SCHOOL of INTERNATIONAL SERVICE
American University · Washington, D.C.
PHD STUDENT Rebecca M. DeWinter
Rebecca M. DeWinter
Rebecca M. DeWinter
E-mail: rdewinter [at] rcn.com
CV [pdf]
Research and Background
Rebecca DeWinter is currently a doctoral candidate at American University's School of International Service. Her dissertation is entitled "Business as Usual? The Mobilization of the Anti-Sweatshop Movement and the Social Construction of Corporate Identity." In the dissertation, she examines over a decade and a half of contentious encounters between the anti-sweatshop movement and Nike and Gap in order to assess the impact of social movement mobilization on the constitution of apparel corporations' identities, including the rhetorical justifications provided to legitimize the ascription of certain rights and responsibilities to corporate actors.
Rebecca's interest in issues relating to civil society efforts to ensure corporate accountability in various industries stem from her work with Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) and the American University Solidarity Committee, an affiliate of United Students Against Sweatshops. Having served for four years as the program associate to AIUSA's Just Earth! Program on Human Rights and the Environment, she is currently a Steering Committee member to AIUSA's Business and Human Rights program. In that capacity, she was instrumental in launching AIUSA's campaign to promote oversight and accountability for private military and security contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan. For four years, she also was an active member and president of the American University Solidarity Committee, during which time she coordinated campaigns resulting in American University passing a living wage policy for its contracted and direct employees, as well as signing on to two monitoring organizations, the Fair Labor Association and the Workers' Rights Consortium, to ensure that the collegiate apparel bearing the university's logo is not produced in sweatshops. The School of International Service awarded Rebecca the Brady Tyson Award for excellence in work related to human rights for her efforts with the Solidarity Committee.
In addition, to her research on human and labor rights and corporate social responsibility, Rebecca's two areas of specialization within the field of International Relations are International Political Economy and Ethics and International Affairs. Most recently, she presented a paper, entitled "From Mercenaries to Corporate Actors: Processes of Legitimizing Private Military and Security Companies," at the annual International Studies Association conference. She has taught various sections of World Politics as an adjunct professor at the School of International Service.
Rebecca earned her Master's Degree in Political Science, with minors in Sociology and Economics, from the University of Marburg, Germany, and her Bachelor's Degree from Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA where she majored in Political Science and minored in German. She expects to complete her dissertation in the summer of 2007.