Identity

We live in a world awash in identities and identity politics.  It is hardly surprising that we think art can enact, create, and modify individual and collective identities.  In this constellation we subject this idea to historical scrutiny and theoretical analysis.  We investigate the role of art in the formation and imagination of polities and communities, and how these cross-cut with notions of race, class, gender, religion, nationality, and ethnicity.

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Identity

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    Getting Started with "Digital:" A View from Three Others

    By Alison Langmead on 20 Oct 2014

    I am asked many questions on a weekly basis about what it takes to start using digital methods in the humanities. I enjoy answering the questions, but often feel frustrated by my inability to convey precisely what is needed. In many ways, "doing DH" is something you can hear about, but you sort of also have to experience it to understand--just like writing an essay changes how you view your topic, so goes using the analytic power of digital computing. Brian Croxall recently wrote a post in which he expresses similar excitement and misgivings and also gave links to two other excellent posts on the subject. So, here they are, in easy clicking order for you:

    Brian Croxall, "'Help, I Want to Do DH!'" http://www.briancroxall.net/2014/09/25/help-i-want-to-do-dh/

    Lisa Spiro, "Getting Started in Digital Humanities," http://journalofdigitalhumanities.org/1-1/getting-started-in-digital-humanities-by-lisa-spiro/

    Paige Morgan, "How to Get a Digital Humanities Project off the Ground," http://www.paigemorgan.net/how-to-get-a-digital-humanities-project-off-the-ground/

    I'll edit this post over time, should I run across more...

    Categories: 
    • Identity
    • Faculty Work
    • VMW
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    New forum to discuss constellations event 2016

    By Kirk Savage on 01 Oct 2014

    For those of you who weren't at the Agency meeting on Sept 28, we decided that we would take up the challenge offered by Barbara to help create a "signature" event for the Constellations to be held in Spring 2016.  The basic goal of the event is to bring national/international attention to our constellations model here and to forge possible collaborations with scholars and others outside our university.  We are clear that we don't want to do the standard keynote + conference panels, and that instead we want to put into practice what we are preaching here -- new models of collaboration and research practice, pedagogical innovation, and public engagement.  Barbara's initial idea was to build on the question posed by Gretchen, WHAAM (why history of art and architecture matters).  Some good discussion of this idea pro and con took place at the meeting.  If I can offer my takeaway from that discussion, it was this: while we do need to make our work matter to people outside our subfield, discipline, and instittution, we also need to give those external constituencies some good reason to join us.  

    I have set up a forum to brainstorm and discuss this event.  Go to forums in the navigation bar up above and you will find it listed.  Only constellations registrants can see the forum for now. 

    Categories: 
    • Research Groups
    • Agency
    • Temporalities
    • Environment
    • Identity
    • Mobility/Exchange
    • Visual Knowledge
    • Current Projects
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    Computational Identity

    By Alison Langmead on 29 Apr 2014

    The fantastic scholar David Berry recently drew attention to a number of issues surrounding facial recognition and the impact of remote sensing in public. While working on Decomposing Bodies, and thinking about article's such as this, I have begun to start addressing a concept forming in my head called, "computational identity." The art project of ANTI-SURVEILLANCE FEMINIST POET HAIR & MAKEUP PARTY is particularly important in this vein. Please do check out both Prescott's post and the work of the group.

    Categories: 
    • Identity
    • Visual Knowledge
    • Decomposing Bodies
    • Faculty Work
    • VMW
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    In the first year the NEH was in existence...

    By Alison Langmead on 14 Apr 2014

    ...FIVE of the grants went to projects incorporating computing. ("The digital humanities community responded to NEH’s call for grants, resulting in the Endowment funding at least five digital humanities projects during its first full year of operation.") For more information, please do see Meredith Hindley's fascinating article, "The Rise of the Machines" at the NEH's own site, http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2013/julyaugust/feature/the-rise-the-machines.

    Categories: 
    • Temporalities
    • Identity
    • Faculty Work
    • VMW
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    What do you value about studying the humanities?

    By Alison Langmead on 14 Apr 2014

    Our colleagues over at 4humanities.org have brought our attention to an "idea comparison" engine that they have set up to talk about what the value of studying the humanities might be. You can visit the survey here: http://www.allourideas.org/4humanities. It presents you with a series of dyads, allowing you to pick between different options...including "I can't decide." You may also add your own thoughts. A peek at the results is also revealing...

    Categories: 
    • Agency
    • Identity
    • Faculty Work
    • VMW
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  • American Correctional Association, Proceedings of the Annual Congress of the National Prison Association of the United States (Shaw Brothers: Pittsburgh, 1900).
     

    Debriefing and Looking Forward!

    The Decomposing Bodies research team reconvened in the VMW yesterday, reinvigorated by their February 5th colloquium, and excited to discuss next steps for the project. Upon concluding their colloquium, "Producing Collaborative Work in the Humanities: The Case of Decomposing Bodies," various faculty members in attendance proposed interesting linkages to other areas of research. For example, to the fields of forensic medicine and forensic anthropology.

    R.W. McClaughry, pictured above, is credited with introducing the Bertillon system to the United States in 1887. At the time, he was the Warden of the Illinois State Penitentiary at Joliet. He later became the Warden of the United States Penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. For more information about the Bertillon system, visit the National Law Enforcement Museum's webpage: Bertillon System of Criminal Idenitifcation.

    Category: 
    • Decomposing Bodies
    • Graduate Work
    • Identity
    • VMW

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