ABOUT US
EMILY RUSSELL, PROJECT CO-FOUNDER
ACADEMIC CREDITS
Emily is a rising peace scholar in Political Science (B.A) and Environmental Studies (B.A) at the University of Michigan. She is a Beinecke Scholar and a recipient of the Davis Projects for Peace scholarship.
Previously, she assisted with research projects regarding the role of non-governmental and development organizations in the international diffusion of environmental policy, as well as the United States’ timeline for signing and ratifying international agreements in key issue areas including human rights, environment, security, and economics. Her independent project titled “A Reputation of Nonratification? Explaining the Delay in the United States’ Ratification of the ICCPR” was published in the Cornell International Affairs Review (2018).
She spent three months living in Iceland working with immigrant populations and serving in the monitoring body tracking adherence to UN Human Rights agreements (the Icelandic Human Rights Centre). Here she conducted independent research on global disarmament. She also spent two months researching security force violence at the Trivedi Centre for Political Data in Delhi, India which will culminate in her senior thesis project. She is a contributor to the project Consequences of Contention, related to this work.
During her time at University, Emily has served as a legal assistant in a criminal law firm and staff writer at a local environmental NGO. She also writes for the Michigan Journal of International Affairs, and recently gave a keynote address on Global Citizenship and Perpetual Peacemaking.
ARTISTIC CREDITS
Emily is an emerging playwright. Her politically-satirical short plays, "Backspace," "Stalling," and "Georgia Washington," have been workshopped and produced at the University. "Fire and Ice” was produced by Blank Space Workshop. She is a member of the national Dramatists’ Guild.
She has also published opinion pieces in The Statement of the Michigan Daily. For more details, see her personal webpage.
Emily co-founded the Playwriting for Peace project with the Davis Projects for Peace grant (2019).
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Emily can be contacted at emilyrus@umich.edu.
MATT HARMON, PROJECT CO-FOUNDER
ACADEMIC CREDITS
Matt will receive his Bachelors of Arts (B.A) degree in International Studies with a concentration in Comparative Cultures and Identity and a minor in Playwriting from the University of Michigan. He is a recipient of the Davis Projects for Peace scholarship.
Matt’s studies focus on the usage of art and protest to enact social change. His research on political participation in mass protest movements culminated in the case study “Party in the Street: Compositional Differences between the Women’s March and Counter-Inaugural Protests” at the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program yearly symposium. Additionally, his studies on rebellions such as the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the rise of teenager culture during the Cold War have increased both his knowledge on and interest in the role art plays in uniting fronts against injustice.
Matt has worked widely on different continents. In Warsaw, Poland, Matt wrote articles and managed social media accounts for Culture.pl, a Polish arts and culture website that promotes the dissemination of Polish artists worldwide. Following, he worked with Ankuri, a women’s rights non-profit in Dehradun, India as an education and media intern. In addition to teaching daily English lessons for high school students, he wrote essays for future promotional material, photographed events, and devised plays on environmental sustainability for elementary student curriculums.
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ARTISTIC CREDITS
While at University, Matt has received national recognition for his artistic work. His one-act play “Exhibits in the Zoo” about life in the Warsaw Ghetto was a Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival National Finalist. He was also invited as a young playwright to the Kennedy Center’s Summer Playwriting Intensive and was afforded the opportunity to revise his work with Blank Space Workshop.
Matt is also Co-President of Empty Mug Records, a student-run record label on campus that helps burgeoning artists tap into the Ann Arbor music community. With Empty Mug, he organizes local concerts, recording sessions, and charity events.
At the Michigan Daily, Matt has been an editor for the News and Statement sections, helping writers develop their unique narrative voices while writing personal essays and investigative news pieces of his own.
Matt co-founded the Playwriting for Peace project with the Davis Projects for Peace grant (2019).
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Matt can be contacted at mcharm@umich.edu.
DAFINA KRASNIQI, PROJECT CO-DIRECTOR
ACADEMIC AND CIVIC SOCIETY CREDITS
Dafina finished two years of studying Physics at the University of Prishtina when she started to be more curious about problems within society in her country, Kosovo. Dafina volunteers with the United Youth Task Force, a UN-started NGO in Kosovo, where she has worked for a year and a half. She has now been accepted to the Sociology department at University of Pristina, where she will pursue her Bachelors of Arts.
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Each year beginning in 2016, she has attended summer school at the “Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo” in Prizren. She also has attended trainings and organized projects with the Kosovar Youth Council (KYC), S’Bunker, and Rea Pristina (European Reconstruction initiative). She has also served as a moderator of public debates in primary schools in Kosovo on the subject “Building a generation of impact through student council.” She recently interned with the NGO Lens, a social empowerment organization for youth.
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ARTISTIC CREDITS
Dafina was selected for “Artpolis,” a feminist school in Zlatinor, Serbia. While there was backlash regarding her attending the program because of the country’s past, she nevertheless attended, because she knows the meaning of peaceful participation and is invested in change.
Dafina co-directs the Playwriting for Peace summer camp in Pristina, Kosovo. She can be contacted at dafinakrasniqi1997@gmail.com.
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ANITA UKA, PROJECT CO-DIRECTOR
ACADEMIC AND CIVIC SOCIETY CREDITS
Anita received the Danish Academic Professional Diploma (AP) in Management and Marketing, now, she’s pursuring her bachelor's degree in International Sales and Marketing at “International Business College of Mitrovica (IBC-M)”.
Along with formal study, she is active in vocational trainings to gain work experience. She enjoys learning about brand management and marketing and she’s engaged with a lot of non-governmental organizations and companies to learn about business in a creative way. She interned at Caritas Kosovo where she was part of developing programs and projects to improve defense of human rights and the quality of life, on initiatives including peace-building, education and care towards people in need and the marginalized. She has also worked formally at IPKO Telecommunications LLC, the company that provides telecommunication services in Kosovo.
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Anita received an award for her journalist work with the television network “KTV” on behalf of her work at a Critical Thinking workshop with Innovation Lab Kosovo. She led workshops with RAD north for business planning, marketing, and sales training. She has also worked extensively with young people, including in a “Peace and Diversity” program with Caritas Mirtovica, and Cartitas Italia “Sharing is Caring (SIC)” activities. She trained Mitrovica’s youth with preschool workshops and Earth Day events.
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ARTISTIC CREDITS
Anita has volunteered in humanitarian and artistic organizations, including Zgjatma Dore, 7 Arte, FutjaNgjyre, Green Festival, and Rock School Mitrovica. This work continues to inspire her to contribute to society and help others.
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Anita co-directs Playwriting for Peace. She can be reached at anita.uka@ibcmitrovica.eu.
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