The University of North Texas Libraries invite applications for the 2017 The Portal to Texas History Research Fellowship. Research using the Portal is relevant to studies in a variety of disciplines including history, journalism, political science, geography, and American studies. We encourage applicants to think creatively about the opportunities that research with large digital library collections can enable. Preference will be given to applicants who demonstrate the greatest potential for publication and the best use of The Portal to Texas History.

The Portal to Texas History 2017 Research Fellowship Awardee

Heather Sinclair

Project Title

Birthing a History of Midwifery in the Twentieth-Century Texas-Mexico Borderlands

Project Description

This project will use the Portal to Texas History digital collections to explore midwifery, childbirth practices, and infant mortality primarily in early twentieth-century El Paso, Texas. Particular attention will be paid to childbearing and child rearing practices as sites of inclusion and exclusion along the lines of gender, race, class, and citizenship. I will use this research to convert my dissertation into a book manuscript and to publish an article in a peer-reviewed journal in history.

Biography

Heather Sinclair has a background in professional midwifery and activism and received her Ph.D. in history in 2016 from the University of Texas at El Paso. Her dissertation is entitled “Birth City: Race and Violence in the History of Childbirth and Midwifery in the El Paso-Ciudad Juárez Borderlands, 1907-2013.” She is currently a lecturer in history and women’s studies at the University of Texas at El Paso. She received a B.A. in history and certificate in women’s studies from Duke University.