|
Humanities Center Funds Pilot Research
Program, Begins National Director Search
Barry Jagoda | January 22, 2007
The UCSD Division of Arts and Humanities is beginning a nationwide search for a new director of its flagship Center for the Humanities, while also undertaking a three-year pilot research program, “Rethinking the Humanities: Transcontinental Archives,” engaging more than 40 members of the university faculty, as well as leading scholars from around the nation.
Led by Lisa Lowe, professor of literature, Takashi Fujitani, associate professor of history, and Roberto Tejada, assistant professor of visual arts, the collaborative project aims to rethink arts and humanities research in relation to international perspectives, new archives and interdisciplinary methodologies.
|
| Arts & Humanities Dean Michael Bernstein |
|
In its first year, the program will focus on the history of the disciplines in the arts and humanities and will invite directors of humanities centers from California and from national and international institutions to deliver public lectures on aspects of the project. The second year will establish “transcontinental” working groups, bringing together scholarship on Western culture with traditional area studies of other world regions. The third year will address the collection, preservation and distribution of knowledge.
Calls for related research proposals have been distributed.
Established in 1996, the Center for the Humanities is reformulating its mission so that its work will be focused thematically and closely linked to the research strengths of the division, said Arts and Humanities Dean Michael Bernstein.
“This pilot project is a good example of the advanced interdisciplinary and international research undertakings that we will now be encouraging,” said Bernstein. “Now, more than ever, the Center for the Humanities will facilitate a diverse and intensified dialogue about related social and cultural issues. The work also provides a helpful backdrop for our search for a new director, whose primary responsibility will be to lead the center to international prominence.” |
