Nolan Named 2021 ACLS Fellow
Rachel Nolan, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, has been named a 2021 American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Fellow.
The ACLS Fellowship Program awards fellowships to individual scholars working in the humanities and related social sciences. Nolan is among the 60 fellows named for 2021.
During her fellowship, Nolan will conduct research on “The Cold War and For-Profit International Adoptions from Guatemala to the US.” This project spans the period from 1968 to 2007, when Guatemala closed international adoptions amid unfounded rumors of organ-trafficking and founded allegations of child theft and coercion of birth mothers. The year before closure, one in 110 children born there was adopted by a family abroad. This book manuscript draws on adoption files, police reports, court records, the results of FOIA requests, and oral histories to explore how Guatemala became a leading “sender” country for children.
Read more about Nolan’s research and that of the other fellows on the ACLS website.
Rachel Nolan is a historian of modern Latin America. Her research focuses on political violence, Central American civil wars, childhood and the family, historical memory, and U.S.-Latin American relations. She is currently completing a book manuscript on the history of international adoption from Guatemala. Read more about Professor Nolan on her faculty profile.