Cogut Institute for the Humanities

21st-Century PhD

The institute, in partnership with departments, centers, institutes, and initiatives at Brown, seeks to advance programming and broader discussions on the structure, experience, and aspirations of the PhD degree. Convened by Damien Mahiet, Director of Academic Programs.

Upcoming Events

Details of future events will be displayed soon.

Previous Events

  •  Location: Cogut Institute, Andrews HouseRoom: 110

    In this two-part panel, three editors discussed careers in publishing and best strategies for getting your work into print. Professor of American Studies and Urban Studies Samuel Zipp moderated the conversation between Timothy Bartlett ’90, executive editor at St. Martin’s Press; Susan Ferber ’93, executive editor for American and world history at Oxford University Press; and John Palattella, an editor for the print and digital magazine The Point who previously served as poetry and literary editor for The Nation.


    Speakers

    Tim Bartlett ’90 is executive editor at St. Martin’s Press, where he acquires in a range of fields including narrative nonfiction, history, current affairs, memoir, and idea-driven business. He worked previously at Basic Books, the Random House imprint of Penguin Random House, and Oxford University Press. He has, over the course of his career, specialized in helping academics write for a general audience. He graduated from Brown University with a concentration in history.

    Susan Ferber ’93 is an executive editor for American and World history at Oxford University Press USA. Her list ranges from ancient to contemporary history and includes both academic and trade titles. Books she has edited have been national bestsellers and won numerous prizes, including the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize, the Bancroft Prize, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Since 2005, she has taught at the Columbia Publishing Course in New York and Oxford. While at Brown University, she designed an independent concentration in Victorian and Edwardian Studies and took a leave of absence to study at St. Hugh’s College, Oxford.

    John Palattella is an editor at The Point, a print and digital magazine of philosophical writing. He has been an editor at Lingua Franca, the Columbia Journalism Review, and The Nation, where he served as poetry editor for two years  and then as literary editor for nine. He has written for The Boston Review, the London Review of Books, the New York Review of Books, The Point, and Wespennest (Austria), among others. He co-edited Into the Abyss: An Oral History of Reporting from Iraq, 2003–2006 (Melville House, 2007), and has contributed poems to Raritan. He earned a Ph.D. in English and American literature from the University of Rochester.


    Presented by the Cogut Institute for the Humanities and the Department of History.

  •  Location: Cogut Institute, Andrews HouseRoom: 110

    This session will introduce resources for individuals interested in developing humanities and humanistic social sciences course proposals for Summer@Brown, with a particular emphasis on opportunities presented by the Collaborative and Scholarly Experiences (COEX) framework. What should you take into consideration to design a 1-, 2-, 3-, or 5-week course for students preparing to enter undergraduate studies? How would you get started on designing a course-based research experience in the humanities?

    Speakers include Katie Stewart (Brown Pre-College Programs), Logan Gin (Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning), and Tarika Sankar (Center for Digital Scholarship).

    Brown Pre-College serves approximately 6,000 academically motivated high school students who take a non-credit Brown course of 1 to 6 weeks during the summer. Summer@Brown is the largest of our pre-college programs. Courses offered represent many academic disciplines at Brown. Brown graduate students, postdocs, staff with appropriate credentials and faculty are invited to propose courses that represent their interests, explore innovative teaching strategies, and enhance student learning. Read more about Summer@Brown.

    Please register. This session is open to Brown faculty, graduate students, postdocs, and staff. Light refreshments will be provided. Logan Gin and Katie Stewart will be available to answer individual questions immediately following the session.

    Presented by the Brown Pre-College Programs, the Center for Digital Scholarship, Cogut Institute for the Humanities, and the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning.

    Register
  •  Location: Cogut Institute, Andrews HouseRoom: 110

    How can candidates best prepare themselves to win jobs at undergraduate liberal arts colleges? It can be hard to know how to translate experience at research universities to a smaller liberal arts setting, and even harder to know how liberal arts structures, cultures, and values will shape the interview process.

    This workshop gave Ph.D. students in the humanities and humanistic social sciences a practical guide to application materials, interviews, and campus visits.


    Schedule

    Seminars

    Thursday, September 19 (Andrews House 110)

    9:00 am – 12:00 pm
    Getting the Interview: Dossier Prep and Interview Fundamentals
    Topics include: balancing emphases on teaching and research, assessing your audience, framing your specializations, and navigating the call to be a “good fit.”

