The Humanities Institute has awarded six planning grants to develop proposals for the Global Midwest Initiative sponsored by the Humanities Without Walls consortium.  Proposed projects range from an on-line journal of contemporary art in the Midwest to fracking on the Bakken Formation.  With funding from the Mellon Foundation, Humanities Without Walls will distribute $1.5 million over two years to support research on the Global Midwest.  Recipients of planning grants are:

Geontology of the Global Midwest

Mat Coleman (Geography), Thomas Davis (English), Mary Thomas (WGSS), Max D. Woodworth (Geography)

Our proposed research (a) interrogates the biophysical, social-spatial, political, economic, aesthetic, and narrative assumptions built into the concept of the Anthropocene; and (b) advances site-specific and transductive methods for interrogating the Anthropocene’s specific geo-social formations, or geontologies, in the Global Midwest. We are keenly interested in the importance of Williston, North Dakota, as a site which challenges the generality of the Anthropocene concept. At the same time, the magnitude of the Bakken oil field, as well as expanding forms of energy extraction throughout the Midwest, offer ideal opportunities to illustrate the new global impact and importance of the region.     

Latina/o Midwest

Theresa Delgadillo (Comp Studies)

To engage multiple Midwestern audiences in the university and beyond in learning about the significance of Latina/o literature, art, theater, performance and oral history in the Midwest. This multi-faceted collaboration will produce a volume on "Latina/o Creativity in the Midwest," develop two traveling exhibits to be used in the region (one on Latina/o literature, art, theater and performance; a second on oral histories), create curricular units for weekend reading clubs, launch online collaborative blog pages on The Latino Midwest and Mujeres Talk websites specific to this project.

The Midwest Heritage Language Network

Glenn Martinez (SPPO), Diane Dirckbichler (French and Italian)

The Center for Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at OSU seeks to engage with language scholars throughout the HWW consortium to create the Midwest Heritage Language Network. The network will provide a platform to link researchers, teachers, and community members throughout the region and provide a hub for ongoing research on heritage language communities in the Midwest. It will provide opportunities for curriculum development and dissemination of information across the region. Finally, it will serve as a clearinghouse for information that can benefit heritage language communities throughout the Midwest.

Re-Imagining the Global Midwest: Relocation, Rehabilitation, and Reclamation

Chad Allen, Director of DISCO; Christine Ballengee-Morris, Coordinator of American Indian Studies; Debra Moddelmog, Coordinator of Sexuality Studies; Amy Shuman, Coordinator of Disability Studies; Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, Coordinator of Asian American Studies and Mini-DISCO (AIS, AAS, DS, and SS)

DISCO (The Diversity and Identity Studies Collective at OSU) will examine the Midwest as a global crossroads through the themes of relocation, rehabilitation, and reclamation.  Relocation highlights the movement of people in the Midwest; rehabilitation refers to the efforts to normalize “deviant” populations; and reclamation foregrounds the efforts of marginalized people to reclaim their identity and autonomy.

The Religious Soundmap Project

Isaac Weiner (Comp Studies)

The Religious Soundmap Project uses audio recording and digital mapping technology to study the religious diversity of American cities.  Student researchers will produce audio recordings of religious practices across a wide range of local sites.  These recordings will be integrated, along with interviews, visual images, and explanatory texts, onto a publicly accessible online mapping platform, which will provide a valuable research tool and pedagogical resource for specialists and non-specialists alike.

there there: an online journal of contemporary art  

Kris Paulsen (History of Art), Lisa Florman (History of Art)

We are requesting money to begin an online journal of contemporary global art, focused on works exhibited and, in some cases made, here in Ohio and the Midwest.  Building from the new M.A. Program in Contemporary Art and Curatorial Practice, the journal will showcase the amazing range of activity happening in museums, studios, and gallery spaces across the region, and provide a collaborative platform for curators, artists and art historians working throughout the Midwest.