Theory and Practice
Malakas na Barangay, Malakas na Bayan: Empowering Local Leaders Through Multi Sectoral Collaboration
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Teodulo Cruz
The barangay which literally means village or community is the smallest political unit in the Philippine political structure. It is a common knowledge that barangay officials were elected not because of their credentials but because of popularity or how large the clan is. Barangay officials are the front-liners of providing basic services, executive, legislative and quasi-judicial functions among others. This project/study was conducted to strengthen the capacity of the barangay to carry out its mandate to promote poverty reduction, sustainable and inclusive human growth through the collaboration of selected government agencies, private institutions, the academe and the people of the community. The Focus Group Discussion was the method used in directly gathering the information and the results were used to effect appropriate interventions. The study yielded positive and negative results that can be utilized by future advocates to effect change and empower the barangay to carry out its mandate in the promotion of sustainable human growth and development.
Decoding Dante Behind Bars: Seeing the Divine Comedy Through the Eyes of Incarcerated Readers
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ron Jenkins
Dante’s “Inferno,” “Purgatory”, and “Paradise” are transformed from medieval fiction to contemporary reality when seen through the eyes of currently and formerly incarcerated readers who compare Dante’s journey out of hell to their own life journeys out of prison. This paper is based on an ongoing project in which students from Wesleyan University and the Yale Divinity School collaborate with currently and formerly incarcerated men and women re-imagine Dante’s “Divine Comedy” in performances that use Gospel music and rap poetry to reveal the poem’s relevance to social justice and its absence in the twenty-first century.
Humanities in Public: The Shelter Project and Critical Artificial Intelligence
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Colin Jager
This paper focuses on two projects undertaken by the Center for Cultural Analysis (CCA), an interdisciplinary humanities center at Rutgers University. The first of these, “The Shelter Project,” came about during COVID, when the widespread direction to “shelter in place” left behind many of our most vulnerable citizens (those unhoused, addicted, or suffering from mental illness, for example). In response, the CCA partnered with a local theological seminary and a local nonprofit housing agency to provide housing, medical services, and job training during the worth months of the pandemic. Then, working with local artists, producers, and many of the clients themselves, the CCA produced a six-part podcast and sponsored numerous local art projects reflecting both the challenges and strengths of our “neighbors” during this critical time. The second project, “The Critical AI Initiative,” brings the interpretive and critical capacities of the humanities to bear on a topic, AI, that is mostly dominated by techno-boosterism or apocalyptic warnings. So far, this project has yielded several high-profile conferences and a new journal, Critical AI, published by Duke University Press. After briefly describing both of these projects, this study spends the bulk of its time reflecting on the methodological lessons of doing public-facing humanities work—in particular, the challenge and opportunity of understanding “the public” not as a thing to be studied but as a co-producer of knowledge.
