Prizes & Awards
The James R. Scobie Award
award Amount
Up to $1,500
2026 submission Deadline
April 25, 2026
Award Overview
Up to $1,500 is awarded each year for an exploratory research trip abroad to determine the feasibility of a Ph.D. dissertation topic dealing with some facet of Latin American history. One or more travel grants will be awarded each year.
The purpose of the award is to permit a short, exploratory research trip abroad (normally four to twelve weeks) to determine the feasibility of a Ph.D. dissertation topic dealing with some facet of Latin American history.
Up to four travel grants will be awarded each year. The funds are to be used only for international travel expenses and may not exceed $1,500. The grant must be used during the summer following the award, unless there is prior approval from the Award Committee and the Executive Director of the Conference on Latin American History.
Please send your application materials to the three committee members listed below, using the file name “LastName_Scobie.” Please make sure the subject line is “Last Name – Scobie.” Applications are to be sent no later than March 1, 2026 and must include:
1. a prospectus of proposed research, no longer than 1,500 words and a preliminary bibliography.
2. a tentative research schedule for the grant period.
3. a current curriculum vitae, with a notation of date of comprehensive exam.
Separately, two letters of recommendation, one of which should attest to the language competence (Spanish or Portuguese) of the applicant, are required. These letters should also be emailed to the three committee members listed below.
The Scobie Award Committee will send its final recommendation to the Executive Director by April 25, 2026. At the end of the grant period, each award recipient must submit a final report to the CLAH Executive Director outlining what was accomplished.
Note: The CLAH requires current membership for all of its prizes and awards.
Please send all submissions to each of the committee members listed below.
Scobie Award Committee for 2026:
Donations to the Scobie Award fund can be made here.
2025
Beatriz de Souza Bravo, University of California, Irvine
Jack Casey, New York University
Paloma Czapla, Indiana University Bloomington
Nathan Darmiento, Rutgers University–New Brunswick
Mariana Charry Esguerra, Northwestern University
Yohad Zacarías S., University of Texas at Austin
2024
Marina Dadico Amâncio de Souza, University of California, Santa Cruz
Francisca Espinosa Muñoz, University of California, Davis
Thomas Miller, University of Florida
Camila Sanhueza, University of California, Irvine
2023
Berenice Tepozano, University of California, Irvine
Chase Caldwell Smith, University of California, Los Angeles
Jordan Buchanan, University of California, San Diego
Micaela Wiehe, Pennsylvania State University
Meghann Chavez, University of New Mexico
2022
Javier Etchegaray García, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Camila Ordorica Bracamontes, University of Texas at Austin
Jeanette Charles, University of California, Los Angeles
Austin Nelson, University of Florida
Constance Holden, University of Connecticut
2021
Emily Taylor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Cody A. Williams, University of Oklahoma
Alfredo Escudero Villanueva, Florida International University
Alejandro Guardado, University of California, Irvine
Ursula Rall, Emory University
2020
Marcus Oliver Golding, University of Texas at Austin
Joao Nascimento Gregoire, University of Kansas
Aimee Hisey, Oregon State University
Alexander Chaparro, University of Texas at Austin
Manoel Neto, University of California, Davis
2018
Hannah Abrahamson, Emory University
Lucia Luna Victoria, University of California, Davis
Alexandre Pelegrino, Vanderbilt University
Haley Schroer, University of Texas at Austin
Shari Wejsa, Emory University
2017
Mira Kohl, Tulane University
Diego Luis, Brown University
Gonzalo Emilio Romero Sommer, Stony Brook University
Jorge Delgadillo, Vanderbilt University
Clare Ibarra, University of California, Berkeley
2016
Megan McDonie, Pennsylvania State University
Stephanie Huezo, Indiana University
Daniel Velázquez, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Emma Young, New York University
Monica Espaillat Lizardo, University of Toronto
2015
Antony Dan Cozart, University of New Mexico
Audrey Fals Henderson, Emory University
Shannon James, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Fernanda Bretones Lane, Vanderbilt University
Cos Tollerson, New York University
2014
Antony Keane Dawes, University of South Carolina
Kathryn Lehman, Indiana University
Lizeth Elizondo, University of Texas at Austin
John Carlos Marquez, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Miriam Villanueva, Texas Christian University
2013
Kristie Flannery, University of Texas at Austin
Chloe Ireton, University of Texas at Austin
Rebekah Martin, Pennsylvania State University
Chad McCutchen, University of Texas at Arlington
John Milstead, Michigan State University
2012
Christopher Brown, Emory University
Angelina Castillo, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Lance Ingwersen, Vanderbilt University
Charlton Yingling, University of South Carolina
Jesse Zarley, University of Maryland, College Park
2011
Adriana Chira, University of Michigan
Shawn Moura, University of Maryland, College Park
Benjamin Nobbs-Thiessen, Emory University
Erin Zavitz, University of Florida
2010
Jennifer Eaglin, Michigan State University
Jason Kauffman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Jennifer Schaefer, Emory University
Lynsay B. Skiba, University of California, Berkeley
Brandi Townsend, University of Maryland
