Humanities Reading Group
The Humanities Reading Group involved faculty from across the arts and humanities departments, and met several times a semester to discuss readings on the role of the humanities in public life. CHAT has been honored to host this group for several years under the guidance of Professor John Lurz.
Defamiliarizing the Family: Genealogy and Kinship as Critical Method
Amid growing national interest in genealogy and family history, scholars from around the world explored past and present meanings of family and kinship in a year-long seminar led by Tufts University and supported by the Mellon Foundation through its Sawyer Seminar program.
“Defamiliarizing the Family: Genealogy and Kinship as Critical Method” brought distinguished humanities scholars, artists, and writers to Tufts for a series of seminars and public events, in a series which occurred October 2019. The series culminated with a closing symposium in April 2020. Funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation through a $225,000 grant, the Sawyer Seminar enabled Tufts students and faculty members, led by historian Kendra Field, Ph.D., and anthropologist Sarah Pinto, Ph.D., to collaborate with researchers from universities, museums, and institutions from across the Boston area and around the world.
Comparative Race, Society and Transformation Group
The Comparative Race, Society and Transformation Group was a Priority Area Research group funded by the Office of the Vice Provost for Research at Tufts. Building on the ongoing work of the Center for the Humanities at Tufts, and the Department of Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora, the CRST’s work encompassed both academic interdisciplinary research projects such as the Comparative Global Humanities initiative, as well as outwardly-focused conversations, such as the Boston African American Freedom Trail project.
The Mellon Sawyer Seminar in Comparative Global Humanities
The Mellon Sawyer Seminar in Comparative Global Humanities was supported by a Tufts Collaborates seed grant in 2015-2016, and the Andrew Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar in 2016-2017.
