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.
This month we highlight the research of 2023–24 Fellows whose projects consider the role that music plays in shaping lives. From churches in medieval Iberia to movie houses in the Soviet bloc to the streets and dancehalls of New Orleans and Nigeria, these scholars are examining music’s profound power to reveal and reimagine the world around us.
This month we highlight the research of 2023–24 Fellows whose projects focus on the voices of women, from medieval hagiographers to contemporary rappers, exploring the ways that an author’s gender influences her perspective—across genres, eras, and geographies.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.