Current and Past Whiting Award Recipients

2023

Héctor Linares, Ph.D. Candidate, Early Modern Global History, Race and Ethnicity and Latin American Studies
Title: Indigenous Knighthood: Negotiation, Knowledge, and Symbolic Capital in the Redefinition of the “Noble Indian” in the Early Modern Iberian World, 1550-1697

Kyle Marini, Ph.D. Candidate, Art History
Title: Portraying Sun & Rain (Son & Reign): Huascar Inca's Likeness and Portrait-making in the Late Inca Empire

2022

Abiola Ibirogba, Ph.D. Candidate, Anthropology
Title: Mobility patterns on coastal landscapes: Evaluating settlement decisions in the Badagry region, Lagos State, Nigeria

Macy Pyres, M.A. Candidate, Educational Psychology
Title: Wolastoqiyik Students Sense of Belonging

Lilly Zeitler, Ph.D. Candidate, Geography
Title: Knowledge-Diet Reconfigurations in Karen Agricultural Transitions in Northern Thailand

2021

Danielle Buffa, Ph.D. Candidate, Anthropology and Climate Science
Title: Boziky Lahiny/Boziky Vahy: Women’s Knowledge Conservation Policy, and Shellfishing in Southwestern Madagascar

Edward Green, Ph.D. Candidate, History
Title: Changing Conceptions of Justice in the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, 1830-1900

Brooklyn Leonhardt, Ph.D. Candidate, Philosophy and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Title: Dysphoria and Dispossession: The Trail of Tears and Two Spirit Cultural Life

2020

Scott Doebler, Ph.D. Candidate, History
Title: Connected Forests: Spanish, English, and Maya Commodity Ecologies in Southern Yucatán and Northern Guatemala, 1524-1717

Kyle Marini, M.A. Candidate, Art History
Title: Mostly Mimetic: Resolving Inca Abstraction

Wayne Wapeemukwa, Ph.D. Candidate, Philosophy
Title: Neither White nor Ward: Métis Racialization and The Formation of Whiteness in Treaty Era Canadian Prairies, 1870-1920

2019

Richard Caneba, Ph.D. Candidate, Information Sciences and Technology
Title: Power, Knowledge, and Indigenous Ways-of-Knowing in the Information Age: A Postcolonial Perspective on Indigenous IT and STEM Educational Outreach in Canada

Christian Kelly Scott, Ph.D. Candidate, Rural Sociology and International Agriculture & Development
Title: The Pasture, the Village, and the People: Food Security Endowments and Abatements in the Southern Kyrgyz Highlands

Ryan Naylor, M.S. Candidate, Recreation, Park and Tourism Management
Title: Tribes, Timber, and Tourism in the Nation's Largest National Forest: Emic Perspectives of Indigenous Alaskans on the Tourism Development unfolding in Tongass National Forest

2018

Marie Louise Ryan, Ph.D. Candidate, Geography
Title: Land, Labor, and Agency: Traditional Seed Systems and Outmigration in Lamjung, Nepal

Johann Strube, Ph.D. Candidate, Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education
Title: Understanding Land Ownership and Sovereignty Through Wild Rice Around Lake of the Woods

Megan Griffin, M.S. Candidate, Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education
Title: Growing Resistance: A Gender Analysis of Efforts to Preserve Maya Maize in Yucatan

2017

Megan McDonie, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of History
Title: Explosive Encounters: Volcanic Landscapes, Indigenous Knowledge, and Cultural Exchange in Early Modern Mesoamerica

Janet Purdy, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Art History
Title: Beyond the Façade: The Messages Behind Carved Swahili Doors

Lucy Harbor, M.S. Candidate, Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management
Title: Marketplace of the Maya Mystique: Emic Views on Appropriate and Appropriated Use of Indigenous Culture at Lake Atitlán, Guatemala

2016

Sarah Eissler, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education, Penn State
Title: Investigating Gender dimensions in Response to Climate Change: A Mixed methods Approach on Smallholder Cacao Farms in South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Annie Marcinek, M.S. Candidate, Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management, Penn State
Title: Extracting From the Rainforest: Indigeneity and Ecotourism in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Narmadha (Nari) Senanayake, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Geography, Penn State
Title: Cultivating Health in Landscapes of Uncertainty: Mystery Kidney Disease and the Return of Native Seed in Dry Zone Sri Lanka

2015

Lindsay K. Butler-Trump, M.S. Candidate, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Penn State
Title: Knowledge of Numerical Language Among Speakers of Yucatec Maya

Bilikisu Elewonibi, Ph.D. Candidate, Health Policy and Administration and Demography, Penn State
Title: Evaluation of a Breast Cancer Screening Program in Nigeria

Kelli Herr, Undergraduate, Community, Environment and Development – International Development Option, Penn State
Title: The potential nutritional and social impact of leveraging indigenous knowledge and advancements in agricultural technology in Zambia

2014

Kira Hydock, Undergraduate, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, Penn State
Title: Culture and Animal Husbandry: An Investigation into the Traditional Methods and Cultural Constraints of Goat Production and Management Among the People of the Muhanga District of Rwanda

Katie Tavenner, Ph.D. Candidate, Rural Sociology and Women’s Studies, Penn State
Title: Co-Management Regimes in Protected Areas of South Africa: Implications for Gender Equity in the Forest Food Security Nexus

Lan Xue, PhD Candidate, Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Management, Penn State
Title: Rural Tourism and Reconstruction of Rural Identity in China

2013

Svitlana Iarmolenko, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Management, Penn State
Title: Immigration experiences of Ukrainian-Americans as a basis for culturally grounded narratives

Vincent Ricciardi, M.S. Candidate, Department of Geography, Penn State
Title: Incorporating Indigenous Knowledge into Development: The Intersection of Informal Seed Systems and Marketized Crops