February 2022 Public Humanities Newsletter
A monthly newsletter from Humanities for All, an initiative of the National Humanities Alliance.
Welcome to all our new subscribers! Since we launched the newsletter last month, we’ve seen a lot of enthusiasm for this resource across the humanities community. We now have over 300 subscribers. Thank you for your support!
In this newsletter:
If you haven’t already, please consider subscribing to our Substack (for free!) so that you receive the newsletter in your email inbox and don’t miss any news in the future. We also encourage you to submit items to share. If you have any questions or would like to connect about the newsletter please email Humanities for All project director Michelle May-Curry (mmaycurry@nhalliance.org).
Recently on the Humanities for All blog
January 18: Rebecca Friedman and Julio Capó, Jr. of the Wolfsonian Public Humanities Lab at Florida International University shared their thoughts on the public humanities as a distinct methodology rooted in social justice and explored some of the WPHL’s work in Miami communities.
February 1: Elizabeth Kimball of Drexel University wrote about Humanities at Work, a project that brings together Drexel students and staff at UESF, a Philadelphia-based community organization that provides support to vulnerable families.
Write about your public humanities work on the blog!
Pitch a post to us here.
Calls for Proposals
2022 National Humanities Conference
The Federation of State Humanities Councils and the National Humanities Alliance are excited to announce the 2022 National Humanities Conference, which will be held in Los Angeles, California, November 10-13, 2022. See the full call for proposals here. Proposals are due by April 1, 2022.
SAH | Places Prize on Race and the Built Environment
The Prize on Race and the Built Environment is a unique collaboration between the Society of Architectural Historians and Places Journal. The successful applicant will propose an original work of public scholarship that considers the history of race and the built environment through a contemporary lens. The inaugural prize will address the theme of settler colonialisms, broadly considered. See the full call for proposals here; the deadline to submit is February 21, 2022, at 5pm CST.
Take the Survey of Public Humanities Projects and Infrastructure
Do you have insights on the state of the public humanities on your campus?
The National Humanities Alliance has launched a major surveying effort that aims to collect publicly engaged humanities projects (including experiential learning and other high-impact humanities initiatives) and learn more about the campus-based infrastructure that supports this work. Please take the survey and share it widely!
Take the Survey of Public Humanities Projects and Infrastructure
Publication News
How I Talk about Activism without Talking about Activism is a new article by Laura Hartmann-Villalta published on Modernism/modernity, the open-access digital publication platform of the Modernist Studies Association. In the article, Hartmann-Villalta speaks to her role as director of the new Engaged and Public Humanities Master’s at Georgetown University, and asks a series of provocative questions about public humanities in higher ed.
The Dilemmas of Disciplines Going Public is a new Inside Higher Ed opinion piece by Harvey J. Graff commenting on the promise and pressures of applied and public humanities. Citing a need to revisit current public communication and “rhetorical expression” methods in the humanities, Graff calls for “a renewed set of initiatives by scholars across the disciplines going public” that move beyond disciplinary boundaries and that reflect public need.
Upcoming Events
Humanities for All Winter Webinar Series
This winter, the National Humanities Alliance has offered a virtual event series designed to support the higher ed community in launching, scaling up, and documenting the impact of public humanities in higher ed. Find recordings of the first three events on our YouTube channel, including:
Starting Points: Higher Ed Perspectives on how to Begin a Publicly Engaged Humanities Practice
Supporting Humanities Faculty in Creating Engaged Courses
Scaling Up: Growing Public Humanities Projects Beyond Higher Ed
Don’t miss the final webinar conversation in the series, Measuring Impact: The Role of Assessment in the Publicly Engaged Humanities.
Wednesday, February 16 from 2–3pm EST. Please click here to register.
Virtual NHA Annual Meeting and Humanities Advocacy Day
Join us for the virtual NHA Annual Meeting and Humanities Advocacy Day this March. The Annual Meeting program (March 14th) explores approaches to advocating for the humanities on campuses and in communities, including sessions on engaging undergraduates through the public humanities and documenting and communicating about the impact of publicly engaged work. On Humanities Advocacy Day (March 15th) state-based delegations will make the case for increased funding for the humanities on Capitol Hill, highlighting the public value of humanities work. Learn more and register here.
Technologies of Power
Funded by the Humanities War & Peace Initiative Grant at Columbia University, Technologies of Power is a public humanities initiative that encourages intersectional conversations on race, empire, technologies, and policing that break the boundaries between ‘foreign’ and ‘domestic,’ ‘abroad’ and ‘home,’ ‘technology’ and ‘power.’ View recordings of past events and register for upcoming conversations here.
