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In her important and ambitious project, Molly Spieczny investigates
the sequence of events that followed the seizure of factories by
Argentinean workers after those workplaces were abandoned by
bankrupt owners during the country’s financial collapse in 2001.
Pointedly, the author asks whether the organization of production
changed under workers’ management and, if so, how and why? To
achieve her objectives, Spieczny completed an extensive and
thoughtful review of several bodies of literature. She then designed
an exemplary research project that included participant observation
and personal interviews with workers, plant owners, public
officials, and intellectuals in Buenos Aires. She was able to enter
and study three factories, and successfully interviewed
personalities like the famous sociologist Torcuato DiTella,
Argentina’s Secretary of Culture. Her Thesis documents a set of
significant changes in factory operation under worker control. Three
findings deserve special attention: the creation of new collective
and democratically administered controls over factory
decision-making, a partial equalization of compensation among
workers, and an elaboration of supportive ties between factories and
their surrounding communities. In the words of her adviser, Viviana
Zelizer, this lucidly written Senior Thesis “shows the mark of an
energetic, inquisitive and creative mind at work.”
Download Spieczny's Paper
Sculpting the Nation: A
Comparative Look at the Impact of Past Legacies on the Emerging
National Identities in Central Asia - by Ana Barfield
Ana Barfield’s Senior Thesis deserves special
recognition for its scholarly quality, ambition, and demonstration
of extensive knowledge on a little known subject. The Thesis offers
deep insight into how new nations in Central Asia are taking shape.
Well written and elegantly organized, it is likely to be regarded as
a major contribution to the literature on national identity.
Download Barfield's
Paper (selected chapters)
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