Congratulations to the eight MLA members who were awarded National Endowment for the Humanities grants in August 2024! Their projects include a database of Catherine the Great’s correspondence, a biography of the Romantic-era poet Jane Taylor, an in-person AI literacy institute, a conference on the aesthetics of solidarity in art by Arab Americans, and more.
Kelsey Rubin-Detlev, University of Southern California
Project Title: Encoding Empire: Exploring the Correspondence of Catherine the Great
Project Description: Further development of a database of Catherine the Great’s correspondence, as well as tools for scholarly analysis and editing.
Renée Fox, University of California, Santa Cruz
Project Title: Great Expectations in the Global Imaginary
Project Description: A three-week residential institute for twenty-five high school teachers to explore global approaches to Great Expectations.
Judith Pascoe, Florida State University
Project Title: Twinkle, Twinkle: Female Literary Ambition, Male Genius, and the Most Famous Poet You’ve Never Heard Of
Project Description: Writing a biography of the Romantic-era poet Jane Taylor (1783–1824), emphasizing the gender and market context in which she wrote.
Daniel Sinykin, Emory University
Project Title: Post45 Data Collective: Enhancing Cultural Data Documentation, Interoperability, and Reach
Project Description: Continuing work on the digital infrastructure for the Post45 Data Collective, a peer-reviewed, open-access repository for literary and cultural data after 1945. This stage will support the development of a comprehensive data style guide and set of protocols for interoperability with complementary datasets.
Kathryn Conrad, University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc.
Project Title: AI and Digital Literacy: Toward an Inclusive and Empowering Teaching Practice
Project Description: An in-person institute hosted by the University of Kansas and focused on teaching critical AI literacy to secondary, community college, and college-level humanities instructors.
Salah Hassan, Michigan State University
Project Title: Aesthetics of Solidarity by Arab American and Arab Diaspora Artists in the United States, 1948–Present
Project Description: A conference on expressions of solidarity in art by Arab American artists.
Kalenda Eaton, University of Oklahoma, Norman
Project Title: The Visual West
Project Description: A four-week residential institute in Norman, Oklahoma, for twenty-five college and university faculty members on visual imagery, material culture, and conceptions of the American West.
Allison Schachter, Vanderbilt University
Project Title: The Rokhl Brokhes Project
Project Description: Preparation for print publication of twenty stories in English translation by Rokhl Brokhes (ca. 1899–1945), a modern Yiddish woman writer who was murdered by the Nazis.