Devashish Basnet

Biography

Devashish Basnet is a senior at the City University of New York, Hunter College, studying Political Science, Public Policy, Asian American Studies, and Music. He has worked extensively on domestic and international migration issues at think tanks, NGOs, nonprofits, advocacy groups, and community organizations – working directly alongside impacted immigrant communities. Devashish has also worked as a Nepali and Spanish interpreter for families held in detention centers around the United States. He hopes to further make an impact at the nexus of state fragility and forced displacement through implementing creative solutions to complex challenges that exist when evaluating systems of human mobility. His senior honors thesis is on unaccompanied minors and the criminalization of immigration in the United States. He currently serves as President of Hunter College’s student government where he works to uplift first-generation college and undocumented students. As a Mellon Public Humanities Fellow, he is currently conducting ethnographic research on the cultural memory of his people, New York City’s Himalayan Sherpas. In his free time, he enjoys cooking meals with friends, going to concerts, and exploring new places. At Oxford, he aims to pursue an MSc in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies and a Master’s in Public Policy. He is eager to meet his cohort and contribute to the larger Rhodes community.