Many transnational campaigns, and particularly the transnational campaign on violence against women, promote international norms that target the behavior of local non-state actors, but these international norms are often at odds with local practices. What happens when the international and local norms collide? When does transnational activism lead individuals and communities to abandon local norms and embrace international ones?

Karisa Cloward received her Ph.D. from Yale University in 2010, and is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science. Her research & teaching interests place her at the intersection of international relations and comparative politics, with particular attention to nongovernmental organizations, international norms & transnational activism, international aid, Sub-Saharan African politics, and gender & politics. Prof. Cloward is currently working on a book project that evaluates the range of ways communities react to international activism by focusing on the harmful traditional practices of female genital mutilation & early marriage among Maasai & Samburu communities in rural Kenya.