Humanities Writ Large

Update 9/26/11: Humanities Writ Large now has its own website - visit it here!

Those of you in our social media orbit may have already seen the announcement of "Humanities Writ Large," a major new Mellon Foundation Grant that promises to significantly strengthen the humanities at Duke, particularly in the area of undergraduate curriculum and research. The FHI Humanities Lab initiative is a key element of the grant, so we're especially excited! Here are some highlights from the press release:

Durham, NC - A new endeavor at Duke University aimed at changing the role of the humanities in the undergraduate curriculum is being funded with a five-year, $6 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The "Humanities Writ Large" initiative also will support visiting scholars and new faculty appointments, undergraduate research efforts, humanities labs, and focused support for interdisciplinary collaborations across departments and institutions.

. . .

English professor Ian Baucom, director of the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute, said the initiative will provide more experiential learning in and outside the classroom, sparking collaboration among undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and librarians. Building on the existing humanities laboratories model at Duke, now in its second year, the initiative will invest in the creation of new projects through which the humanities can intersect with other disciplines.

For example, the Haiti Lab brings together humanities faculty and students from Romance studies, history and other disciplines with scholars from the Law School and the Duke Global Health Institute. Through traditional seminars and independent study projects, faculty and students work on issues ranging from research on post-traumatic stress disorder following last year's earthquake to strengthening women's rights in Haiti.

Duke also plans to create an inter-institutional model for research and teaching that builds on existing relationships -- such as one that brings to campus visiting scholars from historically black colleges and universities -- and establishes new partnerships.

Read the whole thing here.

* Photo: Haiti Lab co-directors Laurent Dubois and Deborah Jenson selecting images for Haiti: History Embedded in Amber with Maria Isabel Arroyo (Trinity '14) - courtesy of Zack Green/Green Media