Art history professor, Dr. Billie J. Follensbee, has been awarded the prestigious Dumbarton Oaks One-Month Post-Doctoral Research Stipend, set to begin in March 2015, to support her sabbatical project, “The Paraphernalia, Practices, and Social and Ritual Significance of Fishing in Early Mesoamerica.”
Stipend is one of top awards in field
Dumbarton Oaks, a Washington, D.C., institution administered by the Trustees for Harvard University, chooses recipients of the $3,000 stipend from an international pool of PhD scholars working on research projects in Byzantine studies, Pre-Columbian studies, or Garden and Landscape studies. It is considered one of the top awards in the Mesoamerican studies field.
Exploring Mesoamerican fishing culture
Follensbee, also the University’s museum studies program coordinator, said her research has three goals:
- To examine depictions of fish, fishing, and fishing paraphernalia in Olmec and Olmec-related sculpture;
- To conduct a study of Mesoamerican fishing practices and associated paraphernalia as evidenced in Mesoamerican material culture and ethnographic/ethnohistoric documentation; and
- To analyze Formative period artifacts that may be fishing tools or implements for making fishing equipment.
Together, she said, these data will be used to explore the importance of fishing in Formative period Gulf Coast cultures. The results of the research will then be used to analyze the social and ritual significance of fish, fishing and water symbolism, as well as the status of those who fished and of those who produced fishing paraphernalia among these cultures.
Using Dumbarton Oaks’ resources
With an impressive collection of Mesoamerican art and artifacts, Dumbarton Oaks’ world-class museum and library have unparalleled resources on Pre-Columbian art and archaeology that Follensbee says will contribute greatly to her research.