    12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
    Lunch

    1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
    The Campus Visit and Beyond: Job Talks, Job Offers, and Trying Again
    Topics include: making it easy for a search committee to hire you, recent changes in liberal arts education, challenges specific to liberal arts campuses, mistakes that can lose you the job, making a success of your first year, and coping with a tough job market.

    Individual Consultations

    In-person individual 30-minute meetings will take place on:

    • Thursday, September 19, 3:30 pm – 6:00 pm
    • Friday, September 20, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
    • Friday, September, 20, 1:00 pm – 5:30 pm

    Please bring your CV, along with any other pertinent materials such as: sample application letter, research statement, teaching statement, dissertation abstract, or sample teaching evals. Drafts are fine.


    About the Workshop Leader

    Kate Thomas is the K. Laurence Stapleton Professor of Literatures in English at Bryn Mawr College. She is the author of Postal Pleasures: Sex, Scandal and Victorian Letters (Oxford University Pres, 2012) and Vernon Lee: A Sibyl at Il Palmerino (Centro Di, 2024). Her research and teaching interests span Victorian literature and culture, queer studies, and food studies. She was a recipient of a 2019 Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome, and her work has been featured on the BBC, WHYY, and NPR.


    Presented by the Cogut Institute for the Humanities with the Center for Language Studies.

  •  Location: Nightingale-Brown HouseRoom: Seminar Room, 2nd Floor

    Arts and Humanities PhD Students are invited to join us for a conversation with Jeremy Eichler. The conversation will be moderated by Annie Kim, Ph.D. candidate in Musicology & Ethnomusicology.

    A writer, scholar and critic, Jeremy Eichler is the author of Time’s Echo, a celebrated new book on music, war and memory that was named “History Book of the Year” by The Sunday Timesand hailed as “the outstanding music book of this and several years” by The Times Literary Supplement. Chosen as a notable book of 2023 by The New York Times, The New Yorker, and NPR, Time’s Echo recently won three National Jewish Book Awards including “Jewish Book of the Year,” and was a finalist for the UK’s premier non-fiction award, the Baillie Gifford Prize, whose jury described the book as “a masterpiece of nonfiction writing.”

    This spring, Eichler delivers endowed lectures or serves as a featured speaker at Yale, Tufts, Wellesley, Columbia, the University of Virginia, and Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music. At Brown University, he partners with BroadBand Collaborative to present Time’s Echo Live, a new music-and-memory program whose fall premiere was chosen as Musical America’s top Boston event of 2023. In May, he partners with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra in Hamburg for a program celebrating the launch of the book’s German edition, one of eight foreign language translations recently published or forthcoming.

    The recipient of an NEH Public Scholar award and a fellowship from Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Eichler earned his PhD in modern European history at Columbia and has taught at Brandeis. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorkerand many other national publications, and since 2006, he has served as chief classical music critic of TheBoston Globe.For more information, please visit www.timesecho.com.

    Light refreshments will be provided. This is a hybrid event that will take place in person at the Nightingale-Brown House and on Zoom.

  •  Location: Wilbour HallRoom: Seminar Room, 101

    A workshop open to all graduate students working on the distant past, on how to approach writing for a public audience. Led by Professor Nandini Pandey (JHU). 

  •  Location: Cogut Institute, Pembroke Hall

    How can candidates best prepare themselves to win jobs at undergraduate liberal arts colleges? It can be hard to know how to translate experience at research universities to a smaller liberal arts setting, and even harder to know how liberal arts structures, cultures, and values will shape the interview process.

    This workshop gave Ph.D. students in the humanities and humanistic social sciences a practical guide to application materials, interviews, and campus visits. 

    Kate Thomas is the K. Laurence Stapleton Professor of English at Bryn Mawr College and, for seven years, was chair of the Department of Literatures in English. She has chaired multiple national searches in English and participated in many more across the humanities.

    Presented by the Cogut Institute for the Humanities with the Center for Language Studies and the Departments of English and Modern Culture and Media.

    Seminars

    Thursday, September 21 (Pembroke Hall 202)

    9:00 am – 12:00 pm
    Getting the Interview: Dossier Prep and Interview Fundamentals
    Topics include: balancing emphases on teaching and research, assessing your audience, framing your specializations, and navigating the call to be a “good fit.”

