Mandel Center for the Humanities

Isaiah Wooden, Assistant Professor of Theater Arts, was awarded a Faculty Research Grant for his book project, “Reclaiming Time: Race, Temporality and Black Expressive Culture.” The book critically examines an array of artistic works by Black artists that reflect on and reckon with the interplay of Blackness and time. The book proposes that for many Black artists, particularly those who came of age in the aftermath of the freedom struggles of the 1960s and 1970s, a deliberate and often ludic engagement with matters of time and temporality has served as a key means by which to interrogate and explore the conditions and complexities of Black life.

Elizabeth Ferry, Professor of Anthropology, was awarded a Public Humanities Grant for a collaborative project with the Bogotá-based non-profit organization OjoRojo Fábrica Visual to facilitate and document dialogue around the War of Villarrica (1954-1957) in rural areas of Colombia most affected by these events. While this war has largely been erased from the collective memory, the objective of this project is to build on and fortify efforts in Villarrica to inform the Colombian public about this censored history. The planned exhibition is designed as a “wall newspaper” that functions both as a large-format newspaper and can unfold and attach to the wall easily, creating a versatile and inexpensive exhibit that works in all sorts of public spaces, including schools, community centers and libraries. The project will involve organizing informal small-group discussions about the exhibition and the war in Villarrica and to document responses to them. These discussions will amplify the effect of the exhibitions and will aid OjoRojo in planning future events.

Émilie Diouf, Assistant Professor of English and affiliated faculty in African and African American Studies and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, was awarded a Public Humanities Grant for her project “Women Writing/ Écrire au féminin,” in collaboration with Amina Seck, author, screenwriter, and director of Cultur’Elles, an organization that promotes women’s rights through the arts. The project supports young Senegalese women writers by creating an intergenerational network to train and mentor them, in addition to a hybrid writing workshop that includes sessions on cultural entrepreneurship and digital publishing. It will culminate in a book fair that brings together authors, readers, publishers, literary scholars, librarians and other important figures in the literary scene, as well as the publication of the short stories stemming from the workshop.

V Varun Chaudhry, Assistant Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, was awarded a Faculty Research Grant for his book project, “Incorporating Transgender: Race and Resources in the Fight for Trans Justice.” The book maps how transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) communities of color and their allies identify and garner resources from nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. Amidst ongoing calls from academics and activists to abandon or abolish state institutions, the book reveals how TGNC communities of color are navigating these flawed institutions to better sustain their lives.