Parker Hatley Awarded 2024-2025 USC Shoah Foundation Katz Research Fellowship in Genocide Studies

Parker Hatley, PhD candidate in Anthropology and Critical Media Practice at Harvard University, has been awarded the 2024-2025 USC Shoah Foundation Robert J. Katz Research Fellowship in Genocide Studies. He will be in residence at the USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research for a month during the Spring 2025 semester to pursue research for his dissertation.

During his time at the Center, Hatley will explore the testimonies of Guatemalan genocide survivors in the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive (VHA) to examine the complex relationships between coffee plantations, the military, guerilla groups, and local Indigenous communities. His research with the survivor testimonies collected by the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala (FAFG) will complement extensive fieldwork and archival research he has conducted in Guatemala from 2020 to 2023.

Hatley earned a B.A. in Anthropology with a concentration in Latin American and Iberian Studies from Bard College in New York and completed a post-baccalaureate fellowship with the Al-Quds Bard Honors College. He has earned several grants and fellowships, including the Fulbright García-Robles Scholarship, Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Research Fellowship, and funding from the Film Study Center at Harvard. In addition to his dissertation work, Hatley is in the process of creating two documentary films based on his fieldwork experiences. His dissertation research and filmmaking focus on plantation labor, caste, insurgency, historical memory, and emigration in the Quiché Department of Guatemala.

The USC Shoah Foundation Robert J. Katz Research Fellowship in Genocide Studies is awarded annually by the USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research to an outstanding advanced-standing Ph.D. candidate from any discipline for dissertation research focused on testimony from the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive and related unique USC research resources. The fellowship enables the recipient to spend one month in residence at the USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research during the academic year and to deliver a public lecture about his or her research. The fellowship is named after long-time volunteer and former USC Shoah Foundation Board of Councilors Chair Robert J. Katz in recognition of his service to the USC Shoah Foundation. Read about previous Katz Research Fellows in Genocide Studies here.