    12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
    Lunch

    1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
    The Campus Visit and Beyond: Job Talks, Job Offers, and Trying Again
    Topics include: making it easy for a search committee to hire you, recent changes in liberal arts education, challenges specific to liberal arts campuses, mistakes that can lose you the job, making a success of your first year, and coping with a tough job market.

    Individual Consultations

    In-person individual 30-minute meetings will take place on:

    • Thursday, September 21, 3:30 pm – 6:00 pm
    • Friday, September 22, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
    • Friday, September, 22, 1:00 pm – 5:30 pm

    Please bring your CV, along with any other pertinent materials such as: sample application letter, research statement, teaching statement, dissertation abstract, or sample teaching evals. Drafts are fine.

  •  Location: Online

    The Finding Your Work series invites recent humanities graduates for a conversation with current doctoral students on their career pathways including practical advice and reflections on the meaning of their work. 

    About the speaker

    The series’ inaugural speaker is Dr. Emily Simon, a Department of English doctoral program alumna. Dr. Simon is an editorial, design, and production assistant with MIT Press. Her dissertation elaborates on different modalities of qualitative change and surface effects in contemporary experimental poetry, including works by Lisa Robertson, Ariana Reines, Sueyeun Juliette Lee, and Simone White.

    This series is convened by English doctoral students Katherine Preston and Devon Clifton and is sponsored by the 21st-century Ph.D. Initiative at the Cogut Institute for the Humanities. 

  •  Location: 79 Brown StreetRoom: Pavilion Room

    This event is part of the Department of History’s Fall 2022 What History Looks Like Series

    Event speakers include:

    Ethan Pollock, Chair, Department of History, Brown University

    Kimonee Burke, Ph.D. Student, Department of History, Brown University

    Patricia Rubertone, Professor, Department of Anthropology, Brown University

    Lunch will be served at 11:30AM.

    RSVP requested to help us with food and seating arrangements.

    RSVP HERE
  •  Location: Cogut Institute, Pembroke HallRoom: 305

    What it means to pursue a Ph.D. in the humanities has changed significantly in recent decades as a result of transformations in the disciplines and conditions affecting the careers and lives of doctoral students. Bringing these two aspects of the current situation in relation to one another, this symposium aims to further existing discussions of the challenges and opportunities of graduate education in the humanities.

    The symposium featured humanities educators and doctoral students exploring questions relating to the values and objectives of doctoral programs; the ways attention to historically marginalized people and topics has transformed disciplines; the function of common courses or canons; the role of interdisciplinary programs, internships, and community engagement; and the shapes that doctoral scholarship should be allowed or encouraged to take.

    The symposium was convened by Cogut Institute Director Amanda Anderson and Graduate School Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Thomas A. Lewis.

    Sessions

    Session 1

    Clifford Ando, University of Chicago • “Classics, the Classical Canon, and the 21st-Century Ph.D.” (video)
    George Sánchez, University of Southern California • “Pushing a ‘Wider Public’ into Training for Public History” (video)

    Moderator: Tamara Chin

    Session 2

    Ralina Joseph, University of Washington • “Radical Listening to Re-Envision the Ph.D.” (video)
    Kathryn Lofton, Yale University • “What We Have Here Is a Relationship Problem: On the Challenge of Reforming the Humanities” (video unavailable)

    Moderator: Zachary Sng

    Session 3

    Jean Allman, Washington University in St. Louis • “Communities and Cohorts: Re-Designing the Humanities Ph.D. Through the Studiolab” (video)
    Christopher Newfield, Independent Social Research Foundation • “The Coming Revival of Humanities Graduate Programs” (video)

    Moderator: Amanda Anderson

    Session 4

    21st-Century Ph.D. Mellon Proctors:
    Eleanor Rowe-Stefanik and Emily Simon, English (video)
    zuri arman and Melaine Ferdinand-King, Africana Studies (video)

    Moderator: Rebecca Nedostup

    Session 5

    Concluding Roundtable: Jean Allman, Clifford Ando, Ralina Joseph, Kathryn Lofton, Christopher Newfield, and George Sánchez (video)

    Moderator: Thomas A. Lewis

    YouTube playlist and abstracts
  •  Location: Peter Green House, 79 Brown StreetRoom: Pavilion Room (106)

    The third event in: Spring 2022 What History Looks Like Series.

