Elisabeth King is Professor of International Education and Politics at New York University and founding director of NYU’s minor in Peace and Conflict Studies. Her research focuses on war, peace, development and education in ethnically diverse and conflict-affected contexts. She is author (with Cyrus Samii) of Diversity, Violence and Recognition: How Recognizing Ethnic Identity Promotes Peace (Oxford University Press, 2020) and From Classrooms to Conflict in Rwanda (Cambridge University Press, 2014), named an Outstanding Academic Title by the American Libraries Association. Other recent work appears in Journal of Peace Research, World Development and African Studies Review. King’s work has been funded by grants from such organizations as the United States Institute of Peace, the Spencer Foundation and the Folke Bernadotte Academy. She has conducted fieldwork in Kenya, Liberia, the Philippines and Rwanda, among others, using diverse research methods ranging from in-depth qualitative interviews and focus groups, to surveys and randomized field experiments. She has consulted for organizations including Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), UNICEF, the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the MasterCard Foundation, and works with policymakers to link her scholarship with on-the-ground practice and programming. King received a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Toronto and was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University. She is author (with Cyrus Samii) of Diversity, Violence and Recognition: How Recognizing Ethnic Identity Promotes Peace (Oxford University Press, 2020), winner of the 2022 International Studies Association Best Book Award and From Classrooms to Conflict in Rwanda (Cambridge University Press, 2014), named an Outstanding Academic Title by the American Libraries Association.
King's 2021–2023 CPD Research Fellowship project, titled Symbolic Politics for Peace, focuses on symbolic politics as a tool of cultural diplomacy and soft power that is aimed at influencing ordinary people toward reconciliation and peace in contexts of violent identity-based conflict around the world.
