Two of the Emory History Department’s recent doctoral graduates, both from the department’s top-tier Latin American History program, have been awarded prizes for their dissertations. Dr. Marissa L. Nichols, whose dissertation is titled “Nurses, Indigenous Authorities, and Rural Health in Oaxaca, Mexico, 1934-1970,” received two prizes: the Teresa E. Christy Award from the American Association for the History of Nursing (AAHN) as well as honorable mention for the Richmond Brown Dissertation Prize from the Latin American & Caribbean Section (LACS) of the Southern Historical Association (SHA). Dr. Yanna Yannakakis, History Department Chair and Professor, advised Nichols’s dissertation. The award committee offered the following assessment of Nichols’s dissertation:

The study by Marissa Nichols is a layered and fascinating account of public health efforts in rural Mexico.  This dissertation is very readable and well documented and makes a serious contribution to the literature on development initiatives, especially in healthcare and education in indigenous communities in Mexico. It is original in that it asks new questions of the source data and centers nursing history in contexts other than the usual Eurocentric framework and many of the concepts can be applied globally.

Using the close reading of primary sources and ethnohistory along with a native linguist, Dr. Nichols develops a strong argument for new, rigorous review of how translation of documents impacts the conclusions drawn by researchers of cross-cultural concepts and constructs. The use of a wide variety of methods and approaches to uncover lesser-known aspects of the work of rural nurses, Dr. Nichols provides a scholarly ethnohistory that is a true pleasure to read.

Dr. Arturo Luna Loranca also received honorable mention for the Richmond Brown Dissertation Prize for his doctoral thesis, titled “The Dog Remains: Mexico City’s Canine Massacres During the Enlightenment, 1770-1821.” Associate Professor Dr. Javier Villa-Flores advised his dissertation.

Congratulations to you both!