Emphasizing critical perspective and imaginative response, the humanities...foster creativity, appreciation of our commonalities and our differences, and knowledge of all kinds.
-- American Academy of Arts and Sciences, The Heart of the Matter
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Why am I here- Universe, United States, Performance Studies, Mellon public scholarship…Why am I here? This to me was a very broad question. ‘Here’ could start from a very philosophical point of view of being the world or the universe itself. At this level I am at the level of humanity, we can all ask the same question. The following few interpretations of the word ‘here’ [Read More] 04.27.2017 dmahadevan |
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Why am I here?I’m from an academic family. I know how to handle academics, talk to them, and understand what they’re saying, most of the time. But I have to admit, since starting to take graduate-level humanities courses, a lot of language has felt needlessly opaque, like an insider’s club of alienating discourses. Especially at a time when [Read More] 04.27.2017 gracekuipers |
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Why am I here?Four simple words that form such a difficult and profound question. As I finish my second year of graduate school, the question of why am I here and why I choose to remain here have slowly begun to haunt me. Coursework is finishing and I’ll slowly start entering a more open stage of my graduate [Read More] 04.27.2017 genlara |
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Why am I here?This week we were asked to write about why we are here–and for me, the answer is simple. I think that knowledge production–scholarship–does not (and should not be thought of) as happening within the confines of the academy. Limiting access to scholarship, and limiting what constitutes scholarship, is harmful, particularly in the United States today. [Read More] 04.27.2017 cmari008 |
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Community-based learning: Why I am hereI came into public scholarship long before my formal education began. I am a member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe in northwestern California and our community based education begins early in life. We sing to each other, dance, and grow up knowing our histories and stories before we step foot inside of a classroom. Growing [Read More] 04.27.2017 borona |
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Why am I here?Today’s topic asks the question: Why am I here? The simple (or not so simple) answer to that question is that I am here to try something new. Over the course of this past year (and a reminder, I am a first year student in Sociology), I’ve found myself in a bit of a quandary. [Read More] 04.27.2017 rbtaggueg |
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Why I am hereI am assuming the ‘here’ in the question refers to the public scholars seminar. So, my answer, although directed at explaining why I am interested in being a public scholar, begins by pointing out a coincidence, which is the fact that I have often asked that question in my educational journey. Particularly, in the last [Read More] 04.27.2017 leopolp |
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Finding my way to Public ScholarshipBecause of its “outward-facing” approach, I think that public scholarship makes you a better teacher. Its emphasis on building community and exchanging ideas aligns with the classroom environment I want to build with my students and will help me cultivate a greater awareness of the issues they may be facing outside of it. The prospect [Read More] 04.27.2017 jetinonga |
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When and Where I Enter: Navigating the Academy, Community, Public, and Social Movements“We define activist scholarship as the production of knowledge and pedagogical practices through the active engagements with the service of progressive social movements” The aforementioned quote comes from the Okazawa-Rey and Sudbury reading, “Activist Scholarship and the Neoliberal university after 9/11.” They succinctly define activist-scholarship as being in constant service to the public and radical [Read More] 04.27.2017 jkhope |
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Why I am HereFrom our readings and discussions, it seems as if many people are scholars first and public scholars second. I mean this in terms of career trajectory, not in terms of importance. Many people became scholars and then later become publicly engaged with their scholarship. I have been fortunate enough to have a series of mentors [Read More] 04.27.2017 Alana Stein |
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Why am I here?Last year, I was invited to facilitate a session for a small parent group in California’s Central Coast. At the end of the session, I tried to prompt the parents to reflect upon the significance of their group; that is, what they had gathered from each other and how the group helped them grow. While parents found [Read More] 04.26.2017 mgsanchez |
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The Politics of Activist ScholarshipA central proposition in understanding the political engagement behind the project of public humanities resides in the teasing out “the unavoidable paradox,” as Lisa Lowe puts it, brought on by producing knowledge in social institutions that perpetuate an imbalance in power relations while unsettling such status quo through practices of community engagement. This week’s readings [Read More] 04.21.2017 dtenoriog |
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Scholarship for liberationI always appreciate readings that raise the interconnections between nations, particularly between the US and other Third World nations–reminding us that there is much more beyond our borders. Okihiro’s viewpoints of Third World studies as the theorization of liberation for everyone (!)–not just for Third World or communities of color. As Okihiro claims: Third World [Read More] 04.21.2017 mgsanchez |
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Social Justice, activism, and the Ph.D. Student: Engaging with communities with a goalI am currently attending the National Council for Public History Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana and many of the sessions have been grappling with the same themes we have in our Public Scholars class. How do we privilege communities without sacrificing academic integrity? Should that be the concern of an activist scholar? What do we call [Read More] 04.20.2017 borona |
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Does Liberatory Education Exist Within the University?This weeks’ readings were focused on the promise of Third World Liberation movements and water-downed promise of that movement reflected through university implementation of ethnic studies programs. More centrally, the readings centered on the question posed in the Okazawa-Ray reading: is it possible to teach and combat systems of oppression when we teach in universities [Read More] 04.20.2017 genlara |
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Limning the Space of the UniversityA lot of the points made in the readings for this week about the neoliberal college campus (especially in the Sudbury introduction) were interestingly echoed acutely in a meeting I was at after reading them. UC Berkeley is, like many public campuses, facing a budget deficit of $150 million and the response is disproportionately affecting [Read More] 04.20.2017 gracekuipers |
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Reactions to Readings: Navigating the Identities of a Public ScholarThe readings this week have made me think with more care about the intersecting identities of public activist and scholar. What are the responsibilities of both, what are the risks, and is it perhaps better to leave academia altogether and become a scholar not of public discourse, but within them? In the introduction to Activist [Read More] 04.20.2017 cmari008 |
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Finding a Place for Public ScholarshipThis week our readings and discussion have turned my thoughts to the position of the public scholar and public scholarship in universities. Questions about how and whether community-engaged work and activism should connect with work in academic institutions seem to generate a variety of answers—and more questions. Is it a failure to separate our academic [Read More] 04.20.2017 jetinonga |
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Alleviating my insecurities: Reconciling what it means to find purpose in the pursuit of knowledge.Growing up undocumented, I had few options in terms of what my future could be. Going to college was a dream that so few people like me had the opportunity to do, and the main goal I had in mind was to get my degree, get out, and get a job — to keep myself [Read More] 04.20.2017 rbtaggueg |
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Keep the Change: The Opportunity Present in the Changing Dynamics of the UniversityThe university is central to how scholarship has been conceptualized thus far. Therefore, we must consider the environment that public scholarship and scholarship more broadly inhabit at the university. Many shifts have been occurring in the university, including the development of the neoliberal university. The proliferation of the neoliberal university has profound implications for the [Read More] 04.20.2017 Alana Stein |