University of Chicago student Tori Harris has been named a 2026 Rhodes Scholar. Harris, currently in her fourth year at the College, will attend Oxford University next fall to pursue a master’s of science in African studies and archaeology.
“It’s an incredible honor to be selected to study as a Rhodes Scholar,” said Harris. “There’s a part of me that feels like this is a little surreal, but I’m excited to be given this opportunity to study what I love at Oxford. I’m hoping to do right by the people who set me on this journey as I move forward in my work.”
Harris is the 56th UChicago student to receive the Rhodes Scholarship and the third from the College in the past year.
“Tori has not only exhibited remarkable creativity during her time in the College, but also demonstrated the effectiveness of community-based knowledge—a hallmark of public archaeology,” said Melina Hale, dean of the College. “We’re incredibly proud of her and this achievement.”
During her studies in anthropology and creative writing, Harris has concentrated on using archaeology to recover African American culture and history. She began her archaeological work as a teenager in Tulsa, Oklahoma, participating in research related to landmarks from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
“My path in archaeology started when I volunteered during the riot’s centennial anniversary,” Harris said. “I was 16 years old, and had a role in mapping smaller community sites that shaped the city and those neighborhoods for years to come. However, it wasn’t until my second year at UChicago that I became interested in African diasporic religious practices and started studying the connection between those practices and the revolutionary theory of those who were enslaved.”
Currently working on her thesis about material culture, Harris used artifacts recovered from an excavation at Woodland Plantation in Louisiana last summer for her research. She combines insights from creative writing with archaeological findings.
“History is, in some sense, a creative discipline because you don't always know the exact facts of everything that happened,” Harris said. “And especially in archaeology, it's very difficult to find the exact facts from the fragments we find in the ground. So, there's a creative process that comes with it.”
At Oxford, she intends to apply methodological approaches influenced by Britain’s tradition of public archaeology with its emphasis on community involvement. Her recent experience excavating Duncan Plaza in New Orleans included collaboration with local residents who contributed genealogical knowledge relevant to ongoing projects.
“There is a project in the outskirts of Cardiff that uses local volunteers at their archaeological sites to not only help out with research but also to care for the site,” Harris said. “It’s honestly the reason why I want to be in the U.K. I want to learn what the best way to reach community members is and how to involve them and their local expertise in the discovery of history that is right in their backyards.”
Harris expressed gratitude for support received from family, friends, professors, and university staff.
“It’s rare to encounter someone who is Tori’s age that already knows deep in their bones that they want to get into archaeology,” said Jennifer Cole, professor at UChicago's Department of Comparative Human Development. “She has the right combination of passion, smarts and stick-to-itiveness to be the next bright mind in our field, and I can’t wait to see what she does with this opportunity.”
The Office of National Fellowships within UChicago's College Center for Research and Fellowships provided guidance throughout application processes for nationally competitive awards such as Rhodes Scholarships. Additional support came from faculty involved with Marshall and Rhodes nomination committees.