Department of Political Science

Tonya Kenny Dodez is a Ph.D. candidate in the Political Science department at Indiana University and a 2022-23 USIP-Minerva Peace and Security Scholar. Her research examines the consequences of political violence and other tactics of electoral manipulation for voting behavior, protest mobilization, electoral integrity and democratic backsliding in sub-Saharan Africa. She is currently working on her dissertation which examines (1) how variation in instances of electoral violence provoke different reactions from African citizens and (2) the mediating role of civic engagement in translating grievances into collective action against repressive governments. In addition to a cross-national focus within sub-Saharan Africa, her project draws on evidence from both virtual and in-person fieldwork in Senegal. She was the recipient of a FLAS award for the study of Wolof in Dakar, Senegal during the summer of 2018, which she received again the following year to continue her language studies. Her research has also been funded by the Ostrom Workshop at IU. Tonya holds a B.A. and M.A. in Political Science from Louisiana State University.