    This yearlong series is dedicated to exploring career diversity for PhD students in history, the humanities, and social sciences. Organized by and housed in the History Department, this series is open to graduate students, staff, and faculty of any Brown department, center, or institute.

    RSVP required to attend. Lunch will be served.

    Speakers:

    Jonathan Conant, Associate Professor of History and Classics, Brown University

    Jennifer Johnson, Associate Professor of History, Brown University

    Daniel Rodríguez, Associate Professor of History, Brown University

    Learn More
  •  Location: Peter Green House, 79 Brown StreetRoom: Pavilion Room (106)

    The second event in: Spring 2022 What History Looks Like Series.

    This yearlong series is dedicated to exploring career diversity for PhD students in history, the humanities, and social sciences. Organized by and housed in the History Department, this series is open to graduate students, staff, and faculty of any Brown department, center, or institute.

    RSVP required to attend. Lunch will be served. 

    Speakers:

    Morgan Grefe, Ph.D.,Executive Director, Rhode Island Historical Society

    Richard J. Ring, M.L.S., Deputy Executive Director for Collections and Interpretation, Rhode Island Historical Society

    Learn More
  •  Location: Peter Green House, 79 Brown StreetRoom: Pavilion Room (106)

    The first event in: Spring 2022 What History Looks Like Series.

    This yearlong series is dedicated to exploring career diversity for PhD students in history, the humanities, and social sciences. Organized by and housed in the History Department, this series is open to graduate students, staff, and faculty of any Brown department, center, or institute.

    RSVP required to attend. Lunch will be provided. 

    Speakers:

    Mary Murphy, Nancy L. Buc ’65 Pembroke Center Archivist, Pembroke Center, Brown University

    Amanda M. Knox, Assistant Archivist, Pembroke Center, Brown University

    Learn More
  •  Location: Peter Green HouseRoom: Pavilion Room, 106

    Fall 2021 Schedule

    Note: Pre-Event Lunch provided at 11:30 AM. RSVP Required.

    For the Public Interest: History PhDs Working in the Nonprofit Sector

    featuring

    Emily Brimsek, PhD, Senior Manager of Research and Evaluation, National Center on Education and the Economy, Washington, DC

    Heather Sanford,PhD,Research Coordinator, Center for Antiracist Research, Boston University, Boston, MA

    William P. Tatum III, PhD, Dutchess County Historian, Greater Hudson Heritage Network, Poughkeepsie, NY

    This is the third of three events in the Fall 2021 WHAT HISTORY LOOKS LIKE Series, sponsored by the Department of History and the Cogut Institute for the Humanities’ 21st Century PhD Series at Brown University.

    * * IMPORTANT NOTE TO ATTENDEES * *
     
    For safety reasons, space is limited to current Brown graduate students, faculty, and staff. To reserve a seat and to help us with accurate food orders, please complete this RSVP form.

    LUNCH AND LOCATION

    This event is scheduled to take place in person, in the Pavilion Room of the History Department’s Peter Green House (the green color building at 79 Brown Street). This room is wheelchair accessible via the Peter Green House’s ground-floor entrance (facing the Performing Arts Center under construction); it is otherwise accessible via the Peter Green House’s steps and porch facing Angell Street. Attendees should plan to wear a mask and sit at least three feet apart. Weather-permitting, lunch shall be served outdoors on the Pavilion Room’s adjacent porch at 11:30 AM; otherwise served indoors in the Peter Green House Lobby and Pavilion Room.

    This is the third of three events in the Fall 2021 WHAT HISTORY LOOKS LIKE Series, sponsored by the Department of History and the Cogut Institute for the Humanities’ 21st Century PhD Series at Brown University.

  •  Location: Peter Green HouseRoom: Pavilion Room, 106

    Fall 2021 Schedule 

    Note: Pre-Event Lunch provided at 11:30 AM. RSVP Required.

