Annual Report 2018-19
Grants and Awards
The IHR awarded $87,908 in grants and awards in FY19.
grants and awards were gifted to benefit humanities research and innovation in FY19.
69% of seed grant applicants were funded in FY19.
50% of seed grants that received funding in FY19 were collaborative projects.
Fellows Program
Our fellows gathered research on communities in six different regions across the world in FY19.
The Klamath River and Yurok Tribe in Northern California • The Hopi Tribe in Northeastern Arizona • Chicanas/os in the U.S. • Public Art and Policy in New Orleans • Bodhgaya Land in Eastern India • Japan’s Overseas Dam Construction in Asia
Seed Grant Program
Matthew Toro, Paul Hirt and Robert Spindler used spring 2018 seed grant funding to document the history of mapping at the Grand Canyon.
February 28-March 1, 2019, they held the Mapping Grand Canyon Conference. This public event attracted hundreds of visitors, who enjoyed an uncharted exploration of map use at the iconic national park. Toro developed the map to the left as an original cartographic contribution for the conference.
Heather Switzer and Anastasia Todd used seed grant funds to interview over 40 young women with invisible disabilities.
They found that 100% of participants felt they had been dismissed or under suspicion because of their age and gender. Switzer and Todd hope their research will lead to greater access to resources for people with these disabilities.
For his seed grant project, Michael Tueller is developing a search engine that can identify metrical patterns in poetry and specific variances of those patterns.
So far, his algorithm can identify 98% of lines in Homer’s epics. This search engine will allow scholars to investigate claims that Ancient Greek poets quoted each other by copying their metrical patterns.
Book Award
Winner
“Beautiful Wasteland: The Rise of Detroit as America’s Postindustrial Frontier,” by Rebecca J. Kinney, reveals the contemporary story of Detroit’s rebirth as an upcycled version of the American Dream, which has long imagined access to work, home and upward mobility as race-neutral projects. Kinney tackles key questions about the future of postindustrial America, and shows how the narratives of Detroit’s history are deeply steeped in material and ideological investments in whiteness.
Honorable Mention
“Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity,” by C. Riley Snorton, identifies multiple intersections between blackness and transness from the mid-nineteenth century to present-day anti-black and anti-trans legislation and violence.
Honorable Mention
“Incarcerating the Crisis: Freedom Struggles and the Rise of the Neoliberal State,” by Jordan T. Camp, traces the rise of the neoliberal carceral state through a series of turning points in U.S. history, including the Watts insurrection in 1965, the Los Angeles revolt in 1992 and events in post-Katrina New Orleans in 2005.
Community Events
The IHR hosted 43 events and provided several event sponsorships in FY19.
Workshops
The IHR hosted 16 workshops in FY19.
Cathy Davidson, scholar in technology history and active learning, led “Collaboration, Humanities Style” at the IHR on September 18, 2018.
Her workshop taught participants how to lead, organize, sustain and reward collaboration in the classroom, in research groups and in the community.
