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Office of the Vice Provost for Research
New Frontiers in the Arts and Humanities, 2008-09
New Frontiers Grants
Candy Brown, Religious Studies, IUB
Joshua Brown, Psychology, IUB
Divine Healing and Deliverance in America, 1860-2010
This cultural history of U.S. divine healing and deliverance practices posits links to
Canada, Brazil, Mozambique. What is globalization? Why is Pentecostal/charismatic
Christianity spreading? Why is interest in miracles growing amidst scientific medicine? I
argue: globalization heightens fear of disease, fueling pentecostal growth because of its
healing focus. Scholarly preoccupations--glossolalia, prosperity, faith healing--are
parochial in global context. America is shifting from a Protestant-Catholic to a spiritualmaterial divide: pentecostal Protestants/Catholics and alternative healers align on one
side of a cultural chasm, while scientific naturalists and functionally naturalistic
Protestants/Catholics form an unlikely alliance.
David Craig, Religious Studies, IUB
Debating Desire: Ritual Performance and the Politics of Marriage
By exploring diverse Christian and Jewish reflection on contemporary marriage rites, this
interview study expands the scope of democratic public reasoning about same-sex
marriage, locates current marital norms in the aesthetic performance of these rituals, and
considers new arguments for same-sex marriage that are attentive to religious objections.
Denise Cruz Blackman, English, IUB
Transpacific Femininities: Literature and the Making of the Modern Filipina
This book project, Transpacific Femininities, analyzes early twentieth-century literary
and cultural representations of Filipinas, in dialogue with models of Spanish, American,
Japanese, and indigenous femininities. Connections among gender, Philippine literary
nationalism, and transpacific contact are theorized. The project is to complete the
manuscript, which Duke University Press has solicited for review.
Margaret Dolinsky, Fine Arts, IUB
Annunciation + Visitation: Operatic projections of her sexual insight
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"Emotable Portraits" is an art installation that reconfigures facial portraiture with gesture
and sound interactions. The goal of the project is to construct a framework that
continuously tracks gesture, image and sound over high speed networks in order to build
an engaging human-computer interface that examines portraiture as interactive
perfomance-art.
Matthew Groshek, Fine Arts, IUPUI
Developing concepts, content and narratives; design research and prototype development
for a traveling exhibition, Mothers' L.A.N.D. (League Against Nuclear Dangers): history,
heroines, housewives and homeland
This project will involve the development of concepts, content and narratives, design
research and prototype development for a traveling exhibition for a traveling exhibition
tentatively titled: Mothers' L.A.N.D. (League Against Nuclear Dangers): history,
heroines, housewives and homeland, shaping community through grassroots
environmental activism in central Wisconsin.
Jeffrey Hass, Music, IUB
Third Symphony for Orchestra with Electronics and Video Projection: Together and
Apart
This project is to compose a musical work for orchestra with electronics and projection.
The work will include the use of digitally processed sounds. In addition, video materials,
collected from sources discussed below will be edited, processed and projected behind
the orchestra during performance. The project encompasses a substantial research
component involving travel. The work will be based around the interviews of those who
lived and survived in the town of Brzezany, Poland around WW II. The concept for this
work was born out of a family history and the IU Press-published work of historian
Shimon Redlich, who survived Brzezany himself and recounts the same events of horror
and heroism depicted in my own relatives' narrative.
Frederika Kaestle, Religious Studies, IUB
All in the Family: Identifying Kinship in Prehistory Using Ancient DNA
It is imperative to investigate how prehistoric societies constructed kinship and
incorporated family into their cultures. Unfortunately, it has been impossible to detect
relatedness at the family level in past populations using standard archaeological methods,
and thus we lack a basic understanding of prehistoric societies. This project is to develop
new ancient DNA techniques to identify kinship among individuals from Schild (7001200 AD, Illinois), allowing investigation of changing ideas of kinship in the prehistoric
Midwest. This provides proof-of-concept to extend this investigation to other sites, and
necessary data for resubmission of an NSF proposal and future external grants. IU will be
the only university in the US with this training.
