The Humanities Research Institute (HRI) is pleased to launch the second Interseminars Initiative project, which will be led by three faculty conveners: Maryam Kashani (Gender and Women’s Studies and Asian American Studies), Junaid Rana (Asian American Studies), and R. Elizabeth Velásquez Estrada (Latina/Latino Studies).

The newly selected project, titled “Improvise and Intervene,” challenges scholars to reimagine how scholarly theory and methods are taught and practiced, expanding the possibilities for innovation in interdisciplinary, collaborative research design. The faculty conveners write, "From anti-colonial intellectuals Aime and Suzanne Cesaire’s surrealist games to Ruthie Gilmore’s reminder that 'abolition is life in rehearsal… not a repetition of rules,' we learn that play and experiment are specific strategies towards imagining and practicing liberation."

Funded by a $2,000,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation, the Interseminars Initiative funds three such projects over three successive years, each selected through a competitive application process. The first cohort—“Imagining Otherwise: Speculation in the Americas”—is currently in progress and will present a culminating event in fall 2023.

Learn more about "Improvise and Intervene"