November 2022 Public Humanities Newsletter
A monthly newsletter from Humanities for All, an initiative of the National Humanities Alliance.
In this newsletter:
November spotlight: Public humanities at UMBC
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We are currently soliciting short posts that highlight public humanities initiatives and projects for publication in the spring. Pitch a blog post to us here.
Calls for Proposals
American Examples 2023 Workshops
American Examples (AE) seeks applications for participants in its 2023 program. AE is a collaborative working group funded by the Henry Luce Foundation for early career scholars from a variety of disciplines who study religion in America. AE consists of three two-day workshops, each with its own focus: research, public scholarship, and teaching. The workshops are hosted at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and led by mentors drawn from the faculty of the Department of Religious Studies. Learn more here and submit an application by November 7, 2022.
The 13th Annual Lemon Project Spring Symposium “At the Root: Exploring Black Life, History, and Culture”
Founded in 2009, the Lemon Project explores and encourages scholarship on the 330-year relationship between African Americans and the College of William & Mary. The 2023 Spring Symposium will explore the following questions: What ways are African American communities taking charge and telling their stories? How are colleges and universities working with local African American communities to foster belonging? What methods are communities and scholars using to tell fuller narratives of African American life, history, and culture? In what ways are researchers contributing to the emancipatory aims of Black Studies through research collaboration with Black communities? The symposium seeks proposals from people who focus on Black life, history, and culture, including but not limited to academic and descendant researchers, educators, activists, and members of Greater Williamsburg communities and beyond. Learn more here and submit proposals by November 18, 2022.
Latinx Digital Humanities: Method, Theory, and Praxis
Chiricú Journal: Latina/o Literatures, Arts, and Cultures seeks contributions for a special issue on the topic of “Latinx Digital Humanities: Method, Theory, and Praxis.” This special issue will bring together critical essays, snapshots from the field (e.g. reports, descriptions of DH projects in progress, and interviews), and creative pieces that reflect on the use of Latinx methodologies and theories in digital humanities. Learn more about submitting here. The deadline for submission is August 15, 2023.
Upcoming events
Days of Future Past: Histories and Futures of Racial Representation in Comics
November 4–5, 2022 | Iowa City Public Library and livestreamed online
This event continues a year-long Mellon Sawyer Seminar devoted to “Race Reckoning Through Comics.” How have comics neglected as well as addressed racialized histories or imagined racialized futures? Hear from speakers such as Lara Saguisag (New York University), Julian Chambliss (Michigan State University), and Rachel Williams (UNC School of the Arts). These events will be held in person at the Iowa City Public Library and livestreamed on YouTube, where you can also view previous events in the seminar series. Learn more here.
November Spotlight: Public Humanities at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County
The public humanities are thriving at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Over the last decade Nicole King, associate professor of American studies and director of the Orser Center for the Study of Place, Community, and Culture at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, has worked with colleagues to develop public humanities research methods that address disconnections, misrepresentation, and inequalities in Baltimore City and in the classroom. Read more about the projects in this UMBC News feature story and read our profile on the Baltimore Traces project detailing one of King’s course-based projects.
UMBC has also been working across the region to support and sustain public humanities pedagogy in the classroom. Led by the Dresher Center for the Humanities and the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, the Inclusion Imperative is a major six-year Mellon-funded initiative promoting diversity and inclusive excellence in the humanities. Through the Inclusion Imperative, UMBC has partnered with Bowie State University, Coppin State University, and Howard University to create a regional network of scholars committed to diversity, inclusion, and social justice in the humanities. The Inclusion Imperative has three main programs:
Humanities Teaching Labs, which explore interdisciplinary tools and methods in the humanities that promote inclusive and community-engaged teaching.
Visiting Faculty Fellowship Program, which invites faculty from regional campuses who are committed to diversity in the humanities to UMBC as residential research fellows.
Diversity Teaching Network in the Humanities, which convenes Inclusion Imperative Fellows, faculty from participating regional institutions, and other interested scholars to share their research and pedagogy and encourages them to collaborate on projects focused on inclusion and social justice.
Publication and Project News
Recently on the Humanities for All website:
On the Humanities for All blog, Kishauna Soljour, assistant professor in the Department of Classics & Humanities and the associate director for the Center of Public and Oral History at San Diego State University, wrote about her participation in the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Summer 2022 Institute on Engaging Geography in the Humanities at Northeastern University. Read her reflection here.
Humanities for All has new projects! Check out the recently added filter and see what publicly engaged projects we’ve added from across the higher ed humanities community. Help us build the database by submitting your project!
The Simpson Center for the Humanities at the University of Washington has launched Going Public, a podcast dedicated to exploring public scholarship and publicly engaged teaching in the humanities. Since 2015, two Mellon Foundation-funded initiatives under the name "Reimagining the Humanities PhD and Reaching New Publics" have supported public scholars at the University of Washington. The episodes of Going Public consist of interviews with Mellon-supported public scholars after they have launched their projects or taught their public-facing seminars. In addition to the podcast, the new Reimagining the Humanities PhD archive features full graduate seminar descriptions with downloadable syllabi from faculty who received funding through the program to develop public scholarship courses that transform doctoral education. The archive also features three public scholarship projects completed by doctoral students funded through the program.
