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TORONTO - A University of Toronto history scholar has won one of the world's top academic prizes, an award she hopes will encourage younger generations to keep the stories of the past alive.
Natalie Zemon Davis has won the Holberg Prize, which is worth US$700,500 and awarded for outstanding scholarly work in the arts and humanities, social sciences, law or theology.
"I feel grateful not only to the Holberg Prize committee but to all the people that I've learned from over the years," Davis, 81, said in an interview from her Toronto home.
"In a funny way I feel grateful to the long-dead people in the past I've written about because I tried to make their stories and their voices come alive for people today, but they left me the material."
Davis is the second University of Toronto professor to win the award in as many years, following philosopher Ian Hacking, who won the prize last year.
She hopes the win will boost support for the social sciences, and shed light on the need of more government funding for the field.
But she will also be making her own contribution.
"I would hope to make some kind of donation to graduate student programs, to some of the great libraries that I worked at and other things that would help further work in the humanities and social sciences," Davis said
While she's unsure how the prize may affect her work, which has focused on early modern Europe, Davis jokes she may now take an even bigger interest in Norway.
The prize, established by the Norwegian parliament in 2003, will be awarded at a ceremony on June 9 in Bergen.
The Holberg Prize Academic Committee described Davis as "one of the most creative historians writing today, an intellectual who is not hostage to any particular school of thought or politics."
"The creativity and fearlessness of her work have inspired many younger historians, encouraging them to follow their own curiosity," the committee said in a statement.
Davis, a Detroit native, is also a professor emerita from Princeton University, an author and a pioneer of early modern history, social and cultural histories and the study of women and gender.
She has received honorary degrees from several universities, including the University of London, University New Brunswick and Amhert College, and the University of Warwick in England.
She's currently working on a project connected with the history of slavery in the 18th century.
"This is simply outstanding news for the University of Toronto, and such a fitting tribute to the stature of our humanities scholars in the international community," Peter Lewis, the university's acting vice-president of research, said in a statement.
