CDSS graduate Emmy Lindstam receives the prestigious Lorenz-von-Stein Award

Political scientist Emmy Lindstam has been honoured with the Lorenz von Stein Award for her outstanding dissertation "Excluded from the Nation? Hierarchies of Belonging and Political Aspirations among Marginalized Groups." Recognising rigorous research ethics and excellent scientific work, the Lorenz von Stein Society annually awards the Lorenz von Stein Award to the best dissertation from the School of Social Sciences at the University of Mannheim.

Emmy Lindstam’s comprehensive study explores the impact of nationalist narratives and symbols on mechanisms of marginalisation in India. She argues that minority groups tend to withdraw from society and politics when national symbols exclusively reflect the majority population. This behaviour is due to a loss of self-esteem, a reduced sense of entitlement to speak on behalf of the dominant group, and pressure to prove loyalty to the nation. More specifically, Emmy Lindstam examines the impact of various portrayals of Hindu identity as the core principle of Indian nationality on Muslim groups’ willingness to engage in prosocial behaviour or take political action that affects members of the dominant Hindu community. With remarkable scientific acumen, she makes use of the current debate by drawing on nationalist narratives found in history books and government proposals to rename cities. Her dissertation was supervised by Prof. Sabine Carey, Prof. Harald Schoen, and Assistant Prof. Vasiliki Fouka (Stanford University).

Chair Prof. Marc Debus: “Far beyond a standard doctoral dissertation”

Chair of the Society Prof. Marc Debus commends Emmy Lindstam for addressing the highly relevant issue of symbolic politics using an innovative and convincing research design. He further emphasises that a dissertation that integrates a coherent story with multiple pieces of evidence to unveil specific theoretical mechanisms is an ambitious goal, which, however, Emmy Lindstam has achieved with flying colours. Her dissertation can thus be regarded as a great example for future doctoral dissertations in the social sciences.
For this remarkable combination of experimental data collection in India and a sound theoretical argument, Emmy Lindstam has been highly recognised by her supervisors, colleagues at the University of Mannheim, and the scientific community, for example by being awarded the APSA Experimental Section’s Best Paper Award in 2022, together with her co-author Nicholas Haas, for one of her dissertation papers.

During her doctoral studies at the University of Mannheim, Emmy Lindstam was a researcher at the Chair of International Relations (Prof. Sabine Carey) and an associate member of the Center for Doctoral Studies in Social and Behavioral Sciences (CDSS). Emmy Lindstam is currently assistant professor at the IE University in Madrid, Spain.

(22 June 2023)