August 26, 2010 – The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has announced its first Bridging Cultures grant awards. The agency will distribute $1.7 million among eight organizations and institutions for projects to enable public discussions about the role of civility in democracy and the understanding of Muslim contributions to world cultures. These public forums (scheduled for February 2011 and March 2011) will allow humanities experts to share the best of recent research with the general public. According to an NEH press release, at the conclusion of each forum, participants will work with educators and members of state humanities councils to produce materials such as books, videos, exhibits, and other public programming to disseminate content to regional and national audiences.

The following organizations and institutions will receive NEH funds for “Bridging Cultures: Planning and Implementation Grants for Academic Forums and Programs Development Workshops Grants”:

• American Bar Association (Chicago, IL) plans to partner with the Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago, the Newberry Library, the Center for Civic Engagement at Northwestern University, and the Illinois Humanities Council in convening a public forum on the tensions between civility and free expression. ($247,158)
• California Council for the Humanities (Los Angeles, CA) plans a conference and workshop at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy and the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles that will examine the varied meanings of civility throughout American history and its relationship to democracy. ($250,000)
• City Lore, Inc. (New York, NY) plans to partner with the Poets House in New York in staging a public forum that will use poetry as a lens for understanding the diversity of Muslim cultures and histories throughout the world. ($175,000)
• George Mason University (Fairfax, VA) Center for Global Islamic Studies, in partnership with the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, plans to convene a two-day forum focusing on the political, cultural, artistic, and social achievements of Muslim societies from 1300-1900 and their role in the formation of global modernity. ($219,549)
• National Constitution Center (Philadelphia, PA) plans to host a public symposium that will convene political activists, journalists, and scholars from fields such as history, political science, sociology, law, and communications to discuss the role of dissent and protest in American culture. ($249,887)
• University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (Minneapolis–St. Paul, MN) plans a colloquium exploring the influences of Islamic cultural and intellectual traditions on the development of Western humanist and scientific thought. ($170,439)
• Tougaloo College (Jackson, MS) plans to build a forum around an exhibition at the International Museum of Muslim Cultures on “The Legacy of Timbuktu: Wonders of the Written Word” that will trace the connections between the culture and history of Muslim West Africa, Mississippi, and the United States through an examination of literature, texts, and music. ($218,856)
• Washington State University (Pullman, WA) Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy, in conjunction with Humanities Washington and the Idaho Humanities Council, plans a public forum exploring the state of civility in American democracy. ($212,735)

Bridging Cultures is the signature initiative of NEH Chairman Jim Leach. An agency press release notes that the initiative “highlights the role of the humanities in enhancing understanding and respect for diverse cultures and subcultures within America’s borders and around the globe,” and that the Endowment, “is renewing its focus on the need to bridge gaps in Americans’ understanding of world history, literature, philosophy, religion, archeology, language, and law.”

Additional information about the initiative and recent grant awards is available on the NEH website.  

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