Competing Visions of National Identity and Bureaucratic Federalism and Political Differentiation

The Shout-It-Out Award (Conference Travel Award)

Blog Post by Nico Napolio CSSH ’17

In early January, I presented two research projects at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association (SPSA) in New Orleans. The first project was a co-authored paper I completed with Professor Amílcar Antonio Barreto which sought to understand how Republican and Democratic presidential candidates articulated lesbian, gay, and bisexual national belonging. The second was derived from my Honors Thesis under the guidance of Professor Michael Tolley which examined the determinants of a bureaucratically promulgated, progressive policy which affirmatively furthered LGBTQ+ rights in employment.

I presented my paper with Professor Barreto at a panel on LGBTQ+ policy and attitudes. Among my co-panelists was Ben Larsen, a Northeastern PhD candidate who presented on county and municipal adoption of anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination ordinances. Our work was received well, with many audience members asking important questions and several approaching us afterwards for copies of our paper and to ask further questions.

I presented my solo paper on a panel on the political determinants of policymaking. The opportunity to present a solo-authored work at a professional political science conference like SPSA was a great opportunity to receive substantive feedback from established political scientists on how to improve my research and make it suitable for publication. I received good questions from my co-panelist, discussant, and audience members, as well as critical feedback that has now facilitated the last stage of research I need to conduct in order to get this paper in shape for formal dissemination.

I returned from the conference with a clear plan to improve my research and turn the original idea I had back in 2015 into a publishable article. Not only did the conference help in this way, but also exposure to other scholarly works has helped me understand the jargon and customs of political science research more fully.