黑料正能量

The 黑料正能量 Humanities Center has announced its 2026 Faculty Research Grant recipients, supporting seven interdisciplinary projects that examine culture, technology, history and human experience. The funded work spans documentary film, digital humanities, media history and creative writing, reflecting a wide range of approaches to humanities scholarship.

"The second cohort of faculty research grantees is investigating both timeless and timely questions about human experiences, the human condition and human-centered responses to real-world challenges,鈥� said Edda Fields-Black, director of the Humanities Center and professor of history. 鈥淭hese cutting-edge projects represent the kind of bold, humanistic research the Humanities Center is committed to supporting 鈥� research that pushes boundaries and speaks to the complexities of both our past and our world today."

Contested Culinary Landscapes

Nevine Abraham, Associate Teaching Professor, Department of Languages, Cultures & Applied Linguistics (LCAL) and Michal Rose Friedman, Assistant Teaching Professor & Jack Buncher Professor of Jewish Studies, Department of History
Project Type: Documentary Film

Nevine Abraham and Michal Rose Friedman are producing a feature-length documentary that examines food within the political and cultural contexts of Israel and Palestine. The project explores how culinary practices intersect with questions of identity, displacement and power, particularly in regions shaped by conflict and migration. Through ethnographic filmmaking, the researchers document everyday food spaces 鈥� including markets, kitchens and restaurants 鈥� to understand how individuals and communities maintain cultural traditions. The film also considers how food can serve as a site of both connection and contestation, reflecting broader debates about belonging and heritage. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in multiple locations, the project combines visual storytelling with humanities research to capture lived experiences that are often difficult to document through traditional scholarship. By focusing on food as a lens, the documentary aims to illuminate the human dimensions of political struggle and cultural continuity.

Archipelago: A Memoir in Islands

Camille Rankine, Assistant Professor, Department of English
Project Type: Book

A creative nonfiction project, 鈥淎rchipelago鈥� explores questions of identity, memory and belonging across geographic and cultural boundaries. Camille Rankine鈥檚 work draws on personal and historical narratives connected to Jamaica, Harlem and Belarus, tracing how movement and migration shape individual experience. Through a hybrid approach that blends memoir and critical reflection, the project examines what it means to construct a sense of self across multiple locations and histories. It considers how displacement and diaspora complicate traditional ideas of home, while also creating new forms of connection. By engaging with both personal storytelling and broader cultural contexts, the project highlights the ways identity is formed through layered and sometimes conflicting influences. The work ultimately seeks to reframe belonging as something dynamic rather than fixed, shaped by memory, history and lived experience across different places.

Scaling Cooperative Housing: The Architecture and Ecology of CommonsPublic Partnerships

Stefan Gruber, Associate Professor,
Project Type: Book

This project from investigates Commons-Public Partnerships (CPPs) as an alternative model for housing that emphasizes collective ownership and community governance. The research examines how residents, public institutions and other stakeholders collaborate to create and sustain shared living environments. By analyzing case studies and organizational structures, the project explores how CPPs function in practice, including their approaches to financing, decision-making and long-term sustainability. The work situates housing within broader social and political systems, highlighting how cooperative models can challenge conventional development practices. It also considers how these partnerships can address issues such as affordability and access, particularly in urban contexts. By focusing on collective approaches to housing, the project contributes to ongoing conversations about how communities can shape their own living conditions and build more equitable systems of support.

Advancing Human-ness in Algorithmic Worlds: A History of Technical Communication

Nupoor Ranade, Assistant Professor, Department of English
Project Type: Book聽

Nupoor Ranade鈥檚 project examines the history and evolution of technical communication alongside the development of intelligent technologies. The research explores how people have documented, explained and interacted with complex systems over time, with particular attention to shifts brought about by automation and machine learning. By tracing these changes, the project highlights the role of communication in shaping how technologies are understood and used. It also considers how technical communication practices influence relationships between humans and machines, including issues of clarity, accessibility and trust. Through historical and analytical approaches, the work aims to better understand how communication frameworks adapt to emerging technologies. The project contributes to broader discussions about how people engage with increasingly complex systems and how those systems are made legible to diverse audiences.

Developing an Interactive Digital Treatise on Representational Composition: A Rhetorical Theory of Strategic Communication

Suguru Ishizaki, Professor, and David Kaufer, Emertius Professor, Department of English
Project Type:聽 Book-length digital publication

David Kaufer and Suguru Ishizaki are building on 25 years of research developing an interactive digital project that brings together rhetorical theory and computational design. The work takes the form of a multimedia scholarly publication, using digital tools to present complex ideas in accessible and engaging ways. By integrating text, visuals and interactive elements, the project reimagines how academic arguments can be structured and experienced. It also explores how digital environments shape reading practices and influence how audiences engage with scholarly content. The project reflects ongoing shifts in academic publishing, where traditional formats are being supplemented by dynamic, technology-driven approaches. Through its combination of rhetoric and computation, the work demonstrates how digital platforms can expand the possibilities of humanities scholarship while reaching broader audiences.

Radio Afghanistan: The Sounds of Kabul and the Making of a Modern Nation

Mejgan Massoumi, Assistant Professor, Department of History
Project Type: Book

Mejgan Massoumi鈥檚 project examines the history of radio broadcasting in Afghanistan, focusing on the role of Radio Kabul in shaping cultural and political life. Through the concept of 鈥渟onic dissonance,鈥� the research explores how radio has mediated competing narratives during periods of conflict and change, including the Cold War era. The project analyzes broadcasts, archival materials and historical accounts to understand how sound functions as a medium of communication and influence. It also considers how radio has connected local and global audiences, serving as both a cultural resource and a political tool. By centering sound and listening, the research offers a distinct perspective on media history and the ways information is transmitted and received. The project contributes to a deeper understanding of how media technologies shape public discourse and collective memory.

The Commonplace Book Database

Atesede Makonnen, Assistant Professor, Department of English
Project Type: Archiving and Transcription

Atesede Makonnen鈥檚 digital humanities project focuses on the development of a database for 鈥渃ommonplace books,鈥� a historical collection of notes, excerpts and observations compiled by readers. The project uses computational tools, including artificial intelligence, to transcribe and analyze handwritten manuscripts, making them more accessible to researchers and the public. By digitizing and organizing these materials, the database enables new forms of scholarly inquiry into reading practices and knowledge production. The work also addresses challenges related to transcription accuracy, data organization and interpretation. Through its combination of archival research and digital technology, the project highlights how computational methods can expand access to historical materials. It ultimately aims to create a resource that supports interdisciplinary research while preserving important cultural artifacts.