Department of History

Erin H. Cantos

Email: ecantos@wisc.edu

Address:
Advisors: Alfred W. McCoy (History) and William J. Reese (EPS)

Erin H. Cantos

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