This year, the HASTAC Scholars program had about 230 participants. The year started off with an exciting an announcement that ASU and their Nexus Lab have become a new partner institution for HASTAC. In November, we all signed a reaffirmation of our core values of intellectual freedom and education as a public good. Most of the HASTAC Scholars work remains focused on the University Worth Fighting For series, which was started in the previous academic year.
University Worth Fighting For #fight4edu
In 2016–17, HASTAC and The Futures Initiative continued the signature series of events, the “University Worth Fighting For” (UWFF), which is designed to tie student-centered, engaged pedagogical practices to institutional change and social justice. In these events, we pay special attention to race, gender, diversity, equity, and inequality—and rethink the forms of higher education we so urgently need now. This year, HASTAC Scholars tried a new way to engage a wider public in these conversations through Twitter Chats led by groups of interested Scholars each month. The Scholars organizing the chat were responsible for coming up with questions, inviting guests, and engaging a wide audience on the day of the event. They also attended the live-stream of the in-person UWFF event in advance to the Twitter Chats.
- Racism, Xenophobia, Populism: The Miseducation of the Public, with speakers Jessie Daniels, Mary Phillips, and Linda Sarsour. The Twitter chat before the in-person event was led by HASTAC Scholars Xine Yao, Jason Buel, and Merisa Martinez.
- Enacting a Different STEM: Building Equitable Futures Beyond “Diversity,” with speakers Jill Bargonetti, Gillian Bayne, Andrew Rosenberg, and Sara Vogel, organized by HASTAC Scholar Michelle Morales. The Twitter chat before the in-person event was led by HASTAC Scholars Danielle Picard, Leah Rankin, Krystal Cooper
- Media Blackness, with speakers Cathy Davidson, Shelly Eversley, Racquel Gates, and Michael Gillespie. The Twitter chat before the in-person event was led by HASTAC Scholars Krystal Cooper, Brooklyne Gibson, Jenny Korn, Grace Gipson, Honey Crawford, and Emilie-Andree Jabouin.
- Accessibility, Mobility, and Design, with speakers Sara Hendren and April Coughlin, led by HASTAC Scholar Jessica Murray. The Twitter chat before the in-person event was led by HASTAC Scholars Jenn Polish and Christina A. Bosch (with questions from James Hammond)
- Global Perspectives on the Fight for Higher Education, with speakers Marianna Poyares, Zandi Radebe, Cleopatra Funzani Mtembu, Zee Dempster, Eve Tuck, and Arianna Martinez, led by HASTAC Scholar and former Scholars Director Allison Guess. The Twitter chat that followed was led by HASTAC Scholars Ali Pearl, Roneva Keel, Dhanashree Thorat, Grace Gipson, Kristopher Purzycki.
Interview Collection
The Interview Collection, another project initiated in the previous academic year, was also continued by Scholars this year. It has proven to be a great way for Scholars to get to know the many the fields intersecting with HASTAC’s mission as well as HASTAC’s organization at large. The project is meant to showcase Steering Committee members, who drive HASTAC intellectually, diversify its initiatives, provide a foundation for the dynamic HASTAC Scholars community, and support events and initiatives including the annual HASTAC conference. Here are the additional interviews that HASTAC Scholars added to the new HASTAC Interview Collection this year:
- Wendy Chun interviewed by Merideth Garcia
- Jacque Wernimont interviewed by Liz Polcha
- Mark C. Marino interviewed by Peter Kudenov
- Bruce Janz interviewed by Nicholas DeArmas
- Moya Bailey interviewed by Whitney Sperrazza
- Cathy Davidson interviewed by Allison Guess
- Tressie McMillan Cottom interviewed by Jenny Korn
Collaborative Book Review of Structuring Equality
HASTAC Scholar Christina Bosch led a team of five other Scholars (Jennifer Roth Miller, Emily Esten, Lawrence Evalyn, James Edmonds, and R.D. Snyder) in a collaborative book review of Structuring Equality: A Handbook for Student-Centered Learning and Teaching Practices, a collection of theoretical and practical essays written by graduate students for anyone interested in understanding why, where, and how to use engaged, active classroom practices.
Webinar
Scholars Sarah Evans and Richard Snyder led a webinar on using Twine, an open-source tool for telling interactive, nonlinear stories, in storytelling projects, teaching, and research. The video has been posted to our YouTube channel where you can also see previous webinars hosted by HASTAC Scholars.
DH Caucus Meet-Up
In a co-sponsored event with FemTechNet, Yale’s Women’s Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program, and University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, many of us met in person for the first time at the American Studies Association in Denver, CO, in November of 2016. We posted some pictures from the event on our Facebook page.
For more on HASTAC scholars: http://hastac.org/scholars