Personal Introductions

 Hi all,

 My name is Elijah King and I am very happy and honored to be returning to NDNU for this last year. My mom is actually an alumni of NDNU and of the history poli sci department, so as a family we have a deep love for the school and our department. That being said, it makes it that much more sad for me and my family having this last year not on our beautiful  ocean scented campus.

Anyone who's been in class with me the past few years knows I have deep passions for research and academia. I really love diving deep on a subject and trying to understand it from as many perspectives as possible. I learned a lot about the value of perspective in research last year when writing my thesis on Thomas Sankara. Many to most sources on Sankara are either harsh criticisms with little praise, or just the reverse, "blind" glowing adoration. It took a lot of research, writing, erasing,working sources,and reading the bibliography of sources themselves. Overall the lesson of perspective really stuck into me. I hope to use this and all of the lessons I learned during that process to have a great year with professor Andrews and all of you! 

In my “free time” I was a campaign worker and activist locally, until some recent health setbacks have forced me to withdraw from that. Before that, I worked for a local campaign in Santa Clara County, which was the experience of a lifetime and really affirmed my life's goal to work in politics. I also had the life changing experience of being brought into the activist community this summer. While I am the son of two 60’s radicals, and  have grown up going to protests, this summer was undoubtedly a reawakening of my activist sensibilities. That being said if anyone in the class wants to talk about politics, policy, or protests, I am always up for it!!