Elise Pizzi, Wednesday, April 4, 2018

“Political Conflicts Among Ethnic Minorities in China”

Watch this program!

​Elise Pizzi is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Iowa. Currently, she is teaching a graduate level course on Chinese Politics and an undergraduate course on Comparative Environmental Policy. Past courses she Elise taught at the University of Iowa concerned political violence and global development. She earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Colorado in 2015.  

​Before attending graduate school, she taught English in Sichuan, China and spent two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Republic of Georgia (2005-2007). Her research primarily focuses on less developed regions and countries, in particular in China.  She studies distributive politics, including government provision of public goods and services, and natural resource management. Her ongoing research focuses on ethnic politics and poverty alleviation in rural China. Elise received a Fulbright grant to study drinking water access in rural China in 2013. She regularly returns to China for ongoing research and to indulge her love of spicy sour soup.

​Who are China’s ethnic minorities? Professor Pizzi will discuss the identity and political status of China’s ethnic minority groups and minority autonomous regions.  She also will present ongoing research related to political action by ethnic minorities in China.