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Brandon Sims Professorial Lecturer Peace, Human Rights & Cultural Relations

Degrees
American University, PhD (International Relations)

Bio
Brandon Sims researches and teaches peace studies and research methods. His research explores the causes and consequences of violent, non-violent, and self-violent conflict, with a focus on contentious organizations in South Asia, especially India. His research has been supported by the United States Institute of Peace and the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, and has been published in the Journal of Resistance Studies.

His current book project uses a mixed-methods approach, including an original dataset of 45 resistance organizations in India, a social network mapping of their 990 distinct ties with affiliated organizations, and in-depth case studies featuring archival fieldwork. Other research projects feature a variety of methodologies, including discourse analysis of suicide protests, analytical narratives examining the role of student unions in wider protest movements, and case studies of security force defections around the world.

Previously, Brandon Sims worked and taught in Indonesia for five years with Mennonite Central Committee, an international peacebuilding organization.
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

Teaching

Summer 2024

  • SIS-600 Int'l Affairs Stats & Methods

Fall 2024

  • SIS-600 Int'l Affairs Stats & Methods

  • SIS-600 Int'l Affairs Stats & Methods

  • SISU-419 Senior Capstone: Int'l Studies: Nonviolence as Peacebuilding

Spring 2025

  • SIS-610 Theories of Violence and War

  • SISU-306 Adv Int'l Studies Research: Olson Scholars Seminar