Stacie King, Religious Studies, IUB
Archaeology of/as Political Action in Southern Mexico
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This project addresses both ancient archaeology and the contemporary politics of cultural
heritage in southern Mexico. For 3,500 years, Nejapa, Oaxaca has been an important
stopover along a trade route connecting the Mexican highlands and the coast, and has
been invaded repeatedly by urban empires seeking to expand their territory. The longterm legacies of these encounters are economic problems, out-migration, and the loss of
cultural and historical knowledge in Nejapa today. This project examines the
sociopolitical contexts of colonialism and contested multi-ethnic landscapes of Nejapa
and explores the politically transformative role of cultural heritage through community
collaboration and educational initiatives in Nejapa and beyond.
Brigitte LeNormand, History, IU Southeast
Gastarbajteri: The Influence of Labor Migration on Yugoslav Society and Culture, 19601980
This project investigates the influence of labor migration in the 1960s and 1970s on
Yugoslav society and culture. A significant proportion of Yugoslavia's labor force
worked abroad, particularly in Western Europe, with the intention of earning as much as
possible in the short term and eventually returning to their homeland. Anecdotal evidence
suggests that the labor migrants, or Gastarbajteri in Serbo-Croatian slang, used their
access to foreign culture and currency to climb the Yugoslav social ladder. How did a
socialist society deal with a population that challenged its very premises through
conspicuous consumption? How did different classes - bureaucrats, workers, intellectuals,
peasants - respond to the Gastarbajter?
Murray McGibbon, Theatre & Drama, IUB
The African Tempest Revisited
This project seeks to accomplish the following: 1) to re-direct The Tempest that was
staged at the University of KwaZulu/Natal, South Africa in summer 2007; 2) to provide a
multicultural theatre experience for students from Indiana University, Bloomington and
the University of KwaZulu/Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa; 3) to produce a fully
mounted production of The Tempest in the Wells-Metz Theatre on campus; 4) to provide
travel to the USA for five South African actors, and the Costume Designer; 5) to provide
cting opportunities for fourteen IU student actors; and 6) to facilitate a Master class given
by a leading South African professional actor for IU students.
Elliott McKinley, Music, IU East
Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra
This project is to compose a large-scale concerto for percussion and orchestra for
Minnesota based percussionist Andrew Martin. This new concerto will be a fivemovement work with a total duration of approximately twenty to twenty-five minutes.
The work will be scored for a large orchestra: 3333.4331.timp.pf.hp.strings in addition to
the solo percussion battery. Unique to this work will be the deployment of electronic
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processing to the percussion battery and a large solo movement for vibraphone and
orchestra that has been, to date, largely unexplored in the concerto repertoire.
Jorge Muniz, Music, IU South Bend
Requiem for the Innocent
This project is the composition and premiere of the oratorio Requiem for the Innocent, by
Jorge Muniz. The composition will take place during the year 2009 and the premiere is
scheduled in the Spring of 2010 by the South Bend Symphony Orchestra, the South Bend
Symphonic Chorus, and Baritone Ivan Griffin as part of the 20th Anniversary of the
Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts. A series of lectures and panels will take place
prior to the premiere in the Spring 2010. After the premiere, the work will be performed
in Chicago, and possibly in Detroit. Organizations interested in collaborating in this
project with the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts include the Kroc Institute at
University of Notre Dame and the Indianapolis Peace Institute.
Kathleen O’Connell, Fine Arts, IUPUI
Watercolor Groundscapes Inspired by Ecosystems of the Desert
This project will include travel for visual research to National Parks of the Southwest,
followed by creation of 15-25 watercolor paintings on Aquabord using Primatek, mineral
watercolors for an exhibit at the Sullivan Munce Cultural Center. Work will be done to
secure future exhibition venues for the paintings through exhibition proposals and
meetings in Sante Fe, NM and development of an artist website.
Rakesh Solomon, Theatre & Drama, IUB
Islamic Fundamentalists, Hindu Militants, and Globalization: Locating Traditional
Theatre within Contemporary India's Political Economy
Will Islamic militants, Hindu fundamentalists, and forces of globalization destroy India's
traditional theatres? This project will scrutinize this triple threat to North India's two most
popular and widespread traditional theatre genres, Ramlila and Nautanki. The goal is to
(a) Situate these theatres within India's recent political economy and history--specifically
within the intertwined forces of emergent Muslim and Hindu religious militancies and
economic and cultural globalization, (b) Document the nature, extent, and impact of these
pressures, and (c) Analyze these theatre's creative strategies to resist, accommodate, or
otherwise navigate these forces in their written scripts, physical staging, and audience
relations.
