The American Culture Studies Program (AMCS) at Washington University in Saint Louis is pleased to announce it has awarded three postdoctoral fellowships to exceptional early career scholars. The fellowships will begin with the 2021-2022 academic year and are renewable for the following year.
Postdoctoral Fellowships in the study of Saint Louis and the American story:
Joe Bartzel is currently a Religion, Spirituality and Democratic Renewal Fellow with the Social Science Research Council. A native of Saint Louis’s historic African American neighborhood, The Ville, Joe received his PhD in religious studies from Indiana University where his dissertation, From Riot to Reconciliation: The Ferguson Commission and the Future of St. Louis, was supported by a number of external fellowships including the Forum for Theological Exploration as well as a Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship from the Institute for Citizens & Scholars (formerly the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation). His book manuscript project, Commissioned Memories, examines institutional responses to the 2014 Ferguson protests in the context of a century-long history of report-based and commission politics in the United States, and points to truth and reconciliation commissions as a more promising model for a form of commission politics that can substantively redress the racial injustices endured by African American citizens in Saint Louis specifically and the nation more broadly. Joe received his BA and master’s degrees from the University of Missouri, as well as master’s degree in historical theology at Eden Theological Seminary. Elizabeth Eikmann is a PhD candidate in American Studies at Saint Louis University. Her research sits at the intersection of women’s history, visual culture studies, urban history, and public humanities. Eikmann’s dissertation explores turn-of-the-century women’s photography in St. Louis and its role in gender and racial formation in the Saint Louis region. Eikmann’s research has been supported by the Henry Luce Foundation’s Lived Religion in the Digital Age Initiative at Saint Louis University. Her work was recognized with the 2021 Lynn and Kristen Morrow Missouri History Paper Prize for the best student paper on Missouri History. In addition to her research, Elizabeth was a co-partner in an interpretive tourism company and offers thematic tours of St. Louis neighborhoods. She received her BA from the University of Missouri in Saint Louis and her Master’s degree from Saint Louis University.
Postdoctoral Fellowship in Ethnic Studies:
Daniel K. Woo received a Ph.D in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley where he was recipient of the UC Berkeley Fellowship for Graduate Study and the Metro New York Leaders Fellowship Fund. His research interest include Asian American Studies, relational race analysis, and Afro Asian politics, specifically in the realms of social movements and popular culture. His dissertation explored how underground Asian American rappers from racially-mixed localities navigate Hip Hop as a critical site of polycultural and Afro Asian community formation. His book manuscript, Asian Americans in the Cipher: Regional Racial Formation, Hip Hop Aesthetics, and Scenes of Afro Asian Collaboration, revises and expands his dissertation research. Daniel received his BA from Columbia University in New York City and his Master’s degree from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
These postdoctoral awards are one expression of the mission of AMCS to support and foster the cross disciplinary study of the American experience. Fellows will work to complete their first book projects during their postdoctoral appointments and will participate in the intellectual life of AMCS and the University through teaching courses, and advising our growing cadre of more than 100 undergraduate majors and minors, as well as mentoring graduate students.
