Director and Advisory Board

DIRECTOR

Lori Lefkovitz

Director, Northeastern Humanities Center Ruderman Professor and Director of Jewish Studies Program Professor, Department of English College of Social Sciences and Humanities DIRECTORS

2021-22 ADVISORY BOARD

Elizabeth Bucar

Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religion College of Social Sciences and Humanities

Laura Green

Associate Dean of Teaching, Learning, and Experiential Education Professor, Department of English College of Social Sciences and Humanities

Sarah Kanouse

Associate Professor, Media Arts College of Arts, Media and Design

Ted Landsmark

Distinguished Professor, School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs Director, Kitty and Michael Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy College of Social Sciences and Humanities

Ángel David Nieves

Professor of Africana Studies, History, and Digital Humanities, Director of Public Humanities College of Social Sciences and Humanities Richard L. O’Bryant

Director, John D. O’Bryant African American Institute

Ronald Sandler

Chair and Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religion Director, Ethics Institute College of Social Sciences and Humanities

Thomas J. Vicino

Associate Dean of Graduate Studies Professor, Department of Political Science, School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs College of Social Sciences and Humanities STAFF

Gabrielle Fiorenza-Hagopian

Assistant Director of Events and Public Humanities Initiatives, Northeastern Humanities Center Office of the Dean, College of Social Sciences and Humanities

SPECIAL THANKS

Office of the Dean, College of Social Sciences and Humanities Graphic Design: Victoria Sax Photography: Jarvis Chen, Adam Glanzman, Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University, Jenna Ory

Suzanna Danuta Walters

Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology Director, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program College of Social Sciences and Humanities

Liza Weinstein

Chair, Department of Sociology Associate Professor, Department of Sociology College of Social Sciences and Humanities

Patricia Williams

University Distinguished Professor of Law and Humanities College of Social Sciences and Humanities School of Law

Re-imagining/Re-forming

FELLOWS 2022–2023

Can we use this photo?

CONVENER: Patricia Williams University Distinguished Professor of Law and Humanities School of Law College of Social Sciences and Humanities

Mindful of recent political, cultural, and environmental upheavals, the Northeastern Humanities Center theme for the 2022-23 academic year is “Re-imagining/Re-forming.” We sought proposals that address how bedrock notions of social contract are being reconfigured by the disruptions of what some have called Industry 4.0, or the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

What are the material implications of recent technological developments — broadly understood, including, for example, AI and biotechnologies — for the humanities, and for the laws and social ordering of what we have traditionally thought of as “the human”? Are we moving towards a digital social contract, and if so, who or what is determining its terms?

We invited proposals connected to any dimension of this broad field of inquiry, including literary, artistic, historical, socio-political, economic, ecological, media theoretical, philosophical, linguistic, as well as technology-focused perspectives. Patricia Williams, University Distinguished Professor of Law and Humanities, will lead the year-long interdisciplinary conversation among fellows about their work.

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FELLOWS

Sari Altschuler

Associate Professor of English College of Social Sciences and Humanities

Capable Citizens: How Disability Shaped American Citizenship

Nick Beauchamp

Assistant Professor of Political Science College of Social Sciences and Humanities

Re-Forming Politics Online: Community Formation and Social Policing within the Left

Sina Fazelpour

Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Computer Science Khoury College of Computer Sciences College of Social Sciences and Humanities

Standpoint Matters: Justice and Diversity in Sociotechnical Algorithmic Systems

Deirdre Loughridge

Assistant Professor of Music Faculty Affiliate of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies College of Arts, Media, and Design

Sounding Human

Gloria Sutton

CAMD Humanities Center Fellow Associate Professor of Contemporary Art History Faculty Affiliate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies College of Arts, Media and Design

Pattern Recognition: Marginality as Methodology within Computational Forms of Art

Taylor Braswell

Graduate Fellow PhD Candidate, Sociology College of Social Sciences and Humanities

Historical Relationship between Urbanization and the Electric Utility Industry in Georgia and South Carolina Kabria Baumgartner

Dean’s Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies College of Social Sciences and Humanities

Revolutionizing the City: Black Youth and Civil Rights in Boston

Victoria Cain

Associate Professor of History College of Social Sciences and Humanities

Refuge, Revelation, Risk: A History of Adolescent Privacy in the Digital Age

Chad Lee-Stronach

Assistant Professor of Philosophy College of Social Sciences and Humanities

Encoding Justice: Towards a New Digital Social Contract

Lily Song

Assistant Professor of Race and Social Justice in the Built Environment College of Arts, Media and Design

Re-imagining and Re-formulating Spatial Planning and Development with Local Communities

Ari Waldman

Professor of Law and Computer Science Faculty Director, Center for Law, Information and Creativity (CLIC) School of Law Khoury College of Computer Sciences

Laundering Misinformation Through Law

Cherice Escobar Jones

Graduate Fellow PhD Candidate, English College of Social Sciences and Humanities

Rhetoric’s of Race within Medical Writing

ABOUT THE NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY HUMANITIES CENTER

Critical and reflective study of human cultures and people’s artistic and intellectual achievements develops acumen, heightens sensitivity to experience, and enhances our sensibilities. Founded in 2008, the Northeastern Humanities Center supports faculty and student research in the humanities and social sciences; facilitates collaboration across disciplines; and presents humanistic and social scientific research to the wider university community and the general public. Through working groups, forum discussions, symposia, seminars, workshops, informal dialogues, conferences, and joint projects, the Center supports a wide-ranging interdisciplinary exchange of ideas in an atmosphere of respect for different perspectives, experiences, and expertise. By offering various opportunities for engagement with art, literature, philosophy, history, and social and political formations, the work of the Humanities Center strengthens the foundation from which we can respond meaningfully to one another and the needs of our world.

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