The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has released its list of grant awards and offers, totaling US$24 million distributed among 225 projects all over the United States (and one in Canada).

“NEH is proud to support these 225 new projects, which embody excellence, intellectual rigor and a dedication to the pursuit of knowledge, even as our nation and the humanities community continue to face the challenges of the pandemic,” said NEH Acting Chairman Adam Wolfson. “We look forward to the contributions these projects will make to our understanding of ourselves and our society through exemplary humanities research, publications, documentary films, exhibitions and undergraduate programs.”

Writing-related projects receiving awards

There are several projects involving writing, publishing or literature, and it’s so interesting to see what people are working towards discovering or putting out into the world right now:

• At the University of Arizona, Scott Selisker is receiving US$6,000 to complete the final chapter of a book examining representations of social networks in contemporary fiction.
• Rita Lucarelli with the Regents of the University of California, Berkeley, has been awarded US$6,000 to conduct research for a book on ancient Egyptian texts about the place of demons in religion.
• At Southeastern University in Florida, Cameron McNabb will receive a US$6,000 summer stipend to research and write a book on the representation of disability in theatrical performances.
• The Filmmakers Collaborative Inc. in Melrose, Massachusetts has been awarded US$75,000 to develop three 60-minute films exploring the history of comics in American culture.
• David Greenburg at Rutgers University in New Jersey has received a US$6,000 summer stipend to conduct research for a biography of civil rights leader and politician John Lewis.

The list goes on and on, covering research for books, the establishment of archives, the study and recording of endangered languages, the creation of movies and podcasts on any number of topics…anything you might think of in terms of the humanities, of societal impact, of the present or the past, seems to be on this list.

I think it’s outstanding.

In a time when the world has undergone a massive historical event, and a traumatic one (one that’s not yet over), we as a species are still taking the time to reflect. To look to our past for clues to how we can do better in the future. To look around us right now and say, this story needs to be told. This must not be forgotten. These voices deserve to be heard. And then, as we usually do once we make up our stubborn human minds, we make a plan and create.