Announcing the Zip Code Memory Project, supported by the Center for the Study of Social Difference and The Henry Luce Foundation

Announcing the Zip Code Memory Project, supported by the Center for the Study of Social Difference and The Henry Luce Foundation

The Zip Code Memory Project: Practices of Justice and Repair (ZCMP), co-directed by Marianne Hirsch (Columbia University) and Diana Taylor (New York University), seeks to find reparative ways to memorialize the devastating losses resulting from the Coronavirus pandemic, while also acknowledging its radically differential effects on different Upper New York City neighborhoods. In partnership with community, arts and academic organizations, and working across the zip codes of Morningside Heights, Harlem, Washington Heights and the South Bronx, this project will gather a group of scholars, artists and activists to develop a series of hands-on artistic practices that can transform and enliven those spaces. Building on the networks of care that local communities have created, this project aims to mobilize memory and repair a sense of trust that will help us all build a sense of shared responsibility and belonging.

The Zip Code Memory Project is housed at the Center for the Study of Social Difference (CSSD) at Columbia University and supported by a CSSD Social Engagement grant funded by the Columbia University President’s Office. CSSD is pleased to announce that the Zip Code Memory Project is the recipient of a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation for a two-year term beginning July 1, 2021. These funds will serve as crucial support for the work of the ZCMP, including group meetings and discussions, reparative memory workshops, public roundtables featuring the work of reparative memorial artists, the building of an interactive website, and a final exhibition and memorial event.

Professors Hirsch and Taylor are organizing the ZCMP along with project co-conveners Susan Meiselas (Magnum Foundation), Lorie Novak (NYU), and Laura Wexler (Yale). George Emilio Sánchez (College of Staten Island) will direct the project’s participatory workshops and Maria Jose Contreras Lorenzini, Noni Carter, Jordan Cruz, Kamal Badhey, and Carina Del Valle Schorske will be among the project’s workshop leaders. Lee Xie is project manager.

The ZCMP will collaborate with local academic, arts, and community organizations including, among others, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; The Museum of the City of New York; El Museo del Barrio; The Bronx Documentary Center; City College of New York Black Studies Program and Rifkind Center for the Humanities and the Arts; Centro Civico Cultural Dominicano; The Cathedral of St. John the Divine; and Magnum Foundation. 

Public Humanities and Arts Graduate Fellows working with the project include Luis Rincon Alba (NYU), Linda Aristondo (Columbia), Gabriel Carle (NYU), Bárbara Pérez Curiel (NYU), Mia Cecily Florin-Sefton (Columbia), Fadila Habchi (Yale), Kristin Hankins (Yale), Nancy Ko (Columbia), Leah Kogen-Elimeliah (CCNY), Aya Labanieh (Columbia), Guilherme Meyer (NYU/SSHRC,Canada) , Amanda Parmer (NYU), Laura Salvatore (CCNY). 

With thanks for additional funding from Columbia School of the Arts; The Society of Fellows and the Heyman Center for the Humanities; Institute for Religion and Public Life; Yale University Public Humanities; City College of New York Rifkind Center for the Humanities and the Arts; Public Humanities Initiative of GSAS, NYU; Institute of Performing Arts, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU

More information about the Zip Code Memory Project can be found on the CSSD website here and on the official Zip Code Memory project HERE.

Applications now open: ZIP Code Public Humanities Fellowships

Public Humanities Fellowships for the ZIP Code Memory Project

Sponsored by the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities
and the Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life

All proposals must be submitted by May 24, 2021.

The Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life (IRCPL) and the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities (SoF/Heyman) invite applications from advanced graduate students throughout the university in support of the ZIP Code Memory Project: Practices of Justice and Repair at The Center for the Study of Social Difference (CSSD). Led by Marianne Hirsch (Columbia) and Diana Taylor (NYU), The ZIP Code Memory Project seeks to find reparative ways to memorialize the devastating losses resulting from the COVID pandemic while also acknowledging its radically differential effects on different Upper New York City neighborhoods. In partnership with community, arts, religious, and academic organizations, and working across the ZIP Codes of Morningside Heights, Harlem, Washington Heights and the South Bronx, the ZCMP will gather with a group of scholars, artists, and activists to develop a series of humanities and arts practices that aim to build a sense of shared responsibility and belonging. ZCMP will comprise group meetings and discussions, reparative memory workshops, larger public roundtables and memorial events, the building of an interactive website, and a final exhibition. 

