Stella Gonzalez wins 2020 Phi Beta Kappa/Charles Bassett Prize

Stella Gonzalez (’22) has been awarded the 2020 Phi Beta Kappa/Charles Bassett Prize in American Studies. Stella will use the $1000 prize to support her research project titled, “Kalinga Tattooing: Reclaiming the Body in the Filipinx-American Diaspora.” The project explores how this diasporic community has shaped the resurgence of the native Kalinga tattoo style, specifically through the Indigenous batok method. By analyzing a wide array of literature, from historical texts to children’s books, Stella argues that Kalinga tattoos function as a vehicle for modern Filipinx-Americans to reclaim and liberate their own bodies. Her research trip to the Philippines in the summer of 2020 will allow her to access archives and conduct interviews. On the personal significance of this work Stella writes, “Being a Filipina immigrant is extremely important to my identity and my majors [in American Studies and Art History] have enabled me to research more about my own culture.” To read more about this annual prize in American Studies, go to https://www.colby.edu/academics/departments-and-programs/american-studies/–all-tablesstudents/prizes/.