In this episode of Careers in the Public Humanities, we return from our pandemic-related hiatus for a conversation between Michael Landreth and Rhiannon Sorrell, Instruction and Digital Services Librarian at Diné College on the Navajo Nation and Diné Coordinator for the NEH-funded project "The Afterlife of Film: Upgrading and Tribesourcing Southwest Materials in the in the American Indian Film Gallery." Topics discussed in the episode include recording counternarratives to the original narration tracks recorded by community outsiders for archival films showing indigenous practices, the obstacles that arise when trying to preserve indigenous cultural knowledge in digital or virtual spaces, and why the pandemic has been particularly difficult for indigenous persons in Rhiannon's community and for Navajo language revitalization efforts.  The film project can be viewed at tribesourcingfilm.com.

Episode 12: Rhiannon Sorrell, Instruction and Digital Services Librarian at Diné College

This episode of Careers in the Public Humanities features a conversation between Michael Landreth and Corey Oglesby, a musician, poet, and digital media specialist based in Moscow, ID. Topics discussed include skills that can be obtained in graduate school apart from the study of a specific discipline, the possibility of a politically-neutral digital humanities, and the value of local arts scenes in small or rural towns. Corey's current musical projects include the bands Monopines, Mother Yeti, and Desolation Horse, all of which can be found on any major streaming platform.

Episode 13: Corey Oglesby, Musician, Poet, and Digital Media Specialist for the City of Moscow, ID

In the inaugural episode for the Careers in the Public Humanities podcast, Dr. Rachel Boccio interviews Dr. Claire Reynolds, Communications Coordinator for the English department at the University of Connecticut. Throughout the conversation, Claire and Rachel (both URI English PhD alumnae) return to the importance of advanced training in the humanities and the rich diversity of roles PhDs are needed to fill.

Episode 1: Dr. Claire Reynolds, Communications Coordinator for the English department at UCONN

For our second episode of the Careers in the Public Humanities podcast, Catherine Winters interviews Laura  Laura Tetreault, PhD candidate and University Fellow in Rhetoric and Composition at the University of Louisville. Catherine and Laura consider communicating with various publics, movement building, and the varied paths open to English students during this episode.

Episode 2: Laura Tetreault, PhD candidate in Rhetoric at University of Louisville

Starting our Fall 2017 season of the Careers in the Public Humanities podcast, Dr. Rachel Boccio interviews Dr. James Golden, the Director of Education at the Mark Twain House of Hartford, CT. In this episode, James and Rachel discuss moving to public humanities from academia and the importance of cultural institutions to a wide array of communities.

Fall 2017

Episode 3: Dr. James Golden, Director of Education for the Mark Twain House

In this episode of Careers in the Public Humanities, PhD candidate Ryan Engley interviews Dr. Elizabeth Francis, the Executive Director of the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities. Together they discuss the importance of placemaking and engaging with community in all humanities projects.

Episode 4: Dr. Elizabeth Francis, Executive Director of Rhode Island Council for the Humanities

In this episode of Careers in the Public Humanities, PhD candidate Catherine Winters speaks with URI alumna Dr. Kenna Barrett, the Director of Development at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at John Hopkins University. The two discuss the state of finances at universities, how university development actually works, and weighing the pros and cons of any position.

Episode 5: Dr. Kenna Barrett, Director of Development at SAIS, John Hopkins University

In this wide-ranging episode of Careers in the Public Humanities, PhD candidate Ryan Engley speaks with Dr. Paul Erickson, Program Director for The Humanities, Arts, and Culture; and American Institutions, Society, and the Public Good at the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in Cambridge, MA. The two discuss Paul's career path, the state of the humanities in 2018 (particularly English majors and departments), how Paul envisions the public humanities, how to successfully target an application for external funding, and much more. Thanks so much for listening! We hope you enjoy the conversation.

A link to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences' "State of the Humanities" job report that Paul talks about in the podcast.
https://www.amacad.org/content/publications/publication.aspx?d=43025

A link to a very valuable "Study the Humanities Toolkit" recently published by National Humanities Alliance. https://www.studythehumanities.org/toolkit

Episode 6: Dr. Paul Erickson, American Academy of Arts & Sciences

In this episode of Careers in the Public Humanities, Catherine Winters speaks with Dr. Jim McGrath, Postdoctoral Fellow in Digital Public Humanities at Brown University‘s John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage. Together the two consider what Digital Public Humanities is, how it differs from Digital Humanities and/or Public Humanities, what the place of these fields are and will be in the future, as well as the role of the postdoc, transitioning from being a graduate student, how to shape your scholarly persona, and more. Thanks so much for listening! We hope you enjoy the conversation.

Links:
Our Marathon: https://marathon.library.northeastern.edu/
Rhode Tour: http://rhodetour.org/
Tour of the Nightingale-Brown House: http://cds.library.brown.edu/NBHouse/
Public Work podcast: https://blogs.brown.edu/publicworkpodcast/
You can find more about Jim and many of his projects at https://jimmcgrath.us/

Episode 7: Dr. Jim McGrath, Postdoc in Digital Public Humanities at Brown University

In this episode of Careers in the Public Humanities, Catherine Winters speaks with Christina Bevilacqua, MA, Programs & Exhibitions Director at Providence Public Library and Conversationalist-in-Residence at Trinity Repertory Company. In this conversation, the two discuss how the humanities allow for complication, the risk of theatre and unmediated discussion, and how building the career you want often involves having jobs you do not enjoy and volunteering to stretch your skills.

Episode 8: Christina Bevilacqua, Programs & Exhibitions Director at Providence Public Library

In this episode of Careers in the Public Humanities, the creators and producers of the podcast get together to discuss what we've learned through this show. In this conversation, Rachel Boccio, Michele Meek, Ryan Engley, Catherine Winters, and Michael Landreth talk about how we understand Public Humanities, what responsibility universities have, and how we can understand our own work in academia and beyond.

Episode 9: Roundtable Discussion with Creators and Producers of Careers in the Public Humanities

In this episode of Careers in the Public Humanities, Catherine Winters speaks with Taylor Polites, MFA, author and Rhode Island Council for the Humanities Scholar Award Winner. In this conversation, the two discuss storytelling, following a career of passion, and the importance of place.

Episode 10: Taylor Polites, Author and Rhode Island Council for the Humanities Scholar Award Winner

In this episode of Careers in the Public Humanities, Michael Landreth speaks with Janaya Kizzie, MLIS, the Rhode Island Arts and Culture Research Fellow at the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities at the time of recording (she has since transitioned into the role of Event Coordinator at the Providence Public Library). In this conversation, the two discuss Wikipedia, archiving in the digital age, and that being unsure can be a positive in the public humanities.

Episode 11: Janaya Kizzie, former Rhode Island Arts and Culture Research Fellow at RICH

“Careers in the Public Humanities” is a podcast exploring the broad range of positions and prospects open to humanities scholars beyond the tenure track. Produced by graduate students in the URI English Department, each episode features an interview with a scholar in the humanities who uses their disciplinary knowledge in unique ways. The series aims to inspire current and prospective graduate students to embrace cross-disciplinary learning and to consider engaging in research that serves diverse literary and cultural publics. 

“Careers in the Public Humanities” is produced by graduate students in the University of Rhode Island English Department, with funding support from the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Next Generation PhD initiative.

Careers in the Public Humanities

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