Awardee: Faith Barringer, “The Delineated Breast: Race and the Maternal Body in French Eighteenth Century Portraiture
Barringer examines the visualization of whiteness in French depictions of breastfeeding women to understand racial stereotypes surrounding motherhood in the eighteenth century. The essay argues that French art rarely depicted Blackness or French colonial realities directly, but instead reinforced racial categories by idealizing white motherhood and marginalizing Black women’s maternal roles. Through meticulous analysis of portraits of breastfeeding women, Barringer reveals how visual representations contributed to stereotypes about motherhood and racial identity, excluding Black women from the ideal of nurturing maternal care. The committee found the paper to be exceptionally well-written and compelling, with a particularly strong analysis of the construction of whiteness in French art and an innovative contribution to current debates about gender and colonialism.
Committee 2025-2026:
Jacob Myers
Natasha Shoory
Fauve Vandenberghe