Four doctoral students have received U.S. Department of Education Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad grants totaling $112,539 for research in modern foreign languages and area studies abroad for the 2014-15 academic year, the International Institute has announced.

Nationwide, 83 individual fellowships were awarded to 37 institutions. The university tied for third place in this rigorous competition. The goal of the research grants is to deepen knowledge of areas in the world not generally included in U.S. curricula.

“The DDRA makes my research possible,” said U-M recipient Allison Caine. “It will provide the funds and institutional support necessary to spend months living with herders in the mountains outside Cusco, Peru.

“When conducting this type of research, one can often feel solitary and a bit untethered. This grant allows me to be part of a broader scholarly community both here in Peru and internationally.”

The DDRA award is part of the larger Fulbright-Hays Program, which dates to 1961 when the late U.S. Sen. J. William Fulbright sponsored legislation for several programs that aim to increase mutual understanding between the United States and the rest of the world.

The 2014-15 Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship recipients, countries where they will live, and projects include:

• Allison Caine, Peru, “Herders and Socioenvironmental Transformations in the Cordillera Vilcanota of Peru.”

• Sara Katz, Nigeria and England, “Yoruba Muslims in Ibadan, Nigeria.”

• Allison Martino, Ghana, “Stamping History — Stories of Social Change in Ghana’s Adinkra Cloth.”

• Anna Mester, Mozambique, Portugal and Spain, “Rethinking Independence — Prisons as Metaphors of Decolonization.”

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