“Making a Case for Serendipity in Architectural Fieldwork” is a new article by University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee professor Arijit Sen in Buildings & Landscapes: Journal of the Vernacular Architecture Forum offering methodological insights from the Buildings-Landscapes-Cultures Field School. Focusing on place as material expressions of everyday culture, history, memory, and identity, the field school includes a coalition of academic and community partners who are exploring ways to counter the historical silencing and purposeful erasure of knowledge of marginalized places and people in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In “Reframing Major Regrets with the Public’s Humanities,” Virginia Humanities executive director Matthew Gibson responds to a recent Washington Post article written by Andrew Van Dam reporting that college graduates regret their choice to major in a humanities discipline more than other types of degrees. Acknowledging how “communities beyond academe have always been leaders in knowledge creation, engaging in activities to document, preserve and transmit local history and tradition,” Gibson argues for the continued applicability and joy of the public humanities both inside and outside higher ed.
Reframing Rural is a podcast that explores the resiliency of rural communities in Washington state and builds bridges across geographic, class, and cultural divides. The first episode of Season 3 is now available, with new episodes monthly. The podcast is produced and hosted by Humanities Washington Public Humanities Fellow Megan Torgerson.
Employment and Funding Opportunities
The Department of Humanities at Penn State College of Medicine invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professor position. All faculty in the department share a commitment to community engagement. The Kienle Center for Humanistic Medicine and Center Stage Arts in Health, both of which run programs for the College of Medicine and Penn State Health, are housed in the department. The department also supports Wild Onions, an arts and literature journal edited by medical students, as well as the Gold Humanism Honor Society, and serves as the academic home of the Journal of Medical Humanities. Review of applications began on October 15, 2022 but will continue until the position is filled.
The University of Arizona is seeking a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Public & Applied Humanities to start August 2023. Top candidates for the position should be highly collaborative, with a humanities-oriented and publicly engaged research specialization in one or more of the following areas: the environment (natural or built), health (epidemiological, dis/ability-related, and/or societal), technology (digital, analog, biological), narrative knowledge (place-based, embodied, digital), or similar cross-cutting and emergent research areas. Review of applications began November 1, 2022.
The University of Rhode Island (URI) seeks an Assistant Professor in English and Africana Studies: African and African American Literature and Culture. At URI, English and Africana Studies are historically linked departments with a long and deep tradition of collaboration in shared courses, graduate supervision, faculty association, and public programming. First consideration will be given to applications received by November 1, 2022. Second consideration may be given to applications received by November 15, 2022.
Carolina Public Humanities at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill invites applications for a Zietlow Postdoctoral Fellow for the Public Humanities. This three-year position will provide essential leadership in surveying North Carolina’s civic landscape, building relationships with community partners, and linking these partners with resources at UNC-Chapel Hill. Review of applications will begin on November 4, 2022 and continue until the position is filled.
The Library at Utah Tech University invites applications for a full-time two-year Visiting Assistant Librarian position. This position will create a Heritage Center within Special Collections and Archives for the study of the heritage, culture, and history of the region, including the significance of “Utah’s Dixie,” as outlined and funded under Utah House Bill 278. Application review begins November 7, 2022.
University of Iowa’s Obermann Center for Advanced Studies seeks an Assistant Director who will work closely with the Center director to design, plan, promote, and conduct programs and oversee communications. The Obermann Center is an interdisciplinary research center that has a long tradition of hosting collaborating artists, scholars, and scientists working in pairs, seminars, symposia, and summer programs. Apply by November 7, 2022.
Rice University seeks a historian of the modern Arab World to serve as Assistant or Associate Professor for the Arab American Educational Foundation (AAEF) Professorship. The position will carry a teaching load of four courses in a normal academic year. The successful candidate will also have opportunities for community outreach, intercollegiate collaboration, and public engagement in Houston supported by the Arab American Educational Foundation. Application review begins on October 15, 2022. For fullest consideration, application materials should be submitted by November 15, 2022.
The History Department at New Mexico State University is seeking an Assistant Professor who can assist in achieving the department’s mission of teaching, research, and service. The ideal candidate will teach Modern U.S. History and Public History at the undergraduate and graduate levels with expertise in at least two of the following areas: Historic Preservation, Museum Studies, U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, Digital History, New Mexico History, and Local History. Apply by November 15, 2022.
The Department of English at Washington University in St. Louis is seeking to fill two tenure-track positions, one at the rank of Assistant Professor and one at the rank of Associate Professor or (full) Professor. They seek scholars whose critical work lies in any of the historical fields of literatures in English and who bring to their scholarship the dimension of “creative practice,” including an interest in the public humanities. The search committee began their review of applications for the Assistant Professor position on September 20, 2022 and will begin their review of applications for the Associate/Full Professor position on November 15, 2022.
