barbara harlow

The Barbara Harlow Internship in Human Rights & Social Justice

The application cycle for Summer 2023 has closed.

The Barbara Harlow Internship in Human Rights & Social Justice honors the life and work of Barbara Harlow (1948-2017), who was the Louann and Larry Temple Centennial Professor of English Literature at the University of Texas. She was a committed colleague, friend, and mentor to countless students, activists, and intellectuals. As a collaboration between the Rapoport Center and the Bridging Disciplines Programs (BDP), the internship aims to introduce BDP students to Harlow’s scholarship and activism, and to encourage them to imagine future trajectories for her work.

This internship is chosen to honor Barbara Harlow because it was largely through her efforts that the Rapoport Center and the BDP partnered to create the Human Rights & Social Justice BDP certificate in 2009. Harlow chaired the faculty panel for the certificate from its inception until 2017. While the internship is open to all BDP students, regardless of which certificate they are pursuing, it is meant for students who are working on issues of social justice.

Barbara Harlow’s intellectual praxis crossed continents and encompassed diverse agendas: resistance, translation, political engagement and solidarity, human rights, and pedagogy. She contributed greatly to the University of Texas at Austin, not only through the English department, the Rapoport Center, and the BDP, but through several area studies programs and centers, including African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian Studies. To learn more about her life and work, please visit the Rapoport Center's tribute page and the website for our 2017 conference, Barbara Harlow: The Sequel.

Fall, spring, and summer internships are available for undergraduates who are interested in:

  • Working on human rights and social justice research and advocacy projects
  • Learning how an academic center functions
  • Engaging in human rights scholarship
  • Gaining practical experience
  • Collaborating with faculty, staff, and students

The internship is made possible by seed money that Harlow gifted to the Rapoport Center and the BDP. Though the internship is similar to the Rapoport Center’s standard undergraduate internship, it offers a higher stipend ($3,000 for Summer 2023) and requires three additional components:

  • In the cover letter, students should reflect (in one paragraph) on how Harlow's scholarship and activism might influence their work with the Rapoport Center and their pursuit of human rights and social justice more broadly.
  • During the internship, each recipient will write a piece for our Human Rights Commentary page, which either engages directly with Harlow's work or uses her work as a lens through which to engage critically with a topic.
  • After the internship, each recipient will create a poster to reflect on the internship, taking into account Harlow's impact on their experience, and present it at the Annual BDP poster session in April. (Fall and Summer interns will submit at the end of their respective term, and then present in April.)

Selected interns should be available at least 10 hours per week during the semester, and 20 hours per week during the summer. Depending on funding, between one and three internships will be offered per year. Students who are not selected for the Barbara Harlow Internship may be considered for our standard undergraduate internship.

We are pleased to honor Harlow's legacy in this way, and we look forward to continuing our support of undergraduate students in her name. Please scroll down for application information.

Former Recipients

Spring 2023: Ikram Mohamed

Fall 2022: Lesly Chávez-Valencia

Summer 2022: Treasure Ibe

Spring 2022: Stephanie Flores

Fall 2021: Hana Thai

Summer 2021: Angelina Ramirez

Spring 2021: Sanika Nayak

Summer 2020: Jacob Blas

Spring 2020: Bianca (Nieves) Vázquez

Fall 2019: Carol-Armelle Ze-Noah

Spring 2019: Carlos Pinon

Fall 2018: Christina Cho

Summer 2018: Mehdia Mrabet

Spring 2018: Xavier Durham

Read Xavier's Human Rights Commentary, titled "Marielle Franco and the Brazilian Necropolis: Assassination and After Lives"

Please note: This internship is only open to BDP students. If you are not a BDP student, please consider our standard undergraduate internship.

All Opportunities