Julia King, professor of anthropology and the George B. and Willma Reeves Endowed Chair in the Liberal Arts, was recently named a National Humanities Center Fellow for the 2024-25 academic year. The fellowship will allow her to focus on her project, Land as Archive: An Indigenous Landscape History of the Rappahannock People of Tidewater Virginia.
“This is an incredible opportunity for which I am grateful to both the National Humanities Center and St. Mary's College for recognizing the importance of this project,” King said.
The National Humanities Center, the world’s only independent institute dedicated exclusively to advanced study in all areas of the humanities, announced the appointments in a news release earlier this month. King was among 31 leading scholars appointed. There were 492 applicants from institutions across the globe.
“This fellowship is an exceptionally rare honor, and speaks to the importance and impact of Julie’s scholarship,” said Katie Gantz, vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty.
King said she has a “career's worth” of archaeological, documentary, architectural and oral history the Rappahannock Tribe has shared with her and St. Mary’s College students that she has struggled to find time to synthesize into a book for a broader audience.
“The compelling history of the Rappahannocks has gone under-appreciated for too long, and the fellowship at the NHC will provide the time and space to write this history with oversight from tribal members,” she said.
The NHC will award approximately $1.5 million in fellowship grants to enable the selected scholars to take leave from their normal academic duties and pursue research at the Center.
For more information on the NHC, and the 2024-2025 fellowship recipients, go to https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/the-national-humanities-center-announces-2024-25-fellows/.
