Paulina Ascencio Ramos, Master of Arts Geography student
Congratulations Paulina Ascencio Ramos on being awarded a Philanthropic Educational Organization (PEO) International Peace Scholarship!
Taken from the Philanthropic Educational Organization website, “PEO is a philanthropic organization where women CELEBRATE the advancement of women; EDUCATE women through scholarships, grants, awards, loans, and stewardship of Cottey College and MOTIVATE women to achieve their highest aspirations.
The PEO International Peace Scholarship, established in 1949, is a program which provides scholarships for selected women from other countries for graduate study in the United States and Canada. Members of PEO believe that education is fundamental to world peace and understanding”. PEO website
Paulina Ascencio Ramos is a first year Masters of Arts Geography student. Her research project will explore the everyday experiences of women in large-scale affordable housing developments in the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara, Mexico. She is interested in exploring the ways in which the configuration (location, homogeneity and build environment) of large-scale housing complexes facilitate or constrain women´s everyday lives.
She aims to contribute to a better understanding of the impacts of the low-income housing approach that Mexico has taken in recent years. She hopes that this project can be used as a case study to determine how women´s experiential accounts of everyday life have to be incorporated in urban planning decisions in Mexico.
Methodologically, Paulina follows feminist approaches to develop an extended case study with explicit attention on the perspectives of female “beneficiaries” and on the everyday negotiations that women have within and beyond their dwelling space. She argues that to give value and explore diversified experiences can account for the multi-faceted effects of housing in people´s lives.