    The Work and Lives of Tenure-Track Assistant Professors: Myths, Realities, Experiences

    featuring

    Bathsheba Demuth, PhD, Assistant Professor of History and Environment and Society, Brown University

    Emily Owens, PhD, David and Michelle Ebersman Assistant Professor of History, Brown University

    Gabriel de Avilez Rocha, PhD, Vasco da Gama Assistant Professor of History and Portuguese and Brazilian Studies, Brown University

    This is the first of three events in the Fall 2021 WHAT HISTORY LOOKS LIKE Series, sponsored by the Department of History and the Cogut Institute for the Humanities’ 21st Century PhD Series at Brown University.

    * * IMPORTANT NOTES TO ATTENDEES * *

    RSVP REQUIRED

    For safety reasons, space is limited to Brown graduate students, faculty, and staff. To reserve a seat and for accurate food orders, attendees must RSVP in advance by completing this form or by emailing the moderator at Faiz_Ahmed@Brown.edu from a Brown.edu email address. Please indicate which event(s) you wish to attend and if you have any dietary restrictions. You will then be sent a Google Calendar invite with further details for the event(s) you RSVP for.

    LOCATION AND COVID PROTOCOL

    (NOTE: *NEW ROOM AND LUNCH TIMING BELOW*)

    This event is scheduled to take place in person, in the Pavilion Room of the History Department’s Peter Green House (the green color building at 79 Brown Street). This location is wheelchair accessible via the Peter Green House’s ground-floor entrance (facing the Performing Arts Center under construction); it is otherwise accessible via the Peter Green House’s stepped entrance facing Angell Street. Attendees should plan to wear a mask and sit at least three feet apart in the allotted seats. For the safety of all participants, our traditional catered lunch will not be served during the event, but rather a pre-event lunch shall be provided at 11:30 AM for attendees wishing to arrive early and enjoy lunch outdoors under the Peter Green Pavilion Room’s adjacent covered porch. For attendees unable to make the pre-event lunch, take-away boxed lunches will be available at the conclusion of the event.

    Should COVID-19 conditions and/or campus policies recommend against meeting in person, the event will take place on the same day and time via Zoom. Moderator shall follow up with relevant updates via email as necessary.

  • Live from the Field: History and Humanities PhDs in University Administration

    Featuring

    Ferentz LaFargue, Dean of the College, Saybrook College, Yale University

    Laura Perille, Associate Director, Office of Fellowships, Awards, and Resources, Georgetown University

    Joel Revill, Senior Associate Dean of the Faculty and Adjunct Assistant Professor of History, Brown University

     

    To register for the above event, click here.

     

    What is theWhat History Looks Like series?

    Established in 2016, the Brown History Department’s What History Looks Like series continues for its fifth consecutive year with the same enduring purpose: to foster a space where Brown History Department faculty, students, and historians in other departments can share the versatility of their skills and experiences, and learn more about the diverse settings where historical work takes place.

  • Data can be an important part of a humanities research project. It can provide new insights into your work, offering new ways to understand and make sense of your subject matter. Digital humanities can be an important part of the 21st century Ph.D.’s professional skill set.

    Working with data means you need to be concerned with that data at every stage of the project. Where does it come from? How accessible is it? How has it been cleaned? How will it be preserved? How do you negotiate the choices that need to be made as you move from research questions to argument and presentation?

    Join us for a workshop on the choices you need to make when you decide to use data as part of a scholarly project. CDS staff and their graduate student partners will discuss their digital projects. How were they designed and produced? What decisions did they make about tools and process? How did that shape the project and the results? What did they learn, what choices did they make, and what would they do differently next time?

    Featured speakers and projects include, among others:

    • Talya Housman (Ph.D., History, 2019), on her dissertation “‘To Plunder All Under the Petty-Coate’: Prosecuting Sexual Crime and Gendered Violence in The English Revolution” and the database she created.
    • George Elliott (Ph.D. Candidate, History), gathering data about 17th-century Connecticut alchemist Gershom Bulkeley.
    • Maiah Letsch (Graduate Student, History, Utrecht University), on her work with the Database of Indigenous Slavery in the Americas.

    This workshop is aimed at humanities scholars and students without a background in digital scholarship. Many of these issues are also of concern for projects in the sciences and social sciences, and all are welcome.

    Presented by the Center for Digital Scholarship, the Cogut Institute for the Humanities as part of its 21st-Century Ph.D. Series, and the Data Science Initiative.

