Following up with DHI Summer Fellows

With shifting Coronavirus protocols and policies, research has been challenging to say the least. We followed up with some of our 2021 Margrit Mondavi and UC Humanities Consortium Summer Fellows to learn about the progress they’ve made on their research projects over the summer.

 

Margrit Mondavi Graduate Fellows:

Katelyn Stiles, Native American Studies. Xéetl'ee (Katelyn Stiles) is Lingít, Kiks.ádi Clan of Sheet’ká, and grew up on Northern Chumash homelands (Los Osos, California). She is a filmmaker, dancer and visual artist. Her creative research centers the relationships between Indigenous creative arts, subsistence practices as food sovereignty, and Indigenous ways of doing science. Katelyn used her fellowship to advance her creative film project with Lingít Kiks.ádi women of Sheet’ká (Sitka, Alaska), known as Kaxátjaa Sháa (Herring Ladies), who through oral histories have a deep reciprocal relationship to the Pacific Herring. In summer of 2021, Katelyn focused on spending time with the Kaxátjaashaa X’óow (Herring Lady Robes) and their creators, conducting interviews and creating moving images of the robes themselves. The Herring Lady Robes are at.óow (ceremonial objects), belonging to the Kiks.ádi, and tell the story of the first woman to call to Yaaw (Herring). The robes were designed by Lingít artist Jennifer Younger, envisioned by Herring Lady Ḵ'asheechtlaa Louise Brady, and co-designed and constructed by ally textile artist Carol Hughey; they feature a Herring formline design by Charlie Skultka Jr. Check out more of her work here.

Elizabeth Campbell, Music. Elizabeth’s dissertation is on Lillian Evanti (1891-1967), one of the first African Americans to sing with an opera company in Europe. Evanti’s career challenged assumptions that African Americans were not sophisticated enough to sing opera and in doing so, inspired stars such as Marian Anderson, the first African American to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera Company. Being able to focus entirely on research this summer, Elizabeth worked around the physical limitations of the pandemic by purchasing subscriptions to online newspaper and genealogical archives.

Helia Pouyanfar, Art Studio. Helia is an interdisciplinary conceptual artist and sculptor who explores themes related to migration and border crossing through a poetic and storytelling approach. Her recent work attempts to turn the home into a living entity that follows the Refugee across borders and walks with her through space. Her work explores questions such as who has the right to land, and what would happen if a refugee decided to take her home with her across borders as an act of resistance and of reclaiming the self. Helia used the Mondavi funds to build an interactive and immersive art installation. Using construction materials, memory, and sound, she created multiple moveable sculptures that mimic the childhood room she left behind as a refugee. Check out Helia's work on her website and Instagram.

 

Christina Thomas, Native American Studies. Christina will use her fellowship to create the foundation for her dissertation project, “Numu Nugadu [Our Dances],” a historical musicology project rooted in community-based linguistics and methodologies that will incorporate equal parts historical/archival and performative/engaged research methodologies, all of which will be Numu-led and community-based.  Due to Covid-19, fires, community deaths, and safety precautions, Thomas had to adapt the process of gathering footage of dance instruction and footage/recordings that will be used. Christina hopes to use the footage and video trailer from these recordings to  apply for grants and other funding of this work to create a short documentary movie.

 

Edward Whelan, Design. Edward has been developing a series of “workshop cards” that seek to bring to light inequities and injustices inherent in art museum exhibiting, helping museum professionals to critically re-evaluate their standard exhibition methods and relationships to their communities. Edward was able to develop prototypes of these workshop tools which include: expanded workshops cards, a supplemental booklet that provided more context for each case study, and a series of exercises for museum professionals to evaluate their own community connections and institutional structures.  Having prototypes allowed Edward to receive important feedback from professionals in the field like the Senior Curator at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, Ellen Lupton. 

 

Justin Yancher, Department of Theater and Dance. Justin is working on a play adaptation of Sandy Holman’s award winning children's book, “Grandpa, is Everything Black Bad?” Immersing himself in African and African American history alongside the development of the script, his goal is to make an engaging piece of theater that can help students to begin thinking and talking about race at a young age. Over the summer, the project took significant strides in its goals to educate the general public on lesser known African and African American history; the initial staged reading showcased the play’s potential and Justin is pursuing support for a fuller production in the coming spring.

 

UC Humanities Consortium Fellows:

 

Amanda Kong (English) and Jasmine Wade (Cultural Studies) participated in the first Graduate Fellows Collaborative, comprised of students from across the UCs awarded research fellowships funded by the University of California Office of the President Multi-campus Research Programs and Initiative Funding. Both Amanda and Jasmine greatly appreciated the time to focus on their research. In addition to weekly writing groups, the Consortium fellows across the UC gathered for a professionalization workshop led by Bri McWhorter of Activate to Captivate. For Jasmine, the professionalization workshop was particularly fruitful as she is currently on the job market. This workshop focused on developing the skills for translating research into interview and non-academic contexts, which was extremely useful. Check out this article on the Consortium from UCSB. 

 

Mellon Public Scholars: 

 

Save the date for an online showcase featuring the work of the 2021 Mellon Public Scholars, launching on Wednesday, November 17. Each student will present a video detailing their community-engaged summer research projects. Learn more about the fellows here.