Rachel Wheeler, Religious Studies, IUPUI
Revolutions in Faith: Five Generations of a Mohican-Moravian Family, 1740-1815
This project traces the lives of five generations of a Mohican Indian family, focusing
primarily on Joshua, who was born in 1741, soon after the founding of the first Moravian
mission. Joshua and his family are of particular interest because they are caught up in
many of the most important events in the long Revolutionary era, from the revivals of the
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Great Awakening to the pan-Indian nativist revivals inspired by the Shawnee Prophet.
This multi-generational family biography will not only bring to life the tragic and
resilient lives of Christian Indian individuals and communities during this era, but it will
also offer a new angle of vision on the emergent American nation.
New Perspectives Grants
Colin Allen, The Poynter Center, IUB
Brian Schrag, The Poynter Center, IUB
Neuroethics: Ethical and Social Implications of Neuroscience
IU is well positioned to be a significant player in the new field of neuroethics. To
stimulate development in this direction, we propose to organize a series of lectures by
leading national figures. The series will convent neuroscientists and scholars in
philosophy, ethics, and public policy to consider the issues in a common forum. Four
main concerns will be targeted: Neuroimaging, Neural control, Neural reductionism,
Animal models. We propose a series of four public seminars. Three, funded by the New
Frontiers grant, will be in the spring 2009 semester. The final lecture will be presented as
a part of a pre-conference workshop planned for the national meeting of the Society for
Philosophy and Psychology scheduled for June 2009 at IU.
Hakki Cipa, Central Eurasian Studies, IUB
Editing the Past, Fashioning the Future: Historiography of the Ottoman Empire
Building on a new understanding of early-modern Ottoman history writing, the eight
papers which will be presented at the symposium entitled "Editing the Past, Fashioning
the Future: Historiography of the Ottoman Empire" will present innovative and nuanced
readings of a wide range of historical narratives that reveal the implicit, and at times
multiple or even contradictory, messages.
William Deal, Music, IUPUI
Margaret Dolinsky, Fine Arts, IUB
Paul Salama, Electrical & Computer Engineering, IUPUI
Kim Stephen, Electrical & Computer Engineering, IUPUI
Intermedia Festival Project
The Intermedia Festival will feature prominent artists, musicians, cinematographers,
writers and thinkers from around the world. While some will travel to Indianapolis,
many others will participate through various partner sites. Online artists will perform
with sophisticated interactivity. Conversely, the festival will showcase Indianapolis
artists to cultural communities across the globe. The exchange will occur through multisite, high fidelity conferencing software currently under development in the Telematic
Lab at the Donald Tavel Arts Technology Research Center, IUPUI. Interactive arts,
cinematography, scientific presentation, commentary, and multi-site interaction platforms
will synthesize into a compelling experience.
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Adelheid Gealt, Art Museum, IUB
Douglas Hofstadter, Cognitive Science, IUB
Allan Edmonds, Mathematics, IUB
Merged Symmetries: Exploring the Geometric Sculptures of Morton C. Bradley Jr.
Morton C. Bradley, Jr. (1912-2004) was a sculptor, a painting conservator, and a man
dedicated to Indiana University. Between the late 1960s and his death in 2004, Bradley
created more than 300 mathematically inspired geometric sculptures that demonstrate his
scientific approach to color and form, resulting in artwork of aesthetic beauty and
intellectual wonder. Nearly the entire body of Bradley's work is now in IUs campus art
collection. This project is to begin developing a book about Mr. Bradley's work,
beginning with a round table of experts in mathematics, science, and art to take place at
Indiana University in the fall of 2009.
Philip Goff, Religious Studies, IUPUI
The Religion and American Culture Conference
Religion can be studied from a variety of perspectives, but due to disciplinary and
institutional restraints scholars studying religion from different angles often never interact
with each other's work. This is becoming a problem in American religious studies, where
a great divide has developed between humanists and social scientists, particularly. This
project is a conference with a limited number of participants interested in overcoming
this rift. We believe that working to combine the insights of those in the traditional
humanities and those in the social sciences we can create new and better perspectives of
religion's role in American life at a time when such understanding.
