Summer 2012 NEH Institute for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities
Spatial Narrative and Deep Maps: Explorations in the Spatial Humanities

June 18 – 29, 2012
Call for Proposals: Applications due Friday, February 3, 2012

The Virtual Center for Spatial Humanities (VCSH), a mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary col­lab­o­ra­tion among Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI), Florida State University, and West Virginia University, is pleased to announce an NEH Advanced Institute for sum­mer 2012 designed to advance explo­ration of key top­ics in the spa­tial human­i­ties. The insti­tute will offer schol­ars the oppor­tu­nity to dis­cover the ben­e­fits of a spatial-analytical approach to human­i­ties schol­ar­ship and to explore how to bend geo-spatial tech­nolo­gies, includ­ing GIS and Web 2.0 tools, to the needs of the human­i­ties. Two areas of empha­sis will be spa­tial nar­ra­tives and deep maps. Fellows par­tic­i­pat­ing in the pro­gram will learn both by engag­ing with a vari­ety of exist­ing projects as well as through the pro­duc­tion of a pro­to­type project in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the VCSH team. Fellows also will have an oppor­tu­nity to present their own work and to con­tribute to schol­arly and Web prod­ucts that result from the institute.

The insti­tute will meet in Indianapolis from June 18 to 29, 2012 and will be admin­is­tered by IUPUI’s Polis Center. It will draw upon a mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary fac­ulty from the three col­lab­o­rat­ing insti­tu­tions, as well as lead­ing schol­ars in the field of spa­tial human­i­ties from the US and UK, and will be sup­ported tech­ni­cally by the advanced tech­nol­ogy group of the Polis Center. The insti­tute sched­ule will allow time for fel­lows to inter­act with the staff and to seek advice for their own projects or project ideas, but the pri­mary focus will be on how to use geo-spatial tech­nolo­gies to enhance the nar­ra­tive and ana­lyt­i­cal tra­di­tions of the human­i­ties. The fel­lows will work with project staff to develop a pro­to­type deep map to sup­port multi-scalar and con­tin­gent analy­sis of prob­lems of inter­ests to human­ists. To focus this work, the insti­tute will explore the spa­tial con­texts of American reli­gion, using the Digital Atlas of American Religion, an NEH-supported project of VCSH, and the multi-faceted evi­dence from the Polis Center’s six-year study of the inter­sec­tion of reli­gion and urban cul­ture in a mid-sized American city.

About the fellowships:

Up to 12 fel­low­ships will be awarded to indi­vid­u­als or teams who demon­strate seri­ous inter­est in the appli­ca­tion of geo-spatial tech­nolo­gies to prob­lems in the human­i­ties. While schol­ars in all human­i­ties dis­ci­plines are eli­gi­ble to apply, we are espe­cially inter­ested in col­lab­o­rat­ing with those who have expe­ri­ence in one or more geo-spatial tech­nolo­gies as well as schol­ars who have thought about the spa­tial dimen­sions of American religion.

During the insti­tute, fel­lows will explore cen­tral issues in the spa­tial human­i­ties, includ­ing such top­ics as data­base struc­tures and infor­ma­tion archi­tec­tures, inter­ac­tive design, and col­lab­o­ra­tive research, while sit­u­at­ing these con­cerns within the fields of American his­tory and reli­gious stud­ies. Guest lec­tur­ers dur­ing the sum­mer include Ian Gregory (his­tor­i­cal GIS and dig­i­tal human­i­ties, Lancaster University), Anne Knowles (his­tor­i­cal geog­ra­phy, Middlebury College), Katy Börner (infor­mat­ics and advanced visu­al­iza­tion, Indiana University), and Art Farnsley (soci­ol­ogy of reli­gion, IUPUI), among oth­ers. Institute lead­ers are David Bodenhamer (his­tory, IUPUI), John Corrigan (reli­gious stud­ies, Florida State), and Trevor Harris (geog­ra­phy, West Virginia University).

All fel­lows will par­tic­i­pate in a two-week res­i­dency June 18 – 29 at IUPUI. The res­i­dency will include col­lo­quia and work­ing ses­sions in which par­tic­i­pants col­lec­tively will develop project foun­da­tions and address rel­e­vant issues in spa­tial human­i­ties. Fellows also will be pro­vided the oppor­tu­nity to present their own projects. Applicants need not be pro­fi­cient with geo-spatial tech­nolo­gies but must demon­strate some level of engage­ment with them as well as with spa­tial ques­tions and analy­ses. Evidence of the capac­ity for suc­cess­ful col­lab­o­ra­tion and for schol­arly inno­va­tion is required. Fellowship awards will include a stipend of $3,000 for each par­tic­i­pant, as well as a travel allowance. Accommodation and meal costs will be the respon­si­bil­ity of each fel­low, but the insti­tute will seek to arrange low-cost hous­ing for par­tic­i­pants. We wel­come schol­ars from all career lev­els, from advanced grad­u­ate stu­dent to full professor.

About the proposals:

Proposals should include the following:

• Two to three-page state­ment of how par­tic­i­pa­tion in the insti­tute will fit the schol­arly and pro­fes­sional goals of the applicant.
• One-page descrip­tion of the applicant’s expe­ri­ence with geo-spatial tech­nolo­gies and spa­tial analysis.
• Brief CV (max­i­mum of three pages).
• Letter of sup­port from depart­ment chair for non-tenured fac­ulty or from dis­ser­ta­tion advi­sor for doc­toral candidates.

Projects that artic­u­late a clear under­stand­ing of the poten­tial of spa­tial human­i­ties and the prob­lems asso­ci­ated with the use of geo-spatial tech­nolo­gies in human­i­ties schol­ar­ship will be regarded favor­ably.
Electronic appli­ca­tions are required. Submit to ddearth@​iupui.​edu.

Deadline for appli­ca­tions: Friday, February 3, 2012. Fellowship recip­i­ents will be noti­fied in mid April, 2012.

Questions may be directed to ddearth@​iupui.​edu.