Erin H. Cantos
Email: ecantos@wisc.edu
Address:
Advisors: Alfred W. McCoy (History) and William J. Reese (EPS)

Biography
I am a joint Ph.D. candidate in Southeast Asian History and Educational Policy Studies. My research centers on the history of education in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Southeast Asia and the United States, and explores issues of identity, nationalism, assimilation, and exclusion. I am also broadly interested in American and European empire, and specifically in the Western missionary impulse as a component of the imperial educational project. Some of my other research interests include the history of childhood and transnational histories of education. Before returning to graduate school, I worked for several years as a nonfiction children’s book editor in my hometown of Chicago.
Education
M.A., Loyola University (Chicago, IL)
B.A., Lawrence University (Appleton, WI)
Field
- Southeast Asian History and History of Education
MA Title
- “Constructing a ‘Good’ Colonial Society: Representations of Philippine Colonial Education at the 1887 Philippine Exposition in Madrid and the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair”
Working Dissertation Title
- “Revolutionary Teachers: Colonial Schooling and Nationalism in the Spanish Philippines”
Selected Publications
- “The Impact of Spain’s 1863 Educational Decree on the Spread of Philippine Public Schools and Language Acquisition,” European Education 44, no. 4 (Winter 2012–13), 8–30.
Awards
- 2018–19: Education Graduate Research Scholar Fellowship (Ed-GRS), Graduate School
- 2018: Mellon-Wisconsin Summer Fellowship, Graduate School
- 2018: Arvil S. Barr Award, School of Education
- 2018: Finalist, NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship
- 2018: Finalist, Charlotte W. Newcombe Dissertation Fellowship
- 2017: Conference Travel Award, Graduate School
- 2016–17: Education Graduate Research Scholar Fellowship (Ed-GRS), Graduate School
- 2016: Noriko Saito Travel Award, Educational Policy Studies Department
- 2016: Research Travel Award, Graduate School
- 2015: Field Research Award, Center for Southeast Asian Studies
- 2015: Honored Instructor Award, Division of University Housing
- 2014: Early Excellence in Teaching Award, History Department
- 2014: Honored Instructor Award, Division of University Housing
- 2013: Sterling Fishman Memorial Scholarship, Educational Policy Studies Department
- 2012–13: Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS), Center for Southeast Asian Studies
- 2011–12: Education Graduate Research Scholar Fellowship (Ed-GRS), Graduate School
Professional Affiliations
- American Educational Research Association
- American Historical Association
- Association for Asian Studies
- History of Education Society
Courses Caught as TA
- History 319 – The Vietnam Wars
- History/EdPol 412 – The History of American Education
- IS 101 – Introduction to International Studies
Courses Caught as Instructor
- History/EdPol 412 – The History of American Education