Featured Research: Elements of Belief
This month we highlight the research of 2022–23 Fellows whose seemingly disparate projects both examine the vital role that texts and creative works play in establishing authority and shaping systems of belief.
Featured Research
Fellows at the National Humanities Center explore an astonishingly diverse array of topics, touching on people, events, and ideas across time and geography.
Below you'll find Fellows sharing a little about how they were inspired to pursue the subjects they study, insights they've gained through their research, and how their work contributes to their disciplines and to our understanding of the human experience.
Featured Research: Inside the Institution
This month we highlight the research of 2022–23 Fellows whose projects examine two very different kinds of institutions—prisons and museums—and consider how they viscerally enact the ways we think about pleasure, punishment, and social status, both inside and beyond their walls.
Featured Research: Understanding Challenges in Contemporary Africa
This month we highlight the research of 2022–23 Fellows whose projects shed light on the historical, cultural, and political context surrounding ongoing issues in Africa and the greater world.
Featured Research: Exploring Issues in Gender and Sexuality
This month we highlight the research of 2022–23 Fellows whose projects examine the ways that gender and sexuality have been understood across time and in different settings around the world.
Featured Research: Oppression, Resistance, and the Security State
This month we highlight the research of Fellows from the class of 2022–23 whose projects examine the ways that people have dealt with the oppressive actions of state actors in a variety of cultural and political contexts since the early twentieth century.
Featured Research: The Influence of the Artist
This month we highlight the research of Fellows from the class of 2022–23 whose projects examine the powerful influence artists can have, affecting the lives of others and the culture at large well beyond the page, the stage, or the recording studio.
Featured Research: Perception and Perspective
This month we highlight the research of Fellows from the class of 2022–23 whose projects consider the sometimes tenuous relationship between what we perceive and what we believe—about ourselves and the world around us.
Featured Research: Interrogating the Image
This month we highlight the research of Fellows from the class of 2022–23 whose projects consider the ways that powerful images are created, displayed, and deployed in service to larger ideas—social, political, and philosophical.
Featured Research: African American Creators
This month we highlight the research of Fellows from the class of 2022–23 whose projects examine the ways that Black Americans, especially women, have shared their experiences and perspectives across creative genres and, in so doing, challenged the ways that we think about music, fiction, and art.
Featured Research: The Examined Life
This month we highlight the research of Fellows from the class of 2021–22 whose work explores how we should go about living fuller lives and creating communities dedicated to justice for everyone.