About the Scholar...
Dr. Vail received her Ph.D. from Tulane University in 1996. She is a specialist on Maya glyphs and codices. She has worked as a senior researcher on the Maya Hieroglyphic Database Project (Martha Macri, PI) and developed her own database of the Madrid Codex. She co-edited “Papers on the Madrid Codex” (MARI, 1997). She is author of “Language and Dialect in the Maya Hieroglyphic Script,” in the Special issue of Written Language & Literacy 3:1 (2000) and Representations of Women in Postclassic and Colonial Maya Literature and Art. In Grandmothers of Light, edited by Traci Ardren (2002). [Sources of information for this biographical sketch: http://www.ncf.edu/PublicAffairs/documents/Vail.htm; http://www.mostlymaya.com/PCS.html. Photo by Stephanie Wood, Puebla, Mexico, 1996.] Additional information on line: “Gabrielle Vail holds research appointments with the Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University and the Division of Social Sciences, New College of Florida in Sarasota, and a part-time teaching appointment at Ringling School of Art and Design, Sarasota. She received her Ph.D. in Anthropology in 1996 from Tulane University. Her dissertation and subsequent research focus on Late Postclassic Maya religion and culture as seen from the perspective of the Maya codices. She has been the recipient of various grants and fellowships in support of her research, including a National Endowment for the Humanities Dissertation Award, two Fellowships in Pre-Columbian Studies at Dumbarton Oaks, two National Science Foundation Research grants (with Martha Macri), a National Endowment for the Humanities Collaborative Research grant, and a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship. Funding received from NEH in July 2001 supported the development of an on-line database and website of the Maya Madrid Codex in collaboration with Christine Hernández and Victoria R. Bricker of Tulane University. The database, which was completed in September 2002, is being hosted by Dumbarton Oaks (www.doaks.org/Pre-Columbian.html). Vail is the co-editor of two books—Papers on the Madrid Codex with Victoria R. Bricker (MARI, 1997) and a forthcoming volume co-edited with Anthony F. Aveni, The Madrid Codex: New Approaches to Understanding an Ancient Maya Manuscript (University Press of Colorado). She has published a number of articles and book chapters on the Maya codices that examine Maya deities, ideology, and ritual practices. Her most recent publications appear in Ancient Mesoamerica, Current Anthropology, Latin American Indian Literatures Journal, Research Reports on Ancient Maya Writing, and Written Language and Literacy.” [Source for quote: http://stonecenter.tulane.edu/MayaSymposium/bios.htm.]