Catherine Wood
Doctoral Researcher
Catherine's research focuses on two volunteer service programs—the Peace Corps and Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA)—that spread American ideals of modernization and development at home and abroad in the 1960s and 1970s. She focuses on how volunteers operated in the 'liminal spaces' of U.S. empire: Native American reservations, U.S. territories, newly created states, and poor urban neighborhoods. Through this, she seeks to redefine the programs as projects that blurred the lines between foreign and domestic in their attempts to modernize—and perhaps even Americanize—U.S.-controlled lands using a particular model of development.
In addition to her doctoral work, Catherine is active in the field of transatlantic and European affairs. She is co-editor-in-chief of European Studies Review and formerly lead editor and contributor to European Waves. She has also contributed extensively to the America Explained podcast as both a researcher and host.
Catherine received her MA in distinction in European Politics & Society from Charles, Jagiellonian, and Leiden universities and a BA magna cum laude in international relations from Boston University.