    Register
  • Alumni Stories: Brown History PhDs and Tenure-track Faculty Careers at Public Universities

    featuring

    Sara Fingal, Assistant Professor, Department of American Studies, California State University, Fullerton

    Alicia Maggard, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Auburn University

    Tshombe Miles, Associate Professor, Department of Black and Latino Studies, Baruch College, City University of New York

     

    To register for the above event, click here.

     

    What is theWhat History Looks Like series?

    Established in 2016, the Brown History Department’s What History Looks Like series continues for its fifth consecutive year with the same enduring purpose: to foster a space where Brown History Department faculty, students, and historians in other departments can share the versatility of their skills and experiences, and learn more about the diverse settings where historical work takes place.

  • Live from the Field: History PhDs in High School Teaching and Administration

    featuring

    Christopher Jones, Instructor, Department of History and Social Science, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA

    Marisela Ramos, Chair and Instructor, Department of History and Social Science, and LGBTQ+ Adult Coordinator, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA

    Anthony Watson, Instructor, Department of History, Woodberry Forest School, Woodberry Forest, VA

     

    To register for the above event, click here.

     

    What is theWhat History Looks Like series?

    Established in 2016, the Brown History Department’s What History Looks Like series continues for its fifth consecutive year with the same enduring purpose: to foster a space where Brown History Department faculty, students, and historians in other departments can share the versatility of their skills and experiences, and learn more about the diverse settings where historical work takes place.

  • In this hands-on workshop, participants received feedback on their public writing pitch in small breakout groups from guest public writers Erin Bartram (historian of 19th-century America, women, and religion), Sarah Scullin (classicist and former managing editor of Eidolon), and Fatima Husain ’17 (managing producer of the sustainability science radio show Possibly, host of MIT Abstracts, and MIT PhD student in Geobiology) as well as Charles Carroll, Assistant Director of the Sheridan Center/Writing Center and Visiting Assistant Professor of History, and Brown University doctoral students Erica Meszaros and Sara Mohr, managing editors of the public scholarship blog The Ratty.

    The Zoom meeting information was distributed to participants the day before the event. Participants were asked to submit a draft pitch of 2-5 sentences by February 17, noon. Graduate students across disciplines were especially welcome to register. 

    Participants had the opportunity to ask additional questions about exploring venues to publish public writing and resources available at Brown University as well as to submit pitches for consideration by The Ratty.

    This workshop was presented by the Cogut Institute for the Humanities as part of its 21st-Century PhD series and by the Writing Center/Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning.

  • When and why to write for the public? What should you consider when making your pitch? What does the editing process look like?

    Guest panelists and public writers Erin Bartram (historian of 19th-century America, women, and religion), Sarah Scullin (classicist and former managing editor of Eidolon), and Fatima Husain ’17 (managing producer of the sustainability science radio show Possibly, host of MIT Abstracts, and MIT PhD student in Geobiology) shared their thoughts on what makes for good public writing in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. The session was moderated by Charles Carroll, Assistant Director of the Writing Center/Sheridan Center and Visiting Assistant Professor of History, together with Brown University doctoral students Erica Meszaros and Sara Mohr, managing editors of the public scholarship blog The Ratty.

    This online event, open to the public, was presented by the Cogut Institute for the Humanities as part of its 21st-Century PhD series and by the Writing Center/Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning.

    Image: From ground (2010) wool-felt carpet installation by Ann Hamilton in Pembroke Hall

  • Historians in Quarantine, Part III: On Digital History Publishing During and After COVID-19

    featuring

    John Bodel, Professor of Classics and History, Brown University

    Elias Muhanna, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and History, Brown University

    Tara Nummedal, Professor of History and Italian Studies, Brown University

     

    To register for the above event, click here.

     

    What is theWhat History Looks Like series?

    Established in 2016, the Brown History Department’s What History Looks Like series continues for its fifth consecutive year with the same enduring purpose: to foster a space where Brown History Department faculty, students, and historians in other departments can share the versatility of their skills and experiences, and learn more about the diverse settings where historical work takes place.

