Michelle Zimbalist Rosaldo Prize in the Social Sciences
The Michelle Zimbalist Rosaldo Prizes are awarded annually by the Program in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies for the best papers and MA or Honors theses in the social sciences on feminism, gender or sexuality, written by any undergraduate or co-terminal B.A./M.A. student currently enrolled at Stanford. Each prize carries a cash award. The prizes are given in two divisions: The Honors Thesis Division (including coterminal Master’s theses) and the Paper Division. The Rosaldo Prizes are conferred by the Program in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at our annual community end-of-the-year banquet.
The Michelle Zimbalist Rosaldo Prize honors the memory of Professor Michelle Zimbalist Rosaldo (1944, New York – 1981, Philippines), known to her friends and colleagues as Shelly, was a social, linguistic, and psychological anthropologist famous for her studies of the Ilongot tribe in the Philippines and for her pioneering role in women’s studies and the anthropology of gender. Michelle Rosaldo wrote or edited several important works in the anthropology of women and gender relations and co-founded the Program in Feminist Studies here at Stanford University. In 1979 she received Stanford’s Dinkelspiel Award for outstanding service to undergraduate education. Michelle Rosaldo died from an accidental fall while conducting fieldwork in the Philippines in 1981, cutting short one of the brightest anthropology careers of her generation. She was survived by her husband Renato Rosaldo and their two sons. The Michelle Z. Rosaldo Summer Field Research Grant was also established in her memory at the Department of Anthropology at Stanford University to provide funding for undergraduate students to conduct fieldwork.