With this fall's official launch of the HumanitiesX Collaborative and the arrival of the new
HumanitiesX Faculty and Community Fellows, we bid farewell to the activities of our pandemic-induced interim year.
In the 2020-21 academic year, HumanitiesX sponsored several initiatives under the theme of “Understanding, Speaking in, and Documenting this Historic Moment.” In a year characterized by a global pandemic, political division, and protests for racial justice, HumanitiesX hosted events investigating how humanities scholars can respond in such times of crisis. Webinars with University of Chicago professor and public philosopher
Dr. Agnes Callard and Medium editor and Director of Multicultural Content
Adrienne Samuels Gibbs helped contextualize 2020 as a year we could better understand through the lens of the humanities.
HumanitiesX also engaged DePaul faculty through an intensive writing session in December 2020 with public voice consultant Deborah Siegel-Acevedo of
Bold Voice Collaborative. The "challenge" event resulted in a
Medium publication featuring short-form online essays from DePaul faculty on why their work matters during a turbulent time. The stories offer insights from faculty who teach and research art, history, philosophy, religious studies, and writing studies.
Finally, HumanitiesX worked with students in winter and spring term courses to "document this historic moment." In partnership with
DePaul's Special Collections and Archives, HumanitiesX Faculty Director Dr. Lisa Dush taught two sections of ISP 392: DePaul Documentary Corps, an internship course that trained students in ethically sensitive and professional oral history and documentary work. Corps members conducted, transcribed, and edited two interviews with DePaul stakeholders on topics such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the fight for racial justice. Students also prepared their interviews for inclusion in the DePaul's University Archives and helped create the
DePaul Library Guide for Oral History. Featured stories from student interviews can be found at the
Documentary Corps website.
This year, HumanitiesX returns to its planned activities, working with an annual fellowship cohort of faculty, students, and community partners to develop new, team-taught, project-based, community-engaged courses in the humanities. More information about this year’s courses and activities will be available soon!