2009
Sarah Hines, University of California, Berkeley, “Revolution on the Altiplano: Indigenous Communities and the Bolivian Revolution, 1945-1964”
Amy Huras, University of Toronto, “Castilianisation in Peru Sixteenth through Eighteenth Centuries”
Jordan Lauhon, University of California, Davis, “The 1877 Eruption of Cotopaxi Volcano”
Ben Reed, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, “Role of Preaching in Colonial Mexico”
Lena Suk, Emory University, “Cinema, Space, and Systems of International Exchange in Brazil, 1964-1985”
2008
Matthew Scalena, Stony Brook University
Rafaela Acevedo-Field, University of California, Santa Barbara
Grace Sanders, University of Michigan
Ted Cohen, University of Maryland, College Park
2007
Brigitte Cairus, York University, “Outside Racial Democracy: Identity and Conversion among Roms in Brazil”
Sarah Jaffe, Tulane University, “Identifying Missionaries of Nationalism in Revolutionary Mexico (1920-1940)”
Brad Lange, Emory University, “La República de la Boca: Ethnicity, Politics, and Culture in Buenos Aires, 1850-1930”
Andrea Vicente, Michigan State University, “Singleness and the State: The Daily Lives of Widowed and Single Women in 19th Century Guadalajara, Mexico”
2006
Christine Heisser, Indiana University, “Thanks to the Virgin: Migration and Faith in 20th Century Mexico”
Federico Sor, New York University, “Reorganization of Personality”: Education Reform and the Military Construction of Argentine Subjects, 1976-1981”
Sophia Koutsoyannis, York University, “Popular Music and Identity in Mexico City, 1930-1960”
Uri Rosenheck, Emory University, “Fighting for Home Abroad: Citizen-Soldiers, Race and Politics in Brazil during World War II”
2005
Consuelo Figueroa, Stony Brook University, “Becoming Chilean: Discourses and Contentions in the Construction of National Identity 1870s-1880s”
Valeria Manzano, Indiana University, “The Making of Youth in Argentina, 1950-1970”
Robert Schwaller, Pennsylvania State University, “Evolution of Racial Hierarchies and Ideologies in Early Colonial Mexico”
2004
Cesar Seveso, Indiana University, “El ‘Verdadero’ Peronismo: The Hopes, Crumbling Convictions, and Premonitions of the Peronist and Marxist Left in Argentina, 1955-1976”
2003
Karin Velez, Princeton University, “Portuguese Jesuits and the Diffusion of the Madonna of Loreto, 1670-1720”
Brenda Elsey, Stony Brook University, “Playing Politics: Football in Urban Chile 1910-1962”
2002
No award given (no applications received)
2001
Christopher L. Murchison, University of Miami, “Globalization of the Brazilian Amazon: A Historical Analysis of How International Forces Have Shaped Manaus, 1915-1985”
2000
Mayra E. Beers, Florida International University, “Murder in San Isidro: Public Power and Private Influence in the Cuban Republic, 1900-1920”
Jennifer E. Forsythe, University of Miami, “The Impact of Modernization on Traditional Popular Medicine in Cuzco, Peru, from the 1910s to Present”
1999
Gregory Spira, Georgetown University, “Rebellion, Resistance, and Cultural Change: Popular Reactions to the Bourbon Reforms, San Luis Potosí, 1767-1810”
Annalyda Alvarez Calderon, Stony Brook University, “Peasant Revolts, Intellectuals and the State: Ideology and National”
1998
Mauricio Damian Rivero, Brigham Young University, “The Words of God: Religious Texts and the Counter Reformation in Spain and Spanish-America”
1997
Erica M. Windler, University of Miami, “Rio de Janeiro’s Santa Casa da Misericordia: A Case Study of Brazilian Urbanization 1808-1889”
1996
Julia Cummings, Indiana University, “Rebellion in Tomochic, Chihuahua”
1995
Jadwiga Pieper, Rutgers University,“The Politics of Fertility Regulation in Chile”
1994
Hal Langfur, University of Texas at Austin, “Conflict and Collaboration: Indians, Settlers and the State in Nineteenth-Century Brazil”
Jacqueline Holle, Emory University, “Nuns in Sixteenth Century Mexico”
1993
Ronald Young, University of California, Los Angeles, “From Mule to Motor Car: A History of Urban Transportation in Caracas, Venezuela, 1881-1947”
1992
Maria Angelica Zubaran Sailer, Stony Brook University, “The Politics of Freedom: Slave Resistance in Río Grande do Sul (1871-1888)”
1991
Gina Hames, Carnegie Mellon University, “Andean Chiceras: Ethnicity and Gender Ideologies, 1860-1920”
Fred Murphy, “Argentine Nation or Porteño city-state?: Merchants, Ranchers, and Statemakers in Buenos Aires During the Post-Rosas Interregnum”
1990
No award given
1989
Deborah Truhan, New York University, “The Hispanization of Canari Space”
1988
Mary A. Nelson, “Hacienda San Esteban de Tiripitio–Tarascans and Haciendas in Colonial Michoacán: A Proposal for Study”
1987
Michael Stanfield, University of New Mexico, “The Rubber Industry and the Definition of State Limits: Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru in the Putumayo, 1880-1910”
Peter Beattie, University of Miami, “From Tattoos to Desertion: The Experience of the Brazilian Army Pracas in the Barracks and the Community, 1890-1930”
1986
Alan D. Belitsky, University of Miami, “Standards of Living of the Workers and the Union of the Estrada de Ferro Santos-Jundiaí: 1889-1930”
1985
Carolyn Sexton Roy, University of California, Los Angeles, “The Parral Mining Community Society in New Spain”
1984
Carolyn Sexton Roy, University of California, Los Angeles, “The Parral Mining Community Society in New Spain”
1983
Terry M. Young, University of Texas at Austin, “Power, Privilege, and the Struggle for Statehood: Local Militias in Uruguay, 1764-1852”
1982
Eugenio Piñero, University of Connecticut, “Cocoa Plantations, Notable Families and the Genesis of a Peasantry in the Province of Caracas: 1700-1770”