Amanda Borquaye

Welcome! My name is Amanda, and I write on various topics that stem from my academic interests in global human rights whilst ocassionally chiming in on the parallels between pop culture and our realities. I am a 2022 graduate of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Medford, MA where I studied Human Security and Technology Policy, specifically migrant journeys through understanding the use of border technologies (AI, algorithms, information and communication technologies, surveillance tools, etc.) and their impact on migrant rights. I hold a Bachelor's degree from Tufts University in International Relations and Sociology. In my non-academic writing life, I am a creative nonfiction writer who was named an Arthur C. Flowers fellowship runner-up, runner-up to the Lighthouse Writers Emerging Writers fellowship, and whose work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and supported by Kenyon Review and Tin House.

The Audacity •

Stories They Never Told by Amanda Borquaye

Every two weeks, I will be publishing an essay from an emerging writer. This week’s essay is “Stories They Never Told” by Amanda Borquaye. Amanda is a current master's candidate at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University where she studies how technology is shaping the migrant and refugee rights landscape. Prior to graduate school, she lived and worked in Washington DC as a civil rights paralegal. Amanda is a proud Georgian, Ghanaian-American, and last born child. This essay
OpenGlobalRights •

Stopping the abuse in your produce basket

A worker of Moroccan origin picking strawberries on April 4, 2020, on a farm located in Cartaya (Huelva), following the decree approved by the Spanish government that will allow the unemployed, with some exceptions, to simultaneously collect their allowances with a temporary job in the field to cover the lack of manpower in the next campaigns for the closure of the borders as a result of COVID-19. EFE / Julián Pérez As consumers, we rarely pause to think about where our produce comes from. Our
THE FLETCHER FORUM OF WORLD AFFAIRS •

America's Race Evasive Attitude Furthers its Decline on the World Stage —

For months, it seemed that nothing would capture the world’s attention in the way that COVID-19 had. Then on May 25th, 2020, Derek Chauvin, a police officer with the Minneapolis Police Department, murdered George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, as three other officers stood by. The gruesome murder was captured by bystander footage, and the image of Chauvin’s knee on Floyd’s neck, pinning him to the concrete as he begged for his mother and ultimately took his last breath, awakened the world’s consci