BMRC Announces 2011 Fellowship Recipients
May, 2011
CHICAGO, IL - The Black Metropolis Research Consortium (BMRC) is pleased to announce the ten recipients of the BMRC's Short-Term Fellowships in African American Studies. This is the third year of the BMRC's Fellows Program, which provides support for outstanding researchers of all disciplines from across the country. Fellows receive $3,000 per month for one to two months during the summer.
The BMRC's Fellowships for 2011 were awarded to scholars, and artists who have exhibited excellence in their discipline(s), have a significant body of work characterized by originality, and have demonstrated a need to conduct research in the archives and collections of BMRC members. The 2011 Fellows represent a diverse spectrum of research disciplines, including: African American Studies, English, Ethnomusicology, Media Arts, Journalism, Religious Studies, and Visual Arts.
The 2011 BMRC Fellows are:
Sharon Beckford-Foster – Visiting Assistant Professor, English, Rochester Institute of Technology. Project Title: Richard Wright and His Modeling of West Indians as Modern Citizens. Ms. Beckford-Foster research will examine the representation of the West Indian “Negro” in the works of Richard Wright to develop an understanding of his ideas about the social evolution of diasporic blacks, at the turn of the century, who leave their feudal pasts to become fully inserted in a modern society. Ms. Beckford-Foster will use collections at the Chicago History Museum, the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection at the Woodson Branch of the Chicago Public Library, Illinois Institute of Technology, and the University of Chicago.
Michael Bramwell – Mr. Bramwell is a visual artist based in Cary North, Carolina. Project Title: Rough Trade: Representations of Slavery in Contemporary Visual Art. Mr. Bramwell will conduct research for a survey of artistic practices that articulate unique, visual languages for representing slavery in contemporary art. Mr. Bramwell will analyze artistic monographs and exhibition catalogues of selected artists, and archives of national and international conferences pertaining to the subject. He will use collections at the Art Institute of Chicago, and Northwestern University.
Giovanni Chiriacò – Mr. Chiriacò is a musicologist based in Lecce, Italy. Project Title: Field Hollers and Cries; the Persistence of Archaic Vocal Forms in African American Compositions. Mr. Chiriacò research deals with the heritage of archaic vocal forms, such as field hollers, cries and calls, and aims to identify these features in African American compositions. He will use the collections at the Center for Black Music Research at Columbia College, Chicago, DuSable Museum of African American History, and the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection at the Woodson Branch of the Chicago Public Library.
Spencer Dew - Visiting Lecturer, Religious Studies, Iowa State University. Project Title: Engaged Journalism and Popular Religion: Moorish Science and the Chicago Defender in the 1920’s and 30s. Mr. Dew’s research will focus on the Defender’s treatment of the rise of the Moorish Science Temple and its wider “cultic milieu” of related ideas and beliefs. He will use collections at the Defender and the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection at the Woodson Branch of the Chicago Public Library.
Olivia Duval – Ms. Duval is a vocal artist based in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Project Title: Classical Vocal Music by Black Composers. Ms. Duvall will conduct research on the works of composers, Florence B. Price, Irene Britton Smith, and Nathaniel Dett. She will also expand her research on Amanda Aldridge to help develop an Amanda Aldridge Collection for the Royal College of Music. Ms. Duval will use collections at the Center for Black Music Research at Columbia College, Chicago, and Northwestern University.
Mitsutoshi Inaba – Mr. Inaba is an ethnomusicologist based in Eugene, Oregon. Project Title: John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson – an Oral History. Mr. Inaba will conduct research for an oral history of Chicago blues harmonica player John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson. Mr. Inaba will focus on Williamson’s artistic development that set a new standard of harmonica performance as a lead instrument, and his contribution to the establishment of the “Bluebird Beat,” a highly influential blues performing style of the late 1930s and early 1940s. He will use collections at the Center for Black Music Research at Columbia College, Chicago, the Defender, and the Harold Washington Library Center of the Chicago Public Library.
Ernest L. Perry, Jr. - Associate Professor and Chair, Journalism Studies, University of Missouri School of Journalism. Project Title: Voice of Consciousness: The African American Press During World War II. Mr. Perry’s research project will examine how during World War II one institution in African American society, the African American press, presented its community’s demands, faced internal strife, helped its people through this process and fought for change. Mr. Perry will also explore the relationship between the press and other civil rights organizations, specifically the NAACP. He will use the collections at the Chicago History Museum, the Defender, the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection at the Woodson Branch of the Chicago Public Library, and the University of Illinois – Chicago.
Ibram H. Rogers - Assistant Professor, African American History, SUNY at Oneonta. Project Title: The Black Campus Movement: A Historical Analysis of the Struggle to Diversify Higher Education, 1965 – 1972. Mr. Rogers is conducting research for a national study of black student activism in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Mr. Perry will examine how black students during this time period demanded and protested for a relevant learning experience and were able to successfully diversify higher education. He will use collections at Chicago State University, Colombia College, Chicago, Dominican University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Kennedy King College, University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois – Chicago.
Cauleen Smith – Media artist, Acting Associate Professor, University of California, San Diego. Project Title: The Solar Flare Arkestral Marching Band Project. Ms. Smith will conduct research in support of the production of an experimental film describing the interdisciplinary production of artworks positioned between biographical narratives and ecstatic gestures associated with or influenced by composer and philosopher, Sun Ra. She will use collections at the Chicago Public Library, DuSable Museum of African American History, and the University of Chicago.
Christina Maria Zanfagna – Lecturer, Ethnomusicology, Santa Clara University. Project Title: Holy Hip Hop in the City of Angels: Race, Rap, and Religion in the American Metropolis. Ms. Zanfagna will conduct research on the gospel of hip hop that considers the roles of music and race in the mutual construction of both radical urban spaces and religious subjectivities throughout the twentieth century. She will use collections at the Center for Black Music Research at Columbia College, Chicago, the Chicago History Museum, and the Chicago Public Library.
2011 Review Panel:
Erik Gellman is an assistant professor in the History and Philosophy Department at Roosevelt University.
Ayesha K. Hardison is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Ohio University.
Beatrice Julian is the Librarian and Archivist at the DuSable Museum of African American History.
Jacqueline Stewart is Associate Professor of Radio/Television/Film and African American Studies at Northwestern University.
The BMRC's Short-Term Fellowships in African American Studies is made possible by the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