Public Humanities Fellows will each work closely with one of the community, arts, or religious organizations participating in the project, as well as with a small group of participants selected by that organization. 

Fellows receive a stipend of $4000. The fellowship is for 2021-2022, with the possibility of renewal.

Duties include: 

• Assisting with event and workshop organization 

• Liaising with workshop leaders and community groups about needs and goals 

• Assisting in writing workshop description with the community group in mind, outlining aims and requirements.

• Attending all ZCMP community group activities and writing up summaries of each meeting

• Working with project organizers, workshop leaders, and other PH Fellos to analyze the methods and the reparative/theoretical implications of the project

• Attending ZCMP team meetings and coordinating with other PH fellows

• Assisting in organizing materials for inclusion in the website

Qualifications:

• Commitment to publicly engaged scholarship

• Knowledge of Spanish and/or other neighborhood languages preferred

• Familiarity with the participant communities preferred

Contact:

Please contact Marianne Hirsch (mh2349@columbia.edu) with any questions about the project.

Application:

• A statement of interest (750 words), including qualifications for the position

• 1-2 page CV, including languages spoken and names and contact information of three references

Submission Guidelines:

Applications must be submitted as a single PDF document, containing Statement of Interest and CV. Label the file thus: Last Name, First Name—ZCMP Public Humanities Fellowship Send the application file as an attachment in an email to: heymanfellowships_applications@columbia.edu

All proposals must be submitted by May 24, 2021. Applicants will be informed of decisions by June 1, 2021.

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ABOUT IRCPL: The Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life supports academic research, teaching, and scholarship on the study of religion, culture, and social difference at Columbia University. In addition, it convenes academic conferences, public forums, and collaborative programming to support and extend academic and scholarly understanding of these topics, and to disseminate and distribute such new understandings to broader publics and communities.

ABOUT THE SOF/HEYMAN: Founded in 1975 to support postdoctoral research in the humanities, the Society of Fellows in the Humanities is today the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities--dedicated not only to fostering innovative scholarship, but also to applying the critical, reflective, and interpretive practices of the humanities to address real-world challenges.  Through workshops, conferences, lectures, seminars, performances, and public humanities collaborations, the SOF/Heyman offers opportunities for faculty, postdoctoral scholars, students, artists, practitioners, and community members to participate in cross-disciplinary inquiry intent on illuminating the past, engaging the present, and imagining new ways to produce knowledge that promotes the public good.

ABOUT CSSD: The Center for the Study of Social Difference is an interdisciplinary research center supporting collaborative projects that address gender, race, sexuality, and other forms of inequality to foster ethical and progressive social change.

A Message from the Staff of CSSD: Solidarity with Palestine

A Message from the Staff of CSSD: Solidarity with Palestine

We, the undersigned at the Center for the Study of Social Difference, stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine. We support their right to resist Israel's ethnic cleansing and to seek justice and their rights in the face of racist exclusion, dispossession of lands and homes, blockades and military violence by the Israeli state and its citizens.

One of our Palestinian colleagues and a long-time CSSD fellow has shared with us this important appeal from the Jerusalemite Women’s Coalition and we wanted to share it with you. A current pledge by scholars to support working and teaching about the Palestinian situation and rights has also been signed by many of those involved in CSSD’s projects.   

Our core mission at CSSD is to create the conditions for understanding  and being able to challenge  inequality and oppression in all its forms. We understand all forms of oppression are interconnected and so our commitment to solidarity with Palestinians is rooted in our commitment to imagining racial, gender, economic, and environmental justice globally.

Paige West
Director

Catherine LaSota
Executive Director

Ayah Eldosougi
Program Coordinator

Fahmida Hussain
Business Officer

Menstrual Health and Gender Justice working group fellows publish new article

Fellows of the Menstrual Health and Gender Justice working group have published the recent article “Menstrual Health: A definition for policy, practice and research.” This paper was developed by a global team of experts who have defined menstrual health to advance policy, practice, and research and is the launch of a new menstrual health definition that urges action on menstrual health for all.

