Shelby Carpenter

My dissertation asks how trust is established post-conflict and how Sierra Leoneans cope in their everyday lives both as urban dwellers in Freetown and as international refugees in The Gambia. As Africa undergoes rapid social change as a result of war and political instability, I argue that sometimes solutions are found in the most unlikely of places. My dissertation, entitled “Envisioning Trust: A Study of ‘Cultural Bereavement’ in Sierra Leone and The Gambia,” is the result of twenty-two months of field research in West Africa on issues of mental health, social healing, performance, and civil society.