Drawing from art, culture, and history, the public humanities share research and creative work in order to engage, inspire, and educate public audiences. In particular, public humanities initiatives can be effective ways to build awareness and stimulate dialogue around issues of controversy and conflict. Successful public humanities projects may incorporate oral history interviews or collaborative and community-based research, use exhibition techniques, and communicate with broad audiences through writing, visual design, oral presentations, or digital displays.
Williams students can undertake public humanities work as a class or independent study project, a fieldwork course, an internship, or an extracurricular activity. Public Humanities Fellows may, for instance, use the Williams College Archives and other sources to research, document and create exhibits related to Williams’ untold or less known historical legacy around diversity, equity, and inclusion. During the fellowship, students will develop competencies in conducting archival research, writing for public audiences, project management, oral history, collaboration and other topics. Generally, students may only hold one OIDEI/DC fellowship at a time.
Students who have an idea for a public humanities project may contact Aly Corey (awc5) to learn more.