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April 2020
Events
All April events have been cancelled or postponed. We welcome you to contact us with questions or suggestions at obermann-center@uiowa.edu.
Deadlines
Celebrating the work of current & past Obermann scholars and friends
- Lisa Heineman (Humanities Symposium, 2016-17; Fellow-in-Residence, 2019) and Laurel Sanders (History), co-authored an article, "German Iowa and the Global Midwest: Discussing Immigration and Xenophobia in the Trump Era," that appeared in The Public Historian, February 2020.
- Eric Gidal (Fellow-in-Residence, 2018) published a book chapter, "Scottish Poetry and Ecology," in The International Companion to Eighteenth-Century Scottish Literature (Edinburgh University Press, 2020).
- Thomas Oates (Fellow-in-Residence, 2018) published "'Where I'm From': Jay-Z's 'Hip Hop Cosmopolitanism,' Basketball, and the Neoliberal Politics of Urban Space" in Sociology of Sport Journal (2020).
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Shel Stromquist (Fellow-in-Residence, 2006) and John McKerley (Iowa Labor Center) spoke about
The Iowa Labor History Oral Project, a talk that was recently rebroadcast on Iowa Public Radio.
Our Media
Recent video and audio of our events
- Imagining Latinidades Podcast - The closing symposium of this brilliantly successful yearlong Andrew W. Mellon-funded Sawyer Seminar is delayed until 2020-21, but the podcasts, hosted by the seminar leaders, are informative, insightful, and inspiring.
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| "Thanks, Prairie Lights, for the curbside service!" |
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Welcome and video from OCAS director Teresa Mangum
One of the great joys of working at the Obermann Center is the bird's-eye view we have of the work of UI faculty, staff, and students. That view is rarely as simultaneously heartbreaking and heroic as it has been in the last two weeks.
In regular Zoom meetings with my fellow unit directors reporting to the Vice President for Research, I learn about statewide efforts to organize and deliver testing for COVID-19, the tough choices facing core research facilities, and the determined efforts of museum staff to keep the treasures in our archives and collections accessible. I've been in brainstorming conversations with fellow directors of centers across the country and leaders of scholarly societies, thinking together about how to support the research missions of our universities as well as the health and well-being of those around us, especially the most vulnerable--undergraduate and graduate students, contingent faculty, staff members. In Obermann staff meetings, we lighten our spirits with "pet pauses" and small domestic victories even as we carefully restructure work plans.
No stories have moved me more than the quiet, insistent focus on the welfare of students. I hear this concern daily from instructors, administrators, and academic staff. I marvel at the flood of ideas, tools, assignments, and virtual hugs I see on Facebook and Twitter and hear in many, many Zoom meetings.
In my own departments, Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies (GWSS) and English, spring break plans were abandoned as everyone plunged into planning. We shared technology, but more importantly, my colleagues immediately reached out to students asking--What do you need? How can we tailor classes to your circumstances?
When your spirits need a boost, I hope you'll find
this conversation
with professors Lina Murillo (GWSS/History), Lisa Heineman (GWSS/History), and Brady G'Sell (GWSS/Anthropology) about ways to address students' circumstances as uplifting as I did.
In the coming weeks, the Obermann staff will be doing all we can to support you. We'll be sharing resources, moving Obermann Working Groups online, ensuring strong collaborations among our Mellon-funded Humanities for the Public Good summer interns and community partners, and finding ways to do what we do best--enrich and enliven our intellectual community. Thank you for all of your hard work and your passion for learning, discovery, and the open exchange of ideas. You're on our minds and in our hearts as we find our way together through these strange, temporary hard times.
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| A Conversation about Online Teaching Strategies |
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Please join us in supporting our local communities
At this time when many in our community are feeling the effects of job loss or are continuing to work in risky situations by tending to our medical needs, keeping our grocery stores open, removing our garbage, and operating city buses, we hope you'll join us in expressing gratitude by giving.
In the spirit of the Obermann Center's support for public-facing work, our spring 2020 newsletters will feature local organizations and businesses that need our help. Please consider direct gifts to
CommUnity (formerly the Crisis Center) or
United Way of Johnson & Washington Counties.
We all want our local restaurants to be here at the end of the pandemic. Many are offering safe and creative takeout and delivery services. You'll find details and recommendations on the Facebook group site
Quarantine Survival: Eats + Drinks + Dos. Another wonderful group, started by a UI Iowa student, is the
Iowa City Erranders. The group matches volunteers with people who need errands and accepts donations. We welcome you to suggest groups in need of support by telling us about them via email at
obermann-center@uiowa.edu.
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Naomi Greyser shares ideas for writing
First in a series of Obermann scholars reflecting on how their research resonates in this time
Blocked: Writing, Race, and Gender at the University is Naomi Greyser's current book project. We caught up with her from a very unusual working space: her home. Greyser,
associate professor of American Studies; English; and Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies, and a member of the Obermann scholarly community through multiple programs including POROI, is a devoted coffeeshop writer. As a writing coach, she has strong habits and rituals to support her work.
We talked with her about the widespread messaging that during this time of sequestering we should somehow be more productive, asking how this resonates with her research. "An emphasis on productivity actually blocks scholars' writing and thinking," she says. Hear more about her research and glean some suggestions for your own writing life.
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Working Group applications open for 2020-21
Two current directors reflect on the pleasures of their newly formed groups
The Obermann Center's unique Working Groups program provides space, structure, and discretionary funding for participants from across the UI campus and beyond to explore complex issues at a moment when cross-disciplinary collaboration is crucial to address shifting domains of knowledge and a rapidly changing world.
We've extended the application deadline for 2020-21 Working Groups to April 28, and we encourage any faculty member interested in creating new intellectual partnerships around interdisciplinary exploration to apply.
To provide a sense of how Obermann Working Groups operate, we interviewed the directors of two current groups: Hyaeweol Choi, co-director (with Jenna Supp-Montgomerie) of the Secularity and Sanctity in the Modern Era Working Group, and Melissa Tully, director of the Global Media Studies Working Group.
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Summer 2020 Humanities for the Public Good Interns
Nine PHD students to work with community partners
We congratulate the following students, who have been selected for internship positions at five local job sites:
- Kassie Baron (English) - Women in Trades Network Researcher and Outreach Intern, University of Iowa Labor Center
- Dellyssa Edinboro (Education Policy and Leadership Studies) - Center for Afrofuturist Studies Partnership and Program Development Intern, Public Space One
- Michael Goldberg (Teaching and Learning) - Iowa Labor History Oral Project Assistant, University of Iowa Labor Center
- Laura Hayes (English) - Education Associate, National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library
- Matthew Helm (English) - Rural Communities Culture and Culinary Traditions Intern, Iowa Valley Resource Conservation & Development (IVRCD)
- Jonathan Lack (Cinematic Arts) - Storytelling and the Food System, IVRCD
- Jennifer Miller (Language, Literacy, and Culture) - Exhibit Oral History and Community Outreach Intern, African American Museum of Iowa
- Cody Norling (Music) - Community Engagement Liaison, Hancher Auditorium
- Emily Wieder (French and Italian) - Audience Development and Student Engagement Intern, Hancher Auditorium
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Free Online Offerings
Gather, learn, and expand during this period of physical separation
Because in-person campus events have been canceled this spring, we looked to some of the organizations and units with which we've partnered previously for online learning and gathering opportunities.
April 6, 6:00 pm CST and
April 13, 12:00 pm CST
Free webinar by the Poynter Institute
April 8, 11 am CST
April 8, April 15, and April 29, 6:00 pm CST
Other free resources:
Facebook Groups:
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