Being in Common
The 2012-2013 fellowship theme, “Being in Common,” is designed to deepen our understanding of the construction and perpetuation of American identities, cultures, and communities. In particular, this year’s theme responds to recent scholarly and critical interest in theories of “the commons” and of the central importance of shared resources, collective action, and the recognition of human interdependencies, especially in a global world of immaterial production and other intangible forms of human relationship. We are interested in exploring the creative practices and forms that express and manifest the commons, as well as the scholarly discourses that increasingly imagine life as fundamentally shared with others.
Tenured and tenure-track faculty at CSULA are welcome to submit proposals for humanities-based inquiry responding to questions including, but not limited to, the following:
- What emergent structures – networks of information and knowledge, linguistic and communicative practices, social movements, patterns of production and consumption, and so forth – express or enable life shared with others?
- What specific aesthetic forms and creative possibilities are enabled by collaboration? How are current trends toward collective production transforming creative practices?
- What is the explanatory value of philosophies of the commons – theories of being as being-with?
- What conditions have enabled historical and contemporary communities to discover and intensify their common foundations? What economic, political, and biopolitical potentials are thereby made available? What historical precedents are meaningful for understanding the commons?
- How does the idea of life as fundamentally shared demand a reconsideration of modern notions such as those of the individual, property, privacy, and the nation-state? What does “American community” mean in this emergent context?
- What intersections between scholarly knowledge, cultural performance, and civic engagement contribute to the contemporary commons?
- What pedagogical interventions or innovations contribute to the study of such American communities and identities?
The Fellowships
Up to three fellowships will be awarded to applicants who engage in humanities-based inquiry. Preference will be given to proposals that best explore the theme and incorporate student research or community engagement in innovative and meaningful ways. One of the three fellowships, the Bailey Fellowship, is for an original project that applies this year's research theme to African American communities and/or individuals and preferably involves archival materials.
The program welcomes proposals from the arts that can be presented in alecture/recital. All proposals, however, must include a research or analytical component based in the humanities. Each fellowship awards 8 units of release time and a $750 stipend for a student assistant or other project-related expenses. Fellows must present their research at the ACP's Spring 2013 symposium.
Application Materials
Please submit four hard copies of your application to
Dr. Andrew L. Knighton
Joseph A. Bailey II, M.D. Endowed Chair of American Communities
Director, CSULA/NEH American Communities Program
Dean’s Office, College of Arts and Letters
MUS 228
Application materials consist of a two-page curriculum vitae, a 500-word research proposal, and a projected budget for research-related expenditures (up to $750). Proposals should explain the relevance of the proposed project to this year's research theme, the originality and significance of the research, and the integration of student involvement or community engagement. The submission deadline for the 2012-2013 fellowships is 5pm, Friday, April 6, 2012.