Building and Managing Public Humanities Projects with the Library of Congress
Join the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of South Dakota for a two-part Zoom lecture and discussion with Josh Shepperd, assistant professor of media studies at the University of Colorado, director of the Library of Congress Sound Submissions Project, sound fellow of the Library of Congress National Recording Preservation Board, and associate editor of Resonance: The Journal of Sound and Culture.
February 17, 2022 | 3:30–4:30pm Central | Building Public Humanities Projects with the Library of Congress
February 18, 2022 | 1:00–2:00pm Central | Managing Public Humanities Projects with the Library of Congress
Learn more about each session and register for the lecture series here.
National Institutes
Creating Communities in California: Chinese American Experiences
Hosted by the History Project at University of California, Davis, this National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks in American History & Culture Workshop is a week-long program for K-12 teachers that will run twice from June 26–July 1, 2022 and July 10–15, 2022. Educators will learn about Chinese immigration through engaging four historic sites in California, with topics ranging from the Gold Rush era through the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 and its lasting impact. Apply by March 1st, 2022.
Summer Institute in Public Humanities
The New England Humanities Consortium is looking for applications to the 2022 Summer Institute in Public Humanities! The institute, hosted in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from June 6–10 will ground humanities faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students in the intellectual rationale, history, and foundational skills for doing engaged work in the humanities. Applicants must be nominated by their institutions by February 15th, and submit their applications by March 7th.
Stories and Masks: Global Masking Practices in the Classroom
Next event: February 11–13, 2022
Hosted by the African Studies Center at Boston University, this K-12 Professional Development Educator Weekend invites educators, especially art educators, to engage with global masking narratives, and provides critical thinking and pedagogical tools to rethink the approach to masks from a culturally responsive perspective. The weekend is a part of The College of Fine Arts’ Women & Masks Research Conference which includes four weekends of talks, workshops, papers, panels, and performances exploring the intersections of masks and women. The conference is free and open to anyone. Learn more and register here.
Employment and Funding Opportunities
Imagining America invites applications for a new Managing Director. The Managing Director will be the lead organizer of the national IA consortium, contributing to Imagining America’s overall strategy and leading key areas of work, including staff management and development and organizing the National Advisory Board, Regional Advisory Council, Leadership Forum, and National Gathering. Applicants should submit materials by February 7th.
Writer Roxane Gay and Substack invite applications for the Joel Gay Creative Fellowships. Three emerging writers will be supported over the course of the year as they develop and publish a newsletter on the Substack platform. Fellows will receive a $25,000 stipend as well as up to $15,000 in services from Substack. Applications are due by midnight on February 10th, and the selected fellows will be announced by March 15th.
The Dresher Center for the Humanities at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) invites applications for Visiting Faculty Fellowships for the academic year 2022-2023 as part of its Inclusion Imperative Program. The center welcomes applications from full-time faculty in the humanities at colleges and universities in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Applicants should submit their materials by February 15th, 2022.
The Department of English at Ursuline College seeks a teacher-scholar for an Anisfield-Wolf Postdoctoral Fellow in English & the Public Humanities. Candidates must have a Ph.D. in English or a related field in hand by the time of appointment. Application deadline is February 24, 2022.
The American Council of Learned Societies is currently accepting applications for their Digital Justice Grant program, designed to promote and provide resources for projects at various stages of development that diversify the digital domain, advance justice and equity in digital scholarly practice, and/or contribute to public understanding of racial and social justice issues. The program offers two kinds of grants: Digital Justice Seed Grants for projects at early stages of development; and Digital Justice Development Grants for projects that have advanced beyond the start-up or early phases of development. Application deadline is February 15th, 2022.
The University of Minnesota Libraries is looking for a Community Engagement Lead for the Mapping Prejudice Program. Mapping Prejudice is building a long-term program of community-embedded research related to the history of structural racism in housing policy and practice, as well as the legacies of these practices for the built environment and the people who inhabit them. Review of applications begins immediately and will continue until the position is filled.
Humanities Washington invites public humanists based in Washington state to apply for their new Public Humanities Fellows program, which aims to bring innovative public humanities programming to underserved communities around the state. The deadline to apply is March 1, 2022.
As always, check out the latest postings on the National Council of Public History’s job board, which provides a list of opportunities that might be of interest to those trained in the public humanities.
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