HX 2021-2022

​​​​​​Annual Theme

Each year, the HumanitiesX Advisory Council selects a topical theme that is both timely and lends itself to humanities inquiry. In 2019, in the context of much public debate about the issue, the Council selected Immigration and Migration as our inaugural theme. This issue only became more relevant in an era of pandemic-induced closed borders.

​Fellows

The 2021-22 cohort of HumanitiesX fellows included three teams, each comprised of two faculty members from DePaul's College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, a community partner from a Chicago-area nonprofit organization, and two Student Fellows.

Each team collaboratively developed a HumanitiesX course related to immigration and migration, offered to DePaul students in Spring Quarter 2022.

View the 2021-22 Course Showcases

Team Brighton Park Neighborhood Council

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  Amy Tyson

  Associate Professor, History; Director of Professional History Internships
  View Bio
• 

  Chris Solis Green

  • Senior Professional Lecturer, English; Director, Writing and Publishing Internships
  • View Bio
• 

  Andrea Ortiz

  • Director of Organizing, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council
  • View Organization
    

• 

  Lauren Rosenfeld
  

  Undergraduate Student
  History & Computer Science
  
• 

  Juliana Zanubi
  

  Undergraduate Student
  International Studies
  

Sharing Their Stories: Latinx Immigrant Activist' Oral Histories. This course explored how to amplify immigrant stories to advance the goal of rights for the undocumented, in partnership with community partner Brighton Park Neighborhood Council (BPNC). BPNC is a community based, nonprofit organization serving a working-class neighborhood on Chicago's Southwest side, a predominantly Latinx and immigrant community. Students worked in small teams to interview directly-impacted community activists at the forefront of campaigns related to advancing the rights of undocumented immigrants in Illinois. Teams transcribed interviews according to oral history standards, and then worked to condense and edit them for publication in an online anthology for BPNC, with the goal of moving the needle on immigration reform and inspiring future activists through sharing these stories. Alongside this project-based work, students read and discussed novels, poems, and memoirs that focused on undocumented Latinx immigrants, as well as grappled with relevant histories. Visit the Course Showcase  to learn more. 

Team Japanese Arts Foundation

• 

  Yuki Miyamoto

  Professor, Religious Studies/Global Asian Studies; Director, DePaul Humanities Center 
  

  View Bio

  
  
• 

  Kerry Ross

  • • Associate Professor, History/Global Asian Studies; Undergraduate Director, History
      
  • View Bio
    
• 

  Saira Chambers

  • Director, Japanese Arts Foundation
  • View Organization
    

• 

  Sergio Godinez
  

  Undergraduate Student
  American Studies
  
• 

  Yessica Pineda
  

  Undergraduate Student
  Political Science
  

Geographies of Displacement: Migration and Immigration in Atomic-Age Art. This course explored how people and communities affected by the trauma of migration, war, and discrimination in Japan and the United States communicate their experiences and negotiate their identity through art. The atomic age, beginning arguably with the inception of the Manhattan Project in 1942 through the present day, serves as a conceptual framework to address the structural issues of displacement, internment, and forced migration of Japanese colonized subjects. In collaboration with our community partner, the Japanese Arts Foundation, and their network of practicing artists, each student created a unique floating lantern and related exhibition materials, which was displayed in an exhibit at the end of the quarter and used in the inaugural Toro-Nagashi Floating Lantern Ceremony. This ceremony, was held in August of 2022  at the Garden of the Phoenix in Chicago’s Jackson Park, commemorating the annual anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Visit the Course Showcase to learn more. 

Team Midwest Human Rights Consortium

• 

  Maria Ferrera

  Associate Professor, Social Work/Critical Ethnic Studies; Director, Center for Community Health Equity
  View Bio
• 

  Chi-Jang Yin

  • Associate Professor, Cinema Production, Multimedia and Interactive Media
  • View Bio
• 

  Minal Giri

  • Chair, Midwest Human Rights Consortium
  • View Organization
    

• 

  Laura Pachón
  

  Graduate Student
  Refugee & Forced Migration Studies
  
• 

  Emerson Sherbourne
  

  Graduate Student
  Refugee & Forced Migration Studies
  

Children Seeking Asylum: Creating Digital Media to Support Human Rights. This course explored the experience of children and families seeking asylum in the US in the current sociopolitical climate, as well as how these experiences can be shared using the techniques of documentary filmmaking. Through discussions about critical and narrative texts and in conversation with professionals who work with individuals seeking asylum, students developed an understanding of the asylum process and how asylum-seekers are represented in contemporary media and discourse. Additionally, students conducted interviews with professionals working with asylum-seekers and, through the course’s instruction in video production, learned how to use this interview footage and other media to create short videos for outreach and education purposes. These videos were integrated into the website of the course community partner, the Midwest Human Rights Consortium (MHRC), a nonprofit that trains medical professionals to perform trauma-informed forensic evaluations for individuals seeking asylum. Visit the Course Showcase to learn more.