Vassar professors snag national grants

Brian Farkas News Editor

Associate Professor of History Mita Choudhury and Visiting Associate Professor of English Karen Robertson have both been awarded fellowship grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for their research projects.

The NEH, an independent federal agency established in 1965, is currently the largest financial supporter of humanities programs in the United States. Its fellowships are highly sought-after and considered very prestigious. The application process involves submitting a detailed proposal along with two supporting letters. “It sounds simple,” said Robertson, “but it is a very competitive national award.” Only about 11 percent of applicants were awarded financial support.

Choudhury will receive $24,000 toward her book The Cadière/Girard Affair: Seduction and Heresy in 18th-Century French Political Culture, which chronicles a scandal in the southeastern French territory of Provence. Catherine Cadière and her spiritual counselor Jean Baptiste Girard claimed that Cadière was exhibiting signs of sainthood. The two spread rumors that her hands showed stigmata and that communion wafers literally flew into her mouth during mass. However, Cadière soon accused Girard of seducing and impregnating her, then giving her a potion that induced miscarriage.

The subsequent trial was a sensation, piquing the interest of people from Paris to London. Popular psalms and songs about the affair resulted in mass riots.

“This fantastic scandal clearly had deep resonance,” said Choudhury. “I wanted to write a book that I could use in my teaching that students would find compelling and that would highlight some important themes in the history of 18th-century France.” She will use the book in her course on the French Revolution.

Robertson received a $40,000 grant and will be taking a year-long leave of absence to complete her book Pocahontas Among the Jacobeans. The project focuses on Pocahontas’s interactions with the Europeans she encountered during her trip to England.

“The book comes out of my work both in Renaissance drama and in Women’s Studies, which led me a long time ago to ask questions about the construction of race and gender in the early modern period,” explained Robertson. Her research began upon discovering that Pocahontas had seen a performance at the court of James I, but that no one had recorded her reaction. “That set me off on a long hunt to try and find out what she made of this new culture and what they made of her.”

Director of Corporate Foundation and Government Relations James Olson said that the grants will enable the faculty members to finish their books. “We’re very proud,” Olson said in an interview with The Poughkeepsie Journal. “The competition is quite stiff.” Robertson and Choudhury are team-teaching a course this semester in the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program entitled “Women in the Renaissance.”