Seven research projects received funding through the 2019 Carrie Chapman Catt Prize for Research on Women and Politics.
“The Catt Center received 85 proposals from disciplines as varied as political science, history, theatre, queer studies, women’s studies and communication. Choosing from such a varied and high-quality pool of proposals is both rewarding and challenging,” said Karen M. Kedrowski, director of Iowa State University’s Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics, which sponsors the annual awards.
The selection committee, composed of 15 faculty members, blind-reviewed the proposals and chose four projects as winners of the Catt Prize and two projects for honorable mention awards. Each of the winning prize proposals will receive $2,000. Honorable mention awards will receive $1,000 each. An additional project was also selected to receive a special $2,000 award in honor of the centennial of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Prize winners for 2019 are:
Rebecca BestRebecca Best, assistant professor of political science at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, for “Gendered Reintegration of Veterans and Political Representation of Women in the United States.” The study will examine whether there are gender differences in how certain types of reintegration experiences influence a veteran’s interest in and willingness to vote, run for office or engage in activism and whether factors such as marital status and dependent children have a gendered effect on the willingness of veterans to engage in politics. The award will be used to fund a survey of military veterans, at least 40% of whom will be women.
Katharina LawallKatharina Lawall, doctoral candidate in government at the London School of Economics, for “Angry White Women? The Radical Right Gender Gap Revisited.” The experiment will attempt to replicate a study showing that gendered immigration messages can encourage women to express higher anti-immigration sentiment and support for the radical right and examine why men and women respond differently to gendered messages about immigration. The award will be used to acquire a representative sample for a survey.
Alysia Mann CareyAlysia Mann Carey, doctoral candidate in political science at the University of Chicago, for “‘I Felt the Hand of the Government in my Womb’: Black Women, Intimacy, and the Transnational Struggle for Life in Brazil and Colombia.” The study will study state violence against Afro-descendant women in Brazil and Colombia and analyze the ways in which intimacy and activism intersect. The award will be used to conduct interviews and focus group workshops.
Tiana WilsonTiana Wilson, doctoral candidate in history at the University of Texas at Austin, for “No Freedom Without All of Us: Recovering the Lasting Legacy of the Third World Women’s Alliance.” This project will examine the role of the Third World Women’s Alliance in women-of-color feminist movements, both domestically and abroad. The award will be used to fund an archival research trip.
Recipients of honorable mention awards are:
Regina BatesonRegina Bateson, visiting professor of political science at the University of Ottawa, for “Strategic Discrimination.” The study tests a new theoretical explanation for why women and people of color are underrepresented in U.S. politics – that individuals discriminate against a candidate out of concern that others will object to the candidate’s identity. The award will be used to support a research assistant and for software costs.
Carly WoodsCarly Woods, assistant professor of communication at the University of Maryland, for “The Rhetorical Afterlives of Politician Barbara Jordan (1936-1996).” This study will trace Jordan’s rhetorical afterlives by studying texts and practices such as memorials, statues erected in her honor, and invocations of her rhetoric on televisual and digital platforms to understand how memories of Jordan continue to shape public argument on pressing issues such as voting rights, impeachment, immigration, and education. The award will be used to fund an archival research trip and a graduate research assistant.
Recipients of the special award are:
Jennie Sweet-Cushman, assistant professor of political science at Chatham University; Rebecca Gill, associate professor of political science at University of Nevada, Las Vegas; and Sondra Cosgrove, associate professor of social and behavioral sciences at College of Southern Nevada, for “Nevada Bets on Women’s Political Leadership: An Examination of the First-Ever Majority-Women State Legislature.” The study will analyze how—in a female-dominated institution—gender has and has not interacted with other contextual variables such as party, tenure, leadership, and issue domain to impact legislative results. The award will be used for interview transcription, coding processes and travel. From left: Jennie Sweet Cushman, Rebecca Gill and Sondra Cosgrove
The annual research prize has been funded since 1994 by the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics through private donations. Since 1994, the Catt Center has awarded $122,500 to 117 research projects.
Members of the 2019 Catt Prize Selection Committee are Iowa State faculty members James McCormick, Mark Nieman, David Peterson, Mack Shelley, Alex Tuckness and Robert Urbatsch, all with the Department of Political Science; Amy Bix, Department of History; Sarah Dees, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies; Ann Oberhauser, Women’s and Gender Studies Program; Kelly Winfrey, Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication; and Kedrowski, as well as doctoral candidate Carrie Ann Johnson, Department of English. Amy Atchison, associate professor of political science at Valparaiso University; LaKeyta Bonnette, associate professor of political science at Georgia State University; and Jennifer Disney, department chair and professor of political science at Winthrop University, also served on the committee, which was assisted by Sue Cloud, communications specialist for the Catt Center.
