Fellow, Central & South Asia Program; Researcher

Denera Pope-Ragoonanan is a NY/NJ-based attorney. She earned her J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law and her undergraduate in International Relations from SUNY New Paltz. She is originally from Queens, NY, and has lived and worked in Istanbul, Ankara, and Diyarbakir, Turkey. Her research includes Central Asian, Turkic, and South Asian affairs, American anti-terror policy, global water policy, Indo-Caribbean and Indian diaspora history, and international law. She is a published co-author of How America Tortures, which explores the misuse of the Geneva Convention and other bodies of law to authorize Guantanamo Bay’s unprecedented torture program. She assisted in developing the Office of Military Commissions defense’s case for Guantanamo Bay detainees. She has interned with the Honorable Peter Tom of the NYS Appellate Division and the Office of the Governor of New Jersey. She currently advocates for low-income citizens’ housing and entitlements rights. She enjoys karaoke, swimming, volunteering in her community and playing with her dog on days off.