ICST.Fall2012

Profile:
Emma Leonard
Graduate Research
Assistant
Emma Leonard’s fascination
with Africa began as an
undergraduate student at St Andrews University in
Scotland, where a course in African politics inspired
her to pursue opportunities overseas. After completing
a degree in International Relations, Emma traveled
to Uganda to serve as a research and administrative
assistant to the dean of the School of Development
Studies at Mbarara University in southern Uganda.
“I did a little bit of everything at the university,” Emma
recalls, including teaching classes with over 200
students. Although the large class sizes and the fact
that she was several years younger than many of her
students was at first intimidating, it was through this
experience that Emma realized she wanted to pursue a
career in academia.
After returning to the UK, the London native went on to
pursue a master’s degree in African Studies from Oxford
University. Her dissertation focused on the notorious
Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda. With the
insights she had gained on the LRA, Emma returned
to St Andrews University to work at the Centre for the
IN THE LAB
7
Study of Terrorism and Political Violence. It was there
that she met Dr. John Horgan, who introduced her to
Penn State and ICST.
In the fall of 2011, Emma made another transcontinental
move – this time to State College, where she began a
dual masters/PhD program in Political Science and
African Studies while also working as a graduate
research assistant in ICST.
At ICST, Emma plays a critical role on the project
“Pathways, Processes, Roles and Factors for Terrorist
Disengagement, Re-engagement and Recidivism.” Her
primary task is to supervise the army of undergraduate
interns who are reading and systematically coding
terrorist autobiographies. “Reading the autobiographies
has been quite a revelation,” Emma says. “We often
have this ‘Hollywood’ version of what it means to be a
terrorist, but the autobiographies reveal that in reality
there’s a lot of waiting around and down time while
hiding from the police.”
Emma’s own research focuses on terrorism and political
violence in Africa. “Africa is a geographic area that
we tend to associate with civil wars, not necessarily
terrorism,” Emma explains. “But when groups start to
indiscriminately target civilians during a civil war, does
it count as terrorism?” Emma’s dissertation will focus
on the types of violence used by rebel groups during
civil wars, with a focus on when and why these groups
use discriminate and/or indiscriminate violence such as
genocide and rape.
ICST interns reading terrorist autobiographies.