We are excited to announce two THI Faculty Research Fellows and two Faculty Public Humanities, Digital, and Community-Engaged Research Fellows who will receive support for their academic projects in the 2023-2024 academic year.
This year’s THI Faculty Research Fellowship awardees are Professor Banu Bargu (History of Consciousness) and Associate Professor Muriam Davis (History/Critical Race and Ethnic Studies). Professor Bargu’s book project examines Turkey’s transitional regime, while Professor Davis’s book project investigates how decolonization reshaped anthropology, ethnology, and sociology in the Mediterranean.
Currently in its second year, the Faculty Public Humanities, Digital, and Community-Engaged Research Fellowship Program provides Humanities Division faculty with support to pursue scholarly activity that brings academic work to audiences beyond the university and/or partners with members of the public as research collaborators. The fellowship, co-funded by the Humanities Dean and THI, allows Humanities faculty to expand their public-facing research and builds on a strong tradition of public humanities at UC Santa Cruz.
This year’s cohort’s projects include developing a place-based ethnic studies curriculum that centers communities of color in the greater Santa Cruz region, and creating a digital archive of psychedelic history. THI is pleased to offer resources and recognition to these public-facing academic projects as part of our continued mission to elevate humanities expertise beyond the university.
See the fellows’ projects below and check our newsletter and website for stories about their research in the year ahead. A list of all THI Fellows is available here.
Congratulations to the four new Faculty Fellows!
From left to right: Professor Christine Hong, Professor Banu Bargu, Professor Ben Breen, Professor Muriam Davis
THI Faculty Research Fellows
Banu Bargu (History of Consciousness/Politics): “Toward A New Republic”
Muriam Davis (History/Critical Race and Ethnic Studies): “Algeria, Decolonization, and the French Social Sciences”
Faculty Public Humanities, Digital, and Community-Engaged Research Fellows
Ben Breen (History): “The Digital Archive of Psychedelic History“
- create an online repository of primary sources and archival guides relating to the history of psychedelic substances, featuring oral history interviews, written documents, and audiovisual materials contributed by a wider community
Christine Hong (Literature): “The Local as Curriculum in K-12 Ethnic Studies in Santa Cruz County”
- develop a place-based ethnic studies curriculum centering the histories, struggles, and culture work of Indigenous peoples and communities of color in the Santa Cruz region