Billions of people around the world experience a menstrual cycle. Meeting their menstrual needs is essential for achieving health and gender equality. A growing body of activists and actors are rising to the challenge and have brought visibility to this long-marginalized topic. However, large-scale investment and coordination across sectors is needed to ensure menstrual health for all. To provide a common language and unite efforts to support the breadth of menstrual needs, a collaboration of experts have now defined menstrual health.

Published in the journal Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, menstrual health is defined as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, in relation to the menstrual cycle.” This definition is grounded in the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of health and is supplemented by a description of the requirements for achieving menstrual health over the life-course. As outlined in the definition, achieving menstrual health requires access to information about the menstrual cycle and self-care, materials, water and sanitation facilities and services to care for the body during menstruation, access to timely diagnosis, care and treatment for menstrual discomforts and disorders, a positive and respectful environment free from stigma, and the freedom to participate in all spheres of life throughout the menstrual cycle. The definition also emphasizes that whilst the majority of those who experience a menstrual cycle are women and girls, menstrual health is essential for all those who experience a menstrual cycle, regardless of their gender identity and the context in which they live.

Dr. Inga Winkler, one of the authors of the paper and a faculty member in human rights at Columbia University, explained, ” Menstrual health is at a critical junction. While gaining more traction, current efforts risk being siloed and disjointed. A shared understanding of menstrual health will help us address menstrual needs holistically to support the realization of a range of human rights.”

The expert collaboration was brought together by the Global Menstrual Collective and consulted a further 51 stakeholders to refine the definition.

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Read the full article here.

Learn more about the Menstrual Health and Gender Justice working group here and on their blog Periods at Columbia.

New Social Engagement Projects at the Center for the Study of Social Difference

The Center for the Study of Social Difference is proud to announce the inaugural recipients of CSSD’s Social Engagement Grants, The Zip Code Memory Project: Practices of Repair and Reconstructing History in Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro and Dharavi, Mumbai. Each of these new projects are lead by current and former CSSD working directors and to build on the work of CSSD groups, moving that work toward new forms of public engagement and partnerships, in alignment with Columbia University's Fourth Purpose. To learn more about each of these projects visit their project pages linked above.

CSSD Media Fellow Awarded Open City Fellowship by The Asian American Writers' Workshop (AAWW)

Geographies of Injustice Media Fellow, Jessica Jacolbe has been named a 2021 Open City Fellow by The Asian American Writers’ Workshop. During her nine month fellowship Jessica will be reporting on Asian diasporic and Muslim communities in New York City, specifically writing arts and culture stories and reporting on the Flushing and Woodside neighborhoods in Queens.

For a full list of AAWW 2021 Margins and Open City Fellows click here.

CSSD Director Honored as One of 50 Explorers Changing the World

Paige West, Director of the Center for the Study of Social Difference and Claire Tow Professor of Anthropology, was named as one of 50 honorees who are changing the world by the Explorers Club. This designation honors Professor West's years of work in conservation and biodiversity, and collaborations with indigenous communities. She is one out of 21 women to receive this honor and is highlighted by Forbes.

Read the full Forbes article here.
See the full list of the Explorers Club 50 here.
Learn more about Professor West’s work at CSSD through her past working groups:
Reframing Gendered Violence
Pacific Climate Circuits: Moving Beyond Science, Technology, Engineering, and Economics

Call for Proposals Now Open

The Center welcomes proposals for new working groups that would begin in Fall 2021 or Fall 2022. CSSD seeks projects that align with the mission of “Women Creating Change” or “Imagining Justice” and favors proposals from an interdisciplinary core working group (usually 5-8 people, not all of whom need be affiliated with Columbia or Barnard). The Center encourages and facilitates international collaborations.

Complete proposals should be directed to CSSD Executive Director Catherine LaSota (cl2866@columbia.edu), by Monday, March 22, 2021 at 11:59pm. Projects will be selected by the CSSD Executive Committee. All applicants will be notified by mid-April 2021.

View the full project guidelines here.