Bessie House-Soremekun, Political Science, IUPUI
Monroe Little, African American & African Diaspora Studies, IUPUI
Rethinking Economic Development in the Context of Globalization
Paula Katz, Fine Arts, IUPUI
Collaborate: Projects for the 21st Century
Paula Katz, Director and Curator of the Galleries at Herron School of Art and Design is
curating an exhibition featuring interdisciplinary collaborative groups. The exhibition,
Collaborate: Projects for the 21st Century, opens mid-January 2010 and will be on
display through early March 2010. The exhibition highlights groups that encourage
greater awareness of political and social issues through their practices. This project is to
support performances, lectures, and workshops throughout the duration of the exhibition
by members. The dialogue created from these activities will enhance current
investigations in this field as well as promote new research in the importance of
collaboration.
Michael Martin, African American & African Diaspora Studies, IUB
Mary Huelsbeck, African American & African Diaspora Studies, IUB
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Akin Adeoskan, Comparative Literature, IUB
"Cinematic Representations of Racial Conflict in 'Real Time'"
This project is comprised of two successive and related symposiums concerned with
strategies deployed in film to signify modes of political address and mobilization in "real
time," during a period of intense racial conflict in the United States. It revisits two
enduring films of black cinema for ideological accounts of historical activity and for their
enunciation of alternative constructs of agency and social change.
Portia Maultsby, African American & African Diaspora Studies, IUB
Black Rock Music and Audio Visual Archives: The Conference as a Solution to Filling
the Documentation Gap
The Archives of African American Music and Culture (AAAMC) will host a conference
on Black rock on the IUB campus on 13-14 Nov. 2009. The conference will bring
together Black rock musicians from different generations and regions with music critics
and scholars to discuss the sociopolitical history, musical developments, and future of
Black rock. In conjunction with the conference the AAAMC and various sponsors will
host: 1) an exhibit; 2) documentary film screenings; (3) lectures, demonstrations, and
workshops; and (3) concerts featuring pioneering Black rock artists. The AAAMC will
use these events to enrich its archival holdings on Black rock and to produce outreach
projects in collaboration with WFIU and the Indiana University Press.
David Ransel, History, IUB
Sarah Phillips, Anthropology, IUB
Everyday Life in Russia: Strategies, Subjectivities and Perspectives
The conference on Everyday Life in Russia: Strategies, Subjectivities and Perspectives"
will bring together historians, anthropologists, sociologists, and literary analysts to assess
their convergent researches and to suggest ways to integrate theoretically their
approaches and findings in order to create an embracing explanation of everyday life as a
fruitful analytical category for integrating studies from multiple disciplines.
Jutta Schickore, History & Philosophy of Science, IUB
Integrated History and Philosophy of Science Conference
The disciplinary success of history of science and philosophy of science has been bought
at the expense of communication between the two fields. The increasing number of
scholars who are dissatisfied with this split has recently led to the creation of a new
international, interdisciplinary initiative to advance the integration of history of science
and philosophy of science: Integrated HPS. The goal is to seek a broad understanding of
science that integrates the analysis of foundational scientific concepts and theories with
the study of the socio-political and cultural contexts of science and its historical
development. The Department of HPSC is hosting the third "Integrated HPS" Conference
in 2010.
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Samrat Upadhyay, English, IUB
The Writer in the World: The Personal and the Political
"The Writer in the World: The Personal and the Political" will sponsor a series of lectures
and master workshops by distinguished American writers who will address the general
theme of the role of the personal and the political in contemporary literature. Through
exploration of the connection and disconnection between the personal and the political,
the series will offer fresh, stimulating literary insights into a topic that has been of great
interest to writers across centuries. The lectures will greatly benefit the faculty and
students of arts and humanities, and the university and Bloomington community.
Visiting Visionary Scholars Grants
Elizabeth Stirratt, Fine Arts, IUB
Whitney Schlegel, Human Biology, IUB
Michael Hamburger, Geololgy, IUB
Rowland Ricketts, Fine Arts, IUB
ReActions: Visualizing Climate Change
The School of Fine Arts Gallery at IUB proposes to bring The Canary Project, a group
that utilizes visual art, activism and collaboration to campus to lead an eight-week
interdisciplinary course and Graduate level master classes in fall, 2009. These activities
would occur in conjunction with an exhibit series and other activities organized around
themes of global warming and climate change.