DPIR’s Natasja Rupesinghe scoops top BISA prize for best DPhil thesis in International Studies

Congratulations to DPIR DPhil in International Relations student Natasja Rupesinghe, who has been awarded the British International Studies Association’s (BSI) Michael Nicholson Prize - for best PhD thesis in International Studies. 

Natasja won the prize for her thesis ‘Community Responses to Jihadist Mobilisation in Central Mali’. 

The prize committee commented: 

'This is an outstanding thesis. Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork in difficult terrain, Rupesinghe presents a micro-analysis of how local communities engage with insurgents in civil wars, highlighting the importance of local grievances, political economies and the changing dynamics of war. 

‘As well as its rich empirical contribution and methodological rigour, the thesis develops an original framework of how communities respond to violence. It contributes important theoretical advancements to literatures on inter-ethnic and communal violence, community agency in civil wars, and the political economy of conflict. Taken together, this is an exceptionally impressive piece of work.' 

We caught up with Natasja to ask her all about her award-winning thesis and what it meant to win this prize: 

Can you tell us more about your thesis and what it is based on? 

It explores how rural communities coped with a local jihadist rebellion affiliated to the Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin, one of the most influential jihadist rebel groups in the Sahel. Although the civil war in Mali started in the north, from 2015 onwards, central Mali became the epicentre of the war. 

The thesis investigated how rural communities coped with armed violence and asked, what led some communities to collaborate with rebels, while others violently resisted them by launching self-defense brigades or militias? 

The thesis challenges existing explanations which tend to argue that people join jihadist rebels because of religious beliefs, material profit or ethnic grievances. Instead, it argues that micro-grievances from local conflicts and war dynamics shaped community decision-making about whether to join, ally with or violently resist the rebels. 

How was your thesis developed? 

The thesis draws on extensive fieldwork undertaken in Bamako between September 2021 – April 2022. With the support of Malian colleagues, I interviewed 190 people mostly from rural, war-affected districts in central Mali. This allowed me to develop a rich, local account of how civilians responded to jihadist rebels, as well as how their responses shifted over time. 

How do you feel to have won this prize?

I'm truly humbled to receive the Michael Nicholson award from the British International Studies Association, which honours the legacy of Michael Nicholson. This dissertation would not have been possible without the steadfast collaboration and support from my Malian colleagues over the years. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to the countless people who shared their knowledge and experiences of the war with me during what was a particularly difficult time in Mali's history. I hope my work has done justice to their stories. 

What are you currently working on? 

As a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute, based in Florence, I am continuing to investigate the role of civilians in war zones, particularly in the Sahel. I am also currently working on turning my dissertation into a monograph.