AADHUM Kick Off

Registration for this event is now closed.  

Metered parking is available in Union Lane Garage.

You are invited to join the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland for the project launch of “Synergies: Digital Humanities and African American History and Culture (#AADHum),” sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This convening of African Americanists and Digital Humanities scholars from around the greater Washington D.C. region is designed to generate lively conversations about opportunities to utilize new methods, archives and  tools of the Digital Humanities to ask and answer intriguing questions in African American history and cultural studies, as well as ways to broaden the reach of the Digital Humanities in these areas.

During this half-day meeting participants will learn about the range of research materials available to them at Maryland for the study of African American life. They will later break into subgroups and start to identifyto generate questions that touch on the thematic focus of the project, including African American labor, migration and artistic expression.

Join featured speaker Mariët Westerman, vice president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and colleagues from across the greater Washington D.C. region to learn how you can play a part in this major new initiative.

The event is free. Please join the conversation on social media using #AADHum.

KICK OFF AGENDA

1 p.m. Welcome, Bonnie Thornton Dill, professor, dean, College of Arts and Humanities, University of Maryland 

1:05 p.m. Introduction, Sheri Parks, associate dean, Research, Interdisciplinary Scholarship and Programming; director, Arts and Humanities Center for Synergy, College of Arts and Humanities, University of Maryland; Neil Fraistat, professor, director, Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities, University of Maryland

1:15 p.m. Featured Speaker, Mariët Westermann, vice president, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

1:35 p.m. Wallace D. Loh, president, University of Maryland

1:45 p.m. Break

2 p.m. Session 1: Understanding Project Testbed Material
Moderators: Project Leadership and Archivists from the David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Disaspora and the George Meany Memorial AFL-CIO Archives

2:45 p.m. Break

3 p.m. Session 2: Potential Research Questions
Moderators: Project Leadership

4 p.m. Presentation of Research Questions
Moderators: Project Leadership

5 p.m. Summation
Moderators: Neil Fraistat and Sheri Parks

5:15 p.m. Reception

The Digital Humanities and African American History and Culture project has been made possible in part by a major grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.