During the summer of 2015, Notre Dame history and political science major Matt Souza interviewed laborers in multiple Chinese cities. The goal of his research was to determine whether the official ideology of the Communist Party is still influential amongst Chinese citizens.
What he heard was quite striking.
“All of my findings, they’re actually quite different from all the previous research, and I really want to get my ideas and all my findings out to the public,” said Souza, a junior in the College of Arts and Letters.
Souza’s research was supported by the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program in the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts. In addition to funding, the Institute helped him navigate the process of coordinating the interviews and provided suggestions for research tactics.
“I’m planning to do a senior thesis and maybe also write some articles about my project so that I can show the world how China’s changing,” he said.
After graduation, Souza plans to attend law school and hopes to address human rights issues.
“I feel like there’s still a lot to be done,” he said. “I hope that the work that I’ll be doing can change people’s lives in China.”
You can also watch this video on YouTube.
Originally published by at al.nd.edu on December 14, 2015.