Publicly Engaged Scholars: Identities, Purposes, Practices – serie

The Scholar as Human brings together faculty from a wide range of disciplines—history; art; Africana, American, and Latinx studies; literature, law, performance and media arts, development sociology, anthropology, and Science and Technology Studies—to focus on how scholarship is informed, enlivened, deepened, and made more meaningful by each scholar's sense of identity, purpose, and place in the world. Designed to help model new paths for publicly-engaged humanities, the contributions to this groundbreaking volume are guided by one overarching question: How can scholars practice a more human scholarship?Recognizing that colleges and universities must be more responsive to the needs of both their students and surrounding communities, the essays in The Scholar as Human carve out new space for public scholars and practitioners whose rigor and passion are equally important forces in their work. Challenging the approach to research and teaching of earlier generations that valorized disinterestedness, each contributor here demonstrates how they have energized their own scholarship and its reception among their students and in the wider world through a deeper engagement with their own life stories and humanity.Contributors: Anna Sims Bartel, Debra A. Castillo, Ella Diaz, Carolina Osorio Gil, Christine Henseler, Caitlin Kane, Shawn McDaniel, A. T. Miller, Scott J. Peters, Bobby J. Smith II, José Ragas, Riché Richardson, Gerald Torres, Matthew Velasco, Sara WarnerThanks to generous funding from Cornell University, the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access volumes from Cornell Open (cornellpress.cornell.edu/cornell-open) and other repositories.

Building Collective Leadership for Culture Change shows how five community engagement research projects in the greater Los Angeles area were able to create more collaborative and participatory cultures in their academic institutions and nonacademic settings by using community organizing, research in action, and narrative inquiry. These projects focused on incorporating civic engagement into the work of scholars, creating a civic engagement minor at California State University, Dominguez Hills, integrating community organizing practices within the Los Angeles Unified School District, and building a regional organizing network among civically engaged higher education institutions.As the case studies authored by Maria Avila and her collaborators show, these projects succeeded because they took place in collaborative spaces where participants were part of designing the purpose, goals, and specific actions to create culture change. Building Collective Leadership for Culture Change is a vital inquiry into the possibilities of collective interpretation of accomplishments among researchers and participants.

Building Collective Leadership for Culture Change shows how five community engagement research projects in the greater Los Angeles area were able to create more collaborative and participatory cultures in their academic institutions and nonacademic settings by using community organizing, research in action, and narrative inquiry. These projects focused on incorporating civic engagement into the work of scholars, creating a civic engagement minor at California State University, Dominguez Hills, integrating community organizing practices within the Los Angeles Unified School District, and building a regional organizing network among civically engaged higher education institutions.As the case studies authored by Maria Avila and her collaborators show, these projects succeeded because they took place in collaborative spaces where participants were part of designing the purpose, goals, and specific actions to create culture change. Building Collective Leadership for Culture Change is a vital inquiry into the possibilities of collective interpretation of accomplishments among researchers and participants.

Scholars in COVID Times documents the new and innovative forms of scholarship, community collaboration, and teaching brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this volume, Melissa Castillo Planas and Debra A. Castillo bring together a diverse range of texts, from research-based studies to self-reflective essays, to reexamine what it means to be a publicly engaged scholar in the era of COVID.Between social distancing, masking, and remote teaching—along with the devastating physical and emotional tolls on individuals and families—the disruption of COVID-19 in academia has given motivated scholars an opportunity (or necessitated them) to reconsider how they interact with and inspire students, conduct research, and continue collaborative projects. Addressing a broad range of factors, from anti-Asian racism to pedagogies of resilience and escapism, digital pen pals to international performance, the essays are connected by a flexible, creative approach to community engagement as a core aspect of research and teaching. Timely and urgent, but with long-term implications and applications, Scholars in COVID Times offers a heterogeneous vision of scholarly and pedagogical innovation in an era of contestation and crisis.

Scholars in COVID Times documents the new and innovative forms of scholarship, community collaboration, and teaching brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this volume, Melissa Castillo Planas and Debra A. Castillo bring together a diverse range of texts, from research-based studies to self-reflective essays, to reexamine what it means to be a publicly engaged scholar in the era of COVID.Between social distancing, masking, and remote teaching—along with the devastating physical and emotional tolls on individuals and families—the disruption of COVID-19 in academia has given motivated scholars an opportunity (or necessitated them) to reconsider how they interact with and inspire students, conduct research, and continue collaborative projects. Addressing a broad range of factors, from anti-Asian racism to pedagogies of resilience and escapism, digital pen pals to international performance, the essays are connected by a flexible, creative approach to community engagement as a core aspect of research and teaching. Timely and urgent, but with long-term implications and applications, Scholars in COVID Times offers a heterogeneous vision of scholarly and pedagogical innovation in an era of contestation and crisis.

