Natasha Warikoo awarded Guggenheim Fellowship

April 26, 2017
Natasha Warikoo

Natasha Kumar Warikoo (Ph.D. 2005), Associate Professor of Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education, has been awarded a 2017 Guggenheim Fellowship to work on a study of the dynamics of suburban American communities that are experiencing racial change. The Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, launched in 1925, awards individuals “who have already demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship” or creative ability. Of the 173 new Guggenheim fellows, Warikoo is one of 17 social science grantees and the only one representing the field of education. The grant will fund one year of research and writing.

Warikoo’s book will be an ethnography of two wealthy, high-performing suburban schools. She explains that suburbs have historically played an important role in the experience of many immigrants, especially immigrants rising in class status. “When descendants of immigrants from countries like Italy and Ireland began to move up on the social ladder, they moved to the suburbs,” she says. “Many of those ethnic groups assimilated into the dominant group with groups like Italians going from being considered nonwhite to white in a span of decades.”

During her fellowship year, Warikoo will study students across racial lines in wealthy districts, especially Asian American students, who often score higher than white students. She will also explore how racial attitudes develop in both the youth culture and broader culture of the communities.

See also: Alumni news