I am a Ph.D. candidate in the University of Washington’s Political Science department. My working dissertation title is Halfway Houses between Physical Reality and Imagined Space: Youth and the Generation of Political Consciousness Online.

The central claim that is emerging from my research of several online communities—including two posting boards, World of Warcraft, and MySpace—is that for youth, some locations on the internet serve as discursive communities and sites for cooperative action. By serving in these ways, these communities become a location to generate new normative systems that often run counter to prevailing norms or ways of operating. Though different types of online communities display different types of political behavior, the sum total of this interaction is the formation of political consciousness and identity by a segment of society that will inherit political power. In other words, because internet allows instantaneous communication between large numbers of people across geographical space, these sites aid in the formation of “publics” and in the creation of continuity in political regimes across generations.

My dissertation committee is made up of four wonderful people and I have been lucky enough to have amazing mentors who are not committee members as well. My committee is chaired by Joel S. Migdal from the Jackson School of International Studies and the Political Science department. My committee also includes Michael McCann from Political Science and the Law, Societies & Justice Program; Philip Howard from the Department of Communication; and Gina Neff, also from the Department of Communication. My intellectual imagination has been shaped in ways I cannot quantify from the guidance of faculty such as Ellis Goldberg, Steve Herbert, Christine Ingebritsen, Jim Caporaso, Rachel Cichowski, Beth Kier, Resat Kasaba, and Hala Annabi.

I took my comprehensive exams in the fields of Comparative Politics, Public Law, and International Relations in 2006. I defended my dissertation prospectus (my general exams) in 2007.

My current research interest diverges from my past work. In the past, my research centered on small states and international institutions as well as nationally distinct groups that exist within long established nation-states, particularly the Basques in Spain. My M.A. at the University of Washington was titled Spanish Antiterrorism Policy and the Integration of National Minorities and my M.A. at the University of Bath, U.K., was titled Small State Power and European Integration. I completed coursework at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and the Centro de Lenguas Modernas in Granada, Spain. I received my B.A. from the Jackson School for International Studies at the University of Washington.

I also coedited a book, Small States in International Relations (University of Washington/University of Iceland Press), with Christine Ingebritsen, Iver Neumann, and Sieglinde Gstöhl.

As a graduate student at the UW I have been an instructor for the Jackson School, the Interdisciplinary Writing Program, and the Scandinavian Studies department. I also was the director of the Writing Center for the Political Science, Jackson School, and Law, Societies & Justice departments. And, I've TAed for both the Political Science department and the Jackson School.

After completing my first M.A., I worked in the Office of Undergraduate Education at the University of Washington for the Mary Gates Endowment for Students and the Undergraduate Research Program. While working there I also conducted a study on undergraduate research across the disciplines and assisted with the University of Washington Study of Undergraduate Learning (UW SOUL).

For more information, contact me at jlbeyer@u.washington.edu.