Faith Made Flesh brings together the experience, insight, and stories of those actively addressing societal and educational disadvantages of Black children in Sacramento, California. Editors Lawrence "Torry" Winn, Vajra M. Watson, Maisha T. Winn, and Kindra F. Montgomery-Block seek to offer viable solutions to racial injustice by centering the voices of organizers, policymakers, educators, scholars, and young people alike. Focused on the Black Child Legacy Campaign (BCLC), a ten-year community-driven initiative to respond to disproportionate health outcomes, the contributors analyze the impact of the BCLC's successes, providing an empirically rich narrative of its transformative alliances and radical actions. Through timely and urgent case studies and personal reflections, Faith Made Flesh advances the need to address societal challenges through creative engagement with diverse institutional and individual stakeholders. The findings offer an innovative model to other regions aiming to cultivate thriving community-city-school partnerships that center the well-being of Black children and Black futures.

Faith Made Flesh brings together the experience, insight, and stories of those actively addressing societal and educational disadvantages of Black children in Sacramento, California. Editors Lawrence "Torry" Winn, Vajra M. Watson, Maisha T. Winn, and Kindra F. Montgomery-Block seek to offer viable solutions to racial injustice by centering the voices of organizers, policymakers, educators, scholars, and young people alike. Focused on the Black Child Legacy Campaign (BCLC), a ten-year community-driven initiative to respond to disproportionate health outcomes, the contributors analyze the impact of the BCLC's successes, providing an empirically rich narrative of its transformative alliances and radical actions. Through timely and urgent case studies and personal reflections, Faith Made Flesh advances the need to address societal challenges through creative engagement with diverse institutional and individual stakeholders. The findings offer an innovative model to other regions aiming to cultivate thriving community-city-school partnerships that center the well-being of Black children and Black futures.

We Make Each Other Beautiful focuses on woman of color and queer of color artists and artist collectives who engage in direct political action as a part of their art practice. Defined by public protest, rule-breaking, rebellion, and resistance to governmental and institutional abuse, direct-action "artivism" draws on the aims, radical spirit, and tactics of the civil rights and feminist movements and on the struggles for disability rights, queer rights, and immigrant rights to seek legal and social change. Yxta Maya Murray traces the development of artivism as a practice from the Harlem Renaissance to Yoko Ono, Judy Baca, and Marsha P. Johnson. She also studies its role in transforming law and society. We Make Each Other Beautiful profiles the work and lives of four contemporary artivists —Carrie Mae Weems, Young Joon Kwak, Tanya Aguiñiga, and Imani Jacqueline Brown—and the artivist collective Drawn Together, combining new oral histories with sharp analyses of how their diverse and expansive artistic practices bear important aesthetic and politicolegal meanings that address a wide range of injustices.

We Make Each Other Beautiful focuses on woman of color and queer of color artists and artist collectives who engage in direct political action as a part of their art practice. Defined by public protest, rule-breaking, rebellion, and resistance to governmental and institutional abuse, direct-action "artivism" draws on the aims, radical spirit, and tactics of the civil rights and feminist movements and on the struggles for disability rights, queer rights, and immigrant rights to seek legal and social change. Yxta Maya Murray traces the development of artivism as a practice from the Harlem Renaissance to Yoko Ono, Judy Baca, and Marsha P. Johnson. She also studies its role in transforming law and society. We Make Each Other Beautiful profiles the work and lives of four contemporary artivists —Carrie Mae Weems, Young Joon Kwak, Tanya Aguiñiga, and Imani Jacqueline Brown—and the artivist collective Drawn Together, combining new oral histories with sharp analyses of how their diverse and expansive artistic practices bear important aesthetic and politicolegal meanings that address a wide range of injustices.

Exiting the Cocoon of Academia describes a scholar's experiences in practical politics at local, state, and federal levels. Christopher E. Smith served on a local committee evaluating corporal punishment in public schools, provided expert testimony on capital punishment for a state legislature, ran for Congress, and led a non-profit advocacy organization focused on reducing gun violence. Throughout these experiences, Smith's assumptions about the value of social science research for the development of evidence-based policy collided with the practical power of decision makers' firmly held beliefs or political self-interest. Smith's experiences provide guidance on understanding and addressing belief-based resistance to research evidence and illuminate how anti-democracy elements of US politics and government impede the advancement of evidence-based policy making. His reflections also reveal behind-the-scenes aspects of political parties and elections. The political contexts examined in Exiting the Cocoon of Academia show how even seemingly small actions by individuals can contribute to policy change. Lessons drawn from these contexts encourage scholars and others in society to pursue engagement in politics and policy development with a practical understanding of frustrating impediments and challenges.