2026
Lena Habtu
Lena Habtu is a junior from New York City studying Honors Political Sociology with minors in Arabic and Computer Science. Her research interests lie in the role of multiethnicity — specifically linguistic plurality and cultural heterogeneity — in influencing the political structures and climates of African states, applying key focus to the Ethiopian ethnic federalist experiment. Beyond simply assessing the efficacy of different political systems and secessionist movements, she is curious about the process of self-interpellation into ethno-national identity amidst moments of conflict. This past summer, she conducted analytical research of conflict trends in the Red Sea region (the Horn of Africa and Gulf states) for the African Centre of Constructive Resolution of Disputes in Durban, South Africa. Outside of academics, Lena is a math tutor for the Chester Children’s Chorus, the Director of Communications for Aja, a Writing Associate Fellow, the Outreach & Community Liaison for the Swarthmore African Students Association, an Arabic tutor, and enjoys taking walks (and swims!) in Crum Woods. She is also a Lang Opportunity Scholar, Philip Evans Scholar, and Richard Rubin Scholar. She intends to pursue a PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology with a regional specialization on Africa.
Simba Makhsud
Simba Makhsud (they/them) is a junior from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania double-majoring in Sociology/Anthropology and Islamic Studies. Their research addresses Sufi orders in southern Somalia as agential participants in the articulation of specific racial, ethnic, and political identities in the emergence and dissolution of nation, following Somalia’s independence and through the Somali Civil War. This summer, they worked to unravel the ange of material and textual sources that have created specific Sufi phenomena in southern Somalia, while conducting comparative studies of thnogenesis and nation-building in neighboring East African states. Outside of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, they are a Writing Associate Fellow, a lover of bikes and nature, and an intern at Swarthmore’s List Gallery.
- 2026 - New Fellows
Georgeanna Greene
Anthony Rumbos-Perez
Clara Villalba
Kristen Wang
- 2027 - New Fellows
Emily Carreon
Serafia Cecil
Chioma Ibida
Joie Romelus
