sustained families with milk, cheese, and wool while teaching humor and adaptability in the face of scarcity. Camels, often called the “ships of the desert,” are more than transportation—they are companions who endure harsh climates side by side with their human caretakers. Through photographs and personal stories gathered in the Jordanian desert, this research explores how Bedouin families view their animals as integral to the household and even a part of their identity. The project highlights how these bonds reveal an alternative way of thinking about human–animal relationships, not just in terms of utility, but also in terms of friendship and mutual reliance. At its core, this is a story of survival, laughter, and loyalty—because sometimes, in the desert, your best friend really is a goat.
Mara Bulzan GS’26, Human Rights, Political Science
Faculty Supervisor: Cristiana Grigore
Staging the Deportations to Transnistria: Romania’s Violent Performance of the Roma Holocaust
Abstract: Popular portrayals of Roma peoples (derogatorily referred to as “gypsies”) reduce them to free-spirited seductresses, endowed with mystical powers but devoid of ethical principles. These narratives obscure the centuries of enslavement, persecution, and eugenic violence they have endured. This historical erasure is compounded by the recent rise of far-right political discourse in Eastern Europe, where electoral campaigns distort the history of the Roma Holocaust and rehabilitate authoritarian figures. Using performance theory in political violence, this research project examines how Romania’s deportation and extermination of Roma peoples in Transnistria functioned as a self-directed performance of state power. The findings show that Antonescu’s regime pursued an ideologically driven campaign of dispossessive mass killings, operating independently from Nazi directives and rooted in top-down political decisions rather than mass public pressure or “ancient hatreds.” Unlike Nazi models of systematic extermination, Romanian authorities adopted a distinctively chaotic and excessively violent approach. The deportations were not designed for efficient extermination but became a staged display of racialized state violence by removing Roma families from their homes, degrading them in forced labor camps, and using their suffering to assert control and instill fear among both victims and bystanders. Grounded in archival research and oral histories of survivors, and supported by Columbia University’s Roma Peoples Project under Cristiana Grigore, this study underscores the urgency of confronting Romania’s role in the Roma Holocaust. Examining such cases of 12 dispossessive mass killings is essential to resisting historical revisionism and the ongoing weaponization of Roma identities for political purposes today.