     

  •  Location: Zoom

    This workshop on print and digital publishing focuses on practical considerations and real possibilities for graduate students in Italian Studies. Topics include identifying publishing opportunities; working with editors; navigating peer review and the revision process; copyright guidance; selecting programs, tools, and platforms; and other issues. A list of readings and resources will circulate in advance of the workshop. An art historian educated at Bryn Mawr College, Levy has published widely on early modern Italy and serves as founding General Editor of the Amsterdam University Press book series Visual and Material Culture, 1300-1700. She was previously founding General Editor of the Routledge series Visual Culture in Early Modernity. Her research has been funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Association of University Women, the Getty Research Institute, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Whiting Foundation, and the Bogliasco Foundation, among others. She currently serves as Co-Chair of the College Art Association Committee on Research and Scholarship.

  • What access difficulties does the pandemic present for fields dependent on site-based research (such as archeology, anthropology, art history, history, sociology, and more?) Are access difficulties specific to Asian studies that predated the pandemic being exacerbated by present conditions? What are strategies for redesigning or adapting research agendas in light of such considerations? How should this ​juncture​ prompt us to reconceive ​career markers and planning​?

     

    Roundtable speakers:

    • Tina Mai Chen, Distinguished Professor and Department Head, History; Acting Director, Asian Studies Centre; University of Manitoba
    • Wai Yee Chiong, Assistant Curator, Asian Art, RISD Museum
    • Sharon Domier, East Asian Studies Librarian, Amherst College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst
    • Devin Fitzgerald, Curator of Rare Books and History of Printing, UCLA Library
    • Robert P. Weller, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Anthropology, Boston University

     

    This series of three webinars addresses the roles that scholars in the Asian/Pacific studies communities and allied fields can play in building a humanistic context for the current pandemic. They will address the urgent crises that public health, political, social, and economic conditions present to students and scholars in daily life, research, and work. The public is welcome; pre-registration required.

  • Historians in Quarantine, Part II: On Digital History Teaching During and After COVID-19

    Monday, November 9th, 2020, 11 AM - 12 Noon Eastern Time

    featuring

    Dr. Cindy Nguyen  Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of History and Cogut Institute for the Humanities, Brown University

    Join Cindy Nguyen as she talks through concrete activities, tools, and materials, on remote digital teaching for history seminars. Drawing from her experience in critical pedagogy, inclusive design, and digital humanities, Nguyen will share three guiding principles (variation of modality, time management, and built in reflection) and how these approaches are built into the class structure and assignments. The session will conclude with time for Q&A and group discussion of challenges and experiences teaching during COVID.

    Moderated by Faiz Ahmed, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Advising, Department of History

    This is a live Zoom Event. Registration is Required.  To register for this event, please click the following link:

    https://brown.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwtd-igrTwjHNYsBEDxS2tD-ZWVHThxnPzG

    After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the event.

    All Brown University faculty, students, and staff are welcome to attend this event. For any questions on the Brown History Department’s What History Looks Like series and Digital History Forum of which this event forms a part, please contact the moderator, Faiz_Ahmed@Brown.edu

  • Facing Precarity: Envisioning Careers in 2020 and Beyond

    What are resources for graduate students emerging into a collapsed academic job market? What kinds of skills and experiences should scholars in global Asian studies and other fields reliant on heretofore comparatively robust academic hiring adopt from extant programs and peers in other fields? What are the differences in hiring and work cultures outside the US? How should degree-holders prepare themselves for possible immigration and work restrictions in an age of economic austerity? And what are some ways that PhD holders have adapted their careers to shifting personal, intellectual, and economic circumstances?

     

    John Paul Christy, Senior Director of U.S. Programs, American Council of Learned Societies

    Ya-pei Kuo, Universitair Docent, University of Groningen

    Heather Ruth Lee, Undergraduate Coordinator of Humanities; Assistant Professor of History, NYU Shanghai; Global Network Assistant Professor, NYU

    Huwy-min Lucia Liu, Assistant Professor, Sociology and Anthropology, George Mason University

    Emily Swafford, Director of Academic and Professional Affairs, American Historical Association

    Paul Vierthaler, Assistant Professor of Chinese Studies, William and Mary

     

    Webinar Series: Asian Studies (and beyond) for the Pandemic Age

    This series of three webinars addresses the roles that scholars in the Asian/Pacific studies communities and allied fields can play in building a humanistic context for the current pandemic. They will address the urgent crises that public health, political, social, and economic conditions present to students and scholars in daily life, research, and work. The public is welcome; pre-registration required.