Matson Museum Director James Doyle Awarded Fulbright for Book Project
James Doyle, director of Penn State’s Matson Museum of Anthropology and research professor of anthropology, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award for the 2026-27 academic year.
Doyle will use the six-month grant to conduct research in Panama for his forthcoming book, “Gran Coclé: The Royal Arts of Ancestral Panama,” which will be published by the University of Texas Press. The book will focus on reevaluating the art and archaeology of the Gran Coclé culture that ruled over Central Panama from about A.D. 500-1100.
The Fulbright will allow Doyle to review collections, visit archaeological sites and meet with Indigenous communities through partnerships with Panama’s Center for Historical, Anthropological and Cultural Research, the Panamanian Ministry of Culture, the El Caño Foundation, the University of Panama and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama City.