Phoebe Mesard is a senior concentrating in Social Studies. She is interested in inequality, both local and global, and its implications in public service and social justice. She also studies the postcolonial relationship between France and the Arab world. Outside the classroom, she works with Mission Hill After School Program, Boston’s oldest student-run after school program, and Y2Y, the nation’s first student-run homeless shelter for young adults, as well as various programs run through the Institute of Politics and International Relations Council.

With funding from the Lester Kissel Grant in Practical Ethics, Phoebe has embarked on a senior thesis that investigates the ethics of volunteer tourism, a practice in which outsiders attempt to help a community that is not their own, based on fieldwork in South Africa. Considering the recent boom in volunteer tourist organizations in South Africa, and how this boom is viewed by both volunteer tourists and members of the local community, Phoebe’s project seeks to draw normative conclusions about the permissibility of similar practices in other contexts.

This information is accurate as of the fellowship year indicated for each fellow.