Undergraduate Research & Scholarships

Lucas Maldonado

Understanding Urban Politics in Brazil and Argentina

Our project seeks to better analyze and understand the relations between elected municipal representatives and citizens, as well as how dynamics with the greater national government affect local initiatives and politics. This past academic year, we have been focusing on analyzing written city council meeting transcripts from both countries in an effort to find keywords that could help us more efficiently analyze specific discussions, especially those pertaining to funding for local projects. This summer, I’ll focus on analyzing how local politicians advertise their participation in securing this funding to constituents on social media.

Message To Sponsor

I am extremely thankful to have received this funding to work on this project over the summer. This research is of special importance for me as someone who grew up in South America and wants to contribute to a better understanding of this region's politics. Being part of this project with Professor Post has been the greatest highlight of my first year at Berkeley as a transfer student. This funding will allow me to commit more time into contributing to the team's efforts without having to worry about finances. It will allow me to further perfect my analysis of Latin American urban politics by strategically reading meeting transcripts, and it will also keep fueling my passion for the study of local politics. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!