Humanities Institute and Planet Texas 2050 Collaborations

The Humanities Institute and Planet Texas 2050, an interdisciplinary grand challenge initiative sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research, have recently been partnering on a number of projects aimed at addressing issues of climate change, population growth and extreme weather events. The first of the three events in this partnership will be a Difficult Dialogues workshop on August 31. Under the guidance of Libby Roderick from the University of Alaska at Anchorage, the workshop is designed to aid professors, teaching assistants, and teachers in discussing environmental issues. Planet Texas 2050 will also be partnering with HI for October's Difficult Dialogues Public Forum, featuring NYU's Dr. Eric Klinenberg. Take a look at our upcoming events further down in this newsletter for more information.

Planet Texas 2050 is the first in a series of university-wide grand challenges for the University of Texas at Austin, an initiative aimed at tackling some of the most controversial and pressing issues of our time, from environmental to humanitarian crises.

Developed in 2016, Planet Texas 2050 promotes interdisciplinary collaboration and research around climate change, extreme weather, population, and resource management for the purpose of creating a more sustainable future.The project is an 8-year sprint to find ways to make Texas more resilient in the face of rapid population growth and extreme weather events, such as prolonged droughts and floods. The Planet Texas 2050 team is made up of researchers from across UT's campus, including architecture, engineering, population health, geosciences, archaeology, English and more.

Upcoming Health & Humanities Research Seminar

Starting September 10, the Humanities Institute in partnership with Dell Medical School will hold a series of research seminars on Health & Humanities. A follow-up to the Health & Humanities Pop-Up Institute (PUI) held this past May, the seminars are intended to engage scholars and practitioners across the health and humanities disciplines in research-oriented dialogue.

For the inaugural seminar on September 10, we are pleased to welcome University Distinguished Professor Dr. Barbara Jones from the Steve Hicks School of Social Work and the Dell Medical School. She is the associate dean for health affairs at the School of Social Work, co-director of the Institute for Collaborative Health Research and Practice, and the associate director of social sciences and community based research at the LIVESTRONG Cancer Institutes.

The Research Seminars will be held monthly over the course of the semester. For more information, see HI News or contact the seminar leader, Dr. Phillip Barrish at pbarrish@austin.utexas.edu.

Controversy & Conversation Film Screening: Do Not Resist featuring speaker Gabriel Solis

Thu, September 6, 2018
Terrazas Branch, Austin Public Library, 1005 E. Cesar Chavez St., Austin, TX 78702
6:30 PM - 9:00 PM

Free and open to the public

September's upcoming Controversy & Conversation screening of Do Not Resist (2016) will feature a discussion with speaker Gabriel Solis, Executive Director of Texas After Violence. The Tribeca Film Festival winner for Best Documentary, Do Not Resist explores the militarization of police forces and perspectives on police violence, broadening its scope from the local officers of Ferguson, Missouri in the aftermath of Michael Brown's death to police forces across the U.S.

Prior to returning to the Texas After Violence Project in 2016, where he previously served as project coordinator and associate director, Gabriel Daniel Solis worked as a post-conviction mitigation specialist for the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs. Solis worked as a policy researcher at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law and coordinator of the Rule of Law Oral History Project at Columbia University.

He has conducted research on policing, mass incarceration, the death penalty, counter-narratives of violence, and the impacts of violence and trauma on individuals, families, and communities. His writings has appeared in the Oxford American, Scalawag, and Cultural Dynamics: Insurgent Scholarship on Culture, Politics, and Power. His upcoming article "Symbolic Annihilation & Postmortem Narratives" will be published in Kula: Knowledge Creation, Dissemination, and Preservation Studies. Gabriel is the recipient of the 2018 Pushcart Prize for nonfiction.

Solis will lead a short discussion and Q&A after the screening, offering some remarks about the film and Texas After Violence. The screening will begin at 6:30 PM, to be followed by the brief community conversation. Light refreshments will be provided. We hope to see you there!

Public Panel: Climate Change, Extreme Weather Events, and Inequality

Thursday, October 16, 2018
Quadrangle Room
2308 Whitis Avenue, Texas Union Building
Austin, TX 78712

7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

On October 16, 2018, the University of Texas Humanities Institute and Planet Texas 2050 will hold a Difficult Dialogues public panel on Climate Change, Extreme Weather Events, and Inequality, featuring Dr. Eric Klinenberg, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University. His talk will be followed by remarks from two local discussants as well as audience dialogue. The event will be held in the Texas Union Quadrangle Room, beginning at 7pm, with light refreshments served for attendees. Dr. Klinenberg’s talk and panel discussion will be one of two public panels co-sponsored by the Humanities Institute and Planet Texas 2050 that will discuss the environment, climate change, and inequality.

Dr. Klinenberg’s work has spanned topics from extreme weather events to the sociological value of public infrastructure. His first book, Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago, described the devastating impact of Chicago’s July 1995 heat wave, an event that quickly became one of the city’s deadliest natural disasters. Dr. Klinenberg investigated the previously unexplained reasons behind the destruction left in the heat wave’s wake through years of fieldwork, extensive interviews, and archival research. His most recent book, Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life, will be released on September 11, 2018. Along with his books and scholarly research, Dr. Klinenberg has contributed to The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and This American Life.

The Humanities Institute’s Difficult Dialogues program aims to bring resources for facilitating dialogue on difficult and controversial topics to the classroom and the public. Founded in 2006 at the University of Texas, Difficult Dialogues began as part of a Ford Foundation initiative developed in response to reports of growing intolerance and efforts to curb academic freedom on U.S. campuses. The program’s public forums focusing on current controversial topics complement its associated undergraduate courses and engage a broader public.

We are pleased to introduce Kathryn North as the new Administrative Program Coordinator at the Humanities Institute.

Kathryn is a recent graduate from UT Austin's Department of Asian Studies. Prior to pursuing her MA at UT, she worked in India as an ESL teacher, teacher trainer, and coordinator for a scholarship program for underprivileged women in New Delhi.

She has previously held positions at NYU-Stern and earned a BA from Wellesley College in Film and Italian Studies. Please join us in welcoming Kathryn and the other new members of the Humanities Institute team!

The National Humanities Center invites applications for academic-year or one-semester residential fellowships. Mid-career, senior, and emerging scholars with a strong record of peer-reviewed work from all areas of the humanities are encouraged to apply.

Located in the vibrant Research Triangle region of North Carolina, the Center affords access to the rich cultural and intellectual communities supported by the area’s research institutes, universities, and dynamic arts scene. Fellows enjoy private studies, in-house dining, and superb library services that deliver all research materials.

Scholars from all parts of the globe are eligible; stipends and travel expenses are provided. Fellowship applicants must have a PhD or equivalent scholarly credentials. Fellowships are supported by the Center’s own endowment, private foundation grants, contributions from alumni and friends, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. EDT, October 17, 2018. For more information and to apply, please visit the link below.