Dumbarton Oaks announces fellows

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection has announced its 2011-12 fellowships. Fellows carry out research in Byzantine Studies, including related aspects of late Roman, early Christian, Western medieval, Slavic, and Near Eastern studies; Pre-Columbian studies of Mexico, Central America, and Andean South America; and garden and landscape studies, including garden history, landscape architecture, and related disciplines.

The 2011-12 Dumbarton Oaks fellows:

Simone Beta, Università degli Studi di Siena, Byzantine Studies, “Enigmatic Literature in Byzantium: Authors and Texts” (fall term)

Linda Brown, George Washington University, Pre-Columbian Studies, “Antiquities as Animate Objects: The Meanings and Circulation of Artifacts Among Maya Ritual Practitioners”

Luis Jaime Castillo Butters, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Pre-Columbian Studies, “Moche Landscapes of Power: Politics, Territory, and Ritual Practice in the North Coast of Peru”

Louis Cellauro, LARHRA (Laboratoire de Recherche Historique Rhône-Alpes), Garden and Landscape Studies, “Varro’s Aviary at Casinum: Reconstructions From the Renaissance to the Present”

James Doyle, Brown University, Pre-Columbian Studies, “The First Maya ‘Collapse:’ The End of the Preclassic Period at El Palmar, Petén, Guatemala”

Asa Eger, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, Byzantine Studies, “The Islamic-Byzantine Frontier: Interaction and Exchange Among Muslim and Christian Communities” (spring term)

Daniel Galadza, Pontificio Istituto Orientale, Byzantine Studies, “The Liturgical Byzantinization of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem (Eighth–13th Centuries)”

Laura Gamez Diaz, University of Pittsburgh, Pre-Columbian Studies, “Household Religiosity: Discerning Pluralism or Integration in the Ancient Maya City of Yaxha, Guatemala”

Andrew Hamilton, Harvard University, Pre-Columbian Studies, “Scale in the Pre-Columbian Andes” (fall term)

Michael Herchenbach, Universität Bonn, Garden and Landscape Studies, “Planting the Seeds of Rome: Garden Plants in the Northwestern Roman Empire”

Kateryna Kokalchuk, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Byzantine Studies, “Discovering Hagiography of St. Sophia: The Byzantine Diegesis and Encaenia of the Constantinopolitan Church”

Divna Manolova, Central European University, Byzantine Studies, “Paradigms of Knowledge in Nikephoros Gregoras’ Epistolary Collection”

Yuichi Matsumoto, Yale University, Pre-Columbian Studies, “Reconsidering Chavín and Early Paracas: Interregional Interactions in the South-Central Andes”

Miranda Mollendorf, Harvard University, Garden and Landscape Studies, “The World in a Book: Robert John Thornton’s ‘Temple of Flora’ (1799–1812)” (spring and summer 2012 terms)

Elizabeth Paris, State University of New York, Albany, Pre-Columbian Studies, “Political Economy on the Post-Classic Western Maya Frontier”

Georgi Parpulov, University of Oxford, Byzantine Studies, “‘Byzantine Manuscript Illumination in the Reign of Alexis Comnenus (1081–1118)”

Kostis Smyrlis, New York University, Byzantine Studies, “Diminished Sovereignty? Late Byzantine Taxation and State Finances From the 12th to the 15th Centuries”

Nebojsa Stankovic, Princeton University, Byzantine Studies, “Late-Byzantine Narthexes (litai) on Mount Athos: Architecture, Liturgy, Patronage”

Michele Trizio, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Byzantine Studies, “Philosophy and Theology Under the Comneni: The Case of Eustratios of Nicaea”

Nikos Tsivikis, University of Crete, Byzantine Studies, “The Settlement of Byzantine Messene: From Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages in the Southern Balkans, 500–800 A.D.”

Robin Veder, Pennsylvania State University, Garden and Landscape Studies, “‘Natural’ Performances: Early 20th Century Body Cultures in American Gardens”

Alla Vronskaya, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Garden and Landscape Studies, “Scientific Modernism: Psychophysiology and Rationalist Architecture in Soviet Russia, 1919–1941”

Jeffrey Wickes, University of Notre Dame, Byzantine Studies, “Out of Books, a World: The Scriptural Poetics of Ephrem’s Hymns on Faith”

Dumbarton Oaks has also awarded the first William R. Tyler Two-Year Fellowships for Harvard University graduate students working on dissertations in art history, archaeology, history, or literature of the Pre-Columbian or Mediterranean/Byzantine worlds. These fellowships offer one year of travel and research followed by a year in residence at Dumbarton Oaks to complete the dissertation.

The 2011-13 William R. Tyler Fellows:

Dylan Clark, Pre-Columbian Studies, “Living on the Edge: The Residential Spaces, Social Organization, and Dynamics of Isla Cerritos, a Maya Port”

Jakub Kabala, Byzantine Studies, “Frontier Spaces: Eastern Europe, 800–1000 A.D.”

Konstantina Karterouli, Byzantine Studies, “Mimesis and Identity: Byzantium in the Holy Roman Empire, c. 1100–1250”

Lisa Trever, Pre-Columbian Studies, “Moche Mural Painting and Practice at Pañamarca: A Study of Image Making in Ancient Peru”

Dumbarton Oaks makes a limited number of grants to assist with scholarly projects in Byzantine Studies, Pre-Columbian Studies, and Garden and Landscape Studies. Support is generally for archaeological research, as well as for the recovery, recording, and analysis of materials that would otherwise be lost.

The 2012 project grant awardees follow:

William Caraher, “Publication of the Ecclesiastical Architecture at the Site of Polis-Chrysochous on Cyprus”

Mark Jackson, “Byzantine Kilise Tepe Project”

Ioanna Kakoulli, “The Wall Paintings at the Enkleistra of St. Neophytos: Materials, Techniques, and Products of Alteration”

Akin Ogundiran, “Archaeological Investigations and Survey of the Sacred Arts in Osun Grove, Nigeria”

Robert Ousterhout, “An Architectural Survey of the Byzantine Monastic Settlement at Göreme, Turkey”

Carolina Vílchez Carrasco, “The Thorny Oyster and the Inca Empire: The Spondylus Workshop at the Inca Site of Cabeza de Vaca, Tumbes”

Tomasz Waliszewski, “Forgotten Heritage II: Study and Documentation of the Church of Mar Elias Btina in Beirut”

Enrico Zanini, “Gortyn in Crete: Transformation and End of a Capital City in the Early Byzantine Mediterranean”