The Humanities Research Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, supported by a grant from the Mellon Foundation, seeks to hire a Post-Doctoral Fellow for a one-year appointment commencing fall 2023. The search is open to scholars in all humanities disciplines, including the humanities-inflected social sciences, whose research interests lie in the area of community-based social justice and human rights. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, community-based research in racial, im/migrant, and/or gender justice; public health; environmental justice; Indigenous sovereignty; and disability studies. Apply by November 28, 2022.
The Library of Congress invites applications for their Junior Fellows Summer Intern Program, which enables undergraduate and graduate students to experience the integrated analog and digital collections and services of the world's largest library remotely. Working under the direction of Library curators and specialists, fellows increase access to and engagement with collection materials. Interns will be exposed to a broad spectrum of library work: copyright, preservation, reference, access standards, and information management. Interns inventory, catalog, arrange, preserve, and research a backlog of copyright or special collections in many different formats in various divisions, and assist with digital preservation outreach activities throughout the Library. United States citizens currently enrolled in undergraduate or graduate school are invited to apply for consideration as a Junior Fellow. Apply by November 28, 2022.
The Jackman Humanities Institute at the University of Toronto is pleased to invite applications for a postdoctoral fellowship in New Media and Public Humanities. The fellow is expected to conduct active research on the theme of “Absence” and to propose, write, and publish innovative media projects that take humanities research into the public domain. Apply by November 30, 2022.
The Humanities Department at San José State University seeks an Associate Professor of Digital Humanities with primary teaching in the interdisciplinary Humanities Department and with responsibility for developing Digital Humanities research, curriculum, and community collaborations. Apply by December 1, 2022.
The Center for Presidential History (CPH) at Southern Methodist University invites applications for a two-year Postdoctoral Fellowship, to begin in August 2023. The CPH considers "presidential history" as broadly defined, and so welcomes applicants from all fields, topics, and time periods in U.S. history, particularly those pertaining to the nation, politics, governance, or executive power. As part of the fellowship, the postdoctoral scholar will participate in the public-face offerings of the CPH, including conducting interviews related to their Collective Memory Project, a public humanities project dedicated to enhancing the historical and archival record of various presidential administrations, beginning with the George W. Bush presidency. Apply by December 31, 2022.
Interintellect, a virtual salon for community conversations, is launching a microgrant program for 2022–2023. Between October 24, 2022 and February 24, 2023, Interintellect will be awarding $5,000 to up to five Interintellect members, who will become Interintellect Fellows for six months each. During the fellowship, the grantees will also stay in dialogue with their growing public via hosting monthly Interintellect events.
The Museum Studies Program in the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at George Washington University seeks to hire an Assistant Professor of Museum Studies (Collection Management) to teach core courses in collections management, lead the collections management concentration, and develop courses related to equity, inclusion, and social justice, broadly defined, in the area of museum collections. Among the areas of interest might be caring for/stewardship of culturally sensitive materials; provenance research; cultural property law and ethics; inquiry into what is collected and preserved; questions of access; approaches to repatriation; or ethics related to collections data. This is a full-time, nine-month, non-tenure position beginning in Fall 2023 with a renewable three-year contract.
The University of Iowa Libraries seeks to hire a Program Manager for the Digital Scholarship & Publishing Studio. This position manages the programmatic activities of the Digital Scholarship & Publishing Studio and facilitates the operational activities of faculty, staff, and graduate student research projects. The Program Manager provides administrative support for the graduate certificate in Public Digital Humanities, co-manages the Studio–Graduate College Summer Fellowship Program, negotiates memoranda of understanding with Studio scholars, and coordinates the staffing and grant writing needs of PIs and Studio staff.
Tulane University’s Center for Public Service seeks a Program Manager. In conjunction with the Center for Engaged Learning and Teaching, Taylor Center, School of Liberal Arts, and participating departments, the Program Manager will work with faculty, students, departments, schools, and national organizations to help design, implement, and evaluate the Mellon Foundation-funded Transforming Graduate Education Through Engaging the Community Program.
The Brown University Library seeks to hire a collaborative, innovative, and creative individual as a Digital Humanities Specialist. Working as part of a talented, collaborative team, the person in this position serves a central role in critically thinking about and selecting tools and methodologies for faculty-led projects, and project planning for some of the Center for Digital Scholarship’s digital projects. Current projects include a searchable database that records the little-known history of the enslavement of Indigenous people, a social media analysis project that studies the impact of the pandemic on the maternal health of Black mothers, and a research initiative focused on highlighting the stories of women and girls in hip hop.
As always, check out the latest postings on the job boards for the National Council on Public History and the American Association for State and Local History, which provide lists of opportunities that might be of interest to those trained in the public humanities.
Looking for job postings at state and jurisdictional humanities councils? Check out the Federation of State Humanities Council’s careers page!
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