Humanities Faculty Mini-Grants

Humanities

CALL - 2024-2025 Humanities Faculty Mini-Grants

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2023-24 Humanities Faculty Mini-Grants Winners

The University Center for the Humanities is pleased to announce the 2023-24 Humanities Faculty Mini-Grant winners:

Agatha Slupek, Political Science: "Feminism in Public"

A redesigning of "Feminism in Public" course so that its activities foster 51�� students’ development of skills in archival research and public writing. The course seeks to introduce students to the vexed historical and conceptual relationship between feminism as a political movement and the very notion of the public sphere. [Additionally, the course seeks] to challenge students’ typically favorable view of social media as a forum for public (and feminist) discourse. By re-visiting historical examples of 20th century feminist publics and counter-publics (Berlant and Warner, 2007; Fraser 1990, 2016) in digital archives, students will gain a deeper appreciation of the varied collective practices by which dominant publics are challenged and counter-publics are formed.

Kristina Wirtz, Spanish: "Life-worlds Along the Kalamazoo River: A Public Humanities Project Addressing Environmental Change in a Time of Crisis"

A public humanities combined teaching/research/service project to center an anthropology of place on a riverine system close to 51��’s campus, the Kalamazoo River. The anthropology experiential and service learning class I am developing (ANTH 5030) will emphasize listening as a modality for learning and storytelling as a basis for nurturing relationships with community organizations and activists who care about the river.

Li Xiang, Department of World Languages and Literatures: "Tell Our Stories: A Video Collection Celebrates AAPI Heritage"

The project “Tell Our Stories: A Video Collection Celebrates AAPI Heritage” focuses on building bridges between Western Michigan University Chinese language students and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) heritage communities, especially the Chinese communities, in West Michigan.

2022-23 Humanities Faculty Mini-Grants Winners

The University Center for the Humanities is pleased to announce the 2022-23 Humanities Faculty Mini-Grant winners:

Susan Freeman, Gender and Women’s Studies: "Regarding Queer Elders"

Inspired by the work of mixed-media documentarian Jamal Jordan, Regarding Queer Elders will enlist 51�� students in collecting and showcasing images and stories of LGBTQ adults in later life.

L. Lusike Mukhongo, School of Communication: "Non-Extractive and Non-Intrusive Community Engaged Learning for Media Production Courses Research Team"

The goal of the project is to design a publicly engaged service-learning course that is nonintrusive and non-extractive and is carried out in collaboration with students, faculty and community partners. The project will draw on a problem-based model of community engaged learning, where students will work with community partners in Kalamazoo County to collaboratively design and implement community projects. It will initially be offered as an option for students taking the COM 3550 Digital Video Production: Non-Fiction. The broader goal is to create a service-learning section for COM 3550 Digital Video Production: Non-Fiction that will require all students taking it to get involved in community-driven projects.

Ángela Pérez-Villa , History: "Retazos: Weaving Latinx Histories in Kalamazoo"

"Retazos: Weaving Latinx Histories in Kalamazoo" is a project that aims to bring together 51�� college students and Latinx immigrant youth from our community through the study of history. The objective is to use history to engage the youth in sharing their personal stories, which will be featured in a digital collection with their permission.

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Humanities