Dole Institute Archive announces 2012 research fellow


More Information

LAWRENCE – The Robert J. Dole Institute Archive and Special Collections at the University of Kansas will host its 2012 Research Fellow, Prakash Kumar, from today until Oct. 4. Kumar is researching the science of genetically modified crops, globalization and civil society resistance in India.

"Senator Dole, as the longest-serving Republican leader (1969-1996), was instrumental in the development of agricultural policy, both nationally and internationally. Dr. Kumar's research situates the senator's work and perspective within the broad global context of GM crop development and international social history," said Dole Archive senior archivist Audrey Coleman. "It is an excellent example of just how broad the research scope of the Dole Archive can be."

Kumar, an assistant professor in the Department of History at Colorado State University, is also a Fellow with the "Framing the Global Research and Publication Project" through the Center for the Study of Global Change at Indiana University.

"Given Senator Dole's extensive interest in agriculture, including agricultural biotechnology, and his domineering presence in American politics in the critical era of creation of GM regulation and globalization, I hope to use his papers to augment policy aspects of my book project on the global history of GM crops: 'The Seed: GM Science, Globalization and Social Movements in India' (under contract with Indiana University Press)," Kumar said.

The Research Fellowship is a $2,500 award that supports scholarship using the Dole Archive, specifically substantial contributions to the study of Congress, politics or policy issues.

The Dole Archive is one of the nation's largest collections of papers and artifacts for a nonpresidential politician. It contains the complete records of Dole's political and post-political career — including schedules, legislative research files, correspondence, memos, speeches, press materials, briefing books and other materials — and, as such, documents the development of what have become defining national and international issues of the latter half of the 20th century. The archive also holds a photo collection consisting of 25,000 images, an audio/visual collection, an extensive collection of oral histories as well as a large collection of art, artifacts and textiles.


Fri, 09/28/2012

author

Audrey Coleman

Media Contacts

Audrey Coleman

Dole Institute of Politics

785-864-1405