Dorothy is originally from Tempe, Arizona, and graduated from the University of British Columbia with a B.A. in International Relations and History in 2020. Her main research interests are human rights, armed conflict, and migration, with a strong focus on the Asia-Pacific region. Outside of the academic world, she loves Leonard Cohen, solo backpacking trips, and making dim sum.
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The Fairy Creek blockade should bring deep-seated issues of colonialism, the extractive logging industry, and police brutality to the forefront of the Canadian psyche.
Spheres of Influence is partnering with the UBC Middle East Studies Students Association and UBC Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights to host the event Media Representations of Palestine. The event will take place on August 5th, 2021 from 5-6 pm PDT on Zoom. To attend, you must register ahead of
Myanmar’s recent coup was justified by the military’s baseless accusations of voter fraud in the recent November election.
In recent decades, China’s global influence has grown substantially. Part of President Xi Jinping’s foreign policy strategy has been to invest heavily in remote and far-flung regions across the world, assembling a devoted band of small aid-dependent nations. One strategic area that has grasped China’s attention is the South Pacific,
Over the past few months, millions of bored teenagers scrolled through TikTok, the hit short video social media app, to cope with the seemingly endless amount of free time during quarantine. While viral videos of dancing and lip synching appear to be as harmless as it gets, the platform has
Satellite images of townships in Myanmar’s Rakhine State reveal entire Rohingya villages that have been burned to the ground, reduced to smouldering rubble and ash, while nearby ethnic Rakhine Buddhist villages remain intact. In the past few years, Myanmar has engaged in an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya Muslim
On July 8, 2019, a group of 22 predominantly Western countries issued a letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council condemning China for their oppression of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Days later, 37 developing countries, many of which are Muslim-majority, came together and wrote a different letter to the
Paradoxically, the Karen refugee crisis is simultaneously the world’s longest running civil war and one of the world’s most underreported humanitarian crises. Currently, there are roughly 100,000 Karen refugees living in nine refugee camps tucked away in the jungle of the Thai-Myanmar border. Many of these camps have existed for
Introduction In 2013, China announced the inception of the Belt and Road Initiative, its colossal plan to create a massive network of global trade and invest in infrastructure development in dozens of countries across the world. Since its inception, the BRI has caused a worldwide stir. Some countries view it
On August 4, 2020, a fire broke out in Beirut’s main port. Shortly after, around 6:00 pm local time, a colossal explosion shook the city, leveling buildings. After some initial confusion, as the country is no stranger to explosions from air strikes and car bombs, it was determined that the
Yemen has been engulfed in a bloody civil war and a resulting even more calamitous humanitarian crisis for years. In 2015, the Houthi rebel group overthrew the official government, which led to an ongoing war that resulted in the deaths of over 20,000 civilians and displaced over 3.65 million. Additionally,
In a March 31 tweet, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called COVID-19 the “great equalizer,” intending to insinuate that anybody – regardless of age, wealth, or race – could potentially contract the virus. While this is technically true, the reality is that certain demographic groups have been disproportionately hit and
