Jacobs Research Funds on Indigenous Americans

The Jacobs Research Funds (JRF) offers grants in support of research on aboriginal peoples of the Americas. Most grants are in the range of $3,000 USD, but projects up to $6,000 or $9,000 are also considered.

Eligibility

The JRF supports projects involving fieldwork with living aboriginal peoples of North and South America. Priority is given to research on endangered cultures and languages, and to research on the Pacific Northwest—that is, the Pacific Ocean coast from Northern California to Alaska, plus the Columbia Plateau in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

Projects that produce new data are the highest priority, including proposals to digitize, transcribe and translate old materials that might otherwise become lost or inaccessible. Projects that only process, analyze, or publish previously gathered data, whether in an archive or personal collection, are of lower priority. Most funded projects fall within linguistics (including language documentation and anthropological linguistics) or social-cultural anthropology (including folklore, social organization, political organization, and folk classification). Projects in religion, mythology, music, dance, and other arts are also eligible.

At least one of the Researchers on a JRF grant should have a PhD degree or should have advanced to candidacy for this degree. Otherwise, the proposal should designate a Sponsor. The Sponsor of a student in a degree program should normally be that student’s advisor or supervisor.

Deadline

All documents, including at least two support letters, must be received by the annual deadline of February 15.