Micaela Wiehe, a 2021 graduate of the Department of History at Missouri State University, has been awarded a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad fellowship to study in Mexico and Spain.

She is now a fourth-year doctoral student of history at Penn State University.

Describing herself as a colonial Latin American historian, Wiehe explained that she specializes in the history of the Indigenous people group, the Nahuas, of the early colonial period in Mexico.

“My dissertation research explores patterns of Mesoamerican migrations rooted in political, social and environmental change during Mexico’s early colonial period,” she said. “I look at how environmental exploitation and the labor systems used to support it led to a variety of migration patterns with long-lasting effects.”

Wiehe’s doctoral work is an extension of her master’s thesis at Missouri State University. “My thesis examined the evolution of the Spanish colonial legal system from 1525 to 1820 by analyzing the way that the Nahua people influenced, maneuvered and commanded a powerful conversation with the Spanish king through interactions with and within the law.”

Research in Mexico and Spain

As part of her Fulbright-Hays award, Wiehe will spend ten months researching in Mexico City, Mexico, and one month in Seville, Spain.

While in Mexico, she will work as a researcher in affiliation with the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). She will also volunteer with PSYDEH (Psicologia y Derechos Humanos), a Mexican non-profit organization for Indigenous women. Finally, Wiehe will participate in an intensive Nahuatl language course taught by Indigenous instructors in Zacatecas, Mexico.

While in Seville, Wiehe will work in the Archivo General de Indias in affiliation with Pablo de Olavide University Sevilla (UPO). Many of the colonial documents pertaining to her research are housed in that collection.

Her efforts, Wiehe explained, will allow her “to produce a well-informed research project on the history of migration in Mexico.”

“People have moved and migrated throughout the Americas for centuries, long before any Europeans arrived on this continent,” she added. “It’s important, though, to consider why, how, when and where the migration patterns we see today came from.”

Fulbright dream becomes reality

Wiehe originally planned to apply for a Fulbright fellowship while at Missouri State. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed those plans, however. She thus waited until she was a doctoral student at Penn State to apply.

It took Wiehe nearly eight months to complete the Fulbright-Hays application. “The application process for the Fulbright-Hays is extensive, including a ten-page grant proposal, two language evaluations, letters of recommendation, a personal statement and letters of support from professors in Mexico, Spain.”

All the hard work paid off when she heard from representatives of the Fulbright-Hays fellowship program.

“When I read the first line of the email offering me the grant, my hands started shaking and I had to sit down,” she said. “I felt a combination of shock, joy and overwhelming relief. It was a moment I had worked toward for nearly five years. I was so grateful to finally arrive.”

The news came as no surprise to members of Wiehe’s thesis committee at Missouri State.

“I was not surprised at all,” said Dr. John Chuchiak, Wiehe’s thesis director. “These grants are extremely competitive, and her work is of the highest caliber.”

“She embodies everything that Fulbright stands for,” agreed Dr. Heidi Backes, one of Wiehe’s thesis committee members.

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