Humanities and Culture

Past Projects – 1990s

• Censorship and Silencing: Practices of Cultural Regulation: Censorship in America was once a predictable topic, with liberals and conservatives taking stances on either side of issues such as obscenity and national security. Since World War II, however, political dichotomy no longer corresponds to debate about the regulation of speech, and expression is censored not only by the state but by discursive practices, by the market, and by a range of institutions. During 1994 and 1995, the Academy co-sponsored a series of symposia and conferences to examine censorship from a variety of perspectives. In the resulting volume of essays, an interdisciplinary group of scholars analyzed efforts to regulate speech and subsequent cultural implications. Many of the issues addressed are still relevant in the early 21st century, where national security, the banning of “hate speech,” and control of obscenity and pornography in the media are only some of the censorship concerns facing the country.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1994-1998
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: Robert C. Post (Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley), David B. Kaplan (University of California, Los Angeles), and Patricia O’Brien (University of California Humanities Research Institute)
  RESULTING PUBLICATION: “Censorship and Silencing: Practices of Cultural Regulation,” ed. Robert C. Post. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities, 1998. Available from publisher.
  SOURCES OF FUNDING: American Academy, Getty Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities, University of California Humanities Research Institute
  COLLABORATING ORGANIZATIONS: Getty Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities, University of California Humanities Research Institute
  
  
• The Fundamentalism Project: From 1987 to 1995, the Academy undertook a major comparative study of anti-modernist, anti-secular militant religious movements on five continents and within seven world religious traditions. Drawing on the expertise of hundreds of scholars across the globe, the project convened 10 conferences, involved thousands of hours of fieldwork, and examined the nature of fundamentalist movements, their institutions, and their relation to governmental policies. The study revealed similarities among fundamentalist movements, even across religious traditions, and the distinct cultural, social and political contexts in which various movements emerged. This initiative resulted in five encyclopedic scholarly volumes, published as a series; a series of documentary film and radio programs, aired on PBS and NPR, and produced in collaboration with the BBC; a companion book to the television and radio series; and three additional books. The information and analysis produced by this study continue to inform the public agenda as the United States struggles to deal with the impact of religious fundamentalism on international security in the 21st century.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1987-1995
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: Martin E. Marty (University of Chicago) and R. Scott Appleby (University of Notre Dame)
  RESULTING PUBLICATIONS:
  “Fundamentalisms Observed,” eds. Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991. Vol. 1 of series. Winner of the 1991 American Association of Publishers Award for Best Book in Philosophy and Religion.
  
  “Fundamentalisms and Society: Reclaiming the Sciences, the Family, and Education,” eds. Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993. Vol. 2 of series.
  
  “Fundamentalisms and the State: Remaking Polities, Economies, and Militance,” eds. Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993. Vol. 3 of series.
  
  “Accounting for Fundamentalisms: The Dynamic Character of Movements,” eds. Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994. Vol. 4 of series.
  
  “Fundamentalisms Comprehended,” eds. Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995. Vol. 5 of series.
  Entire series available from publisher
  
  “Islamic Fundamentalisms and the Gulf Crisis,” ed. James Piscatori. Cambridge: American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1991. (out of print)
  
  “The Glory and the Power: The Fundamentalist Challenge to the Modern World,” by Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992. This book was a companion to a PBS television and NPR radio series developed in connection with the Fundamentalism Project. (out of print)
  
  “Spokesmen for the Despised: Fundamentalist Leaders of the Middle East,” ed. R Scott Appleby. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. Available from publisher
  
  “Strong Religion: The Rise of Fundamentalisms around the World,” by Gabriel A. Almond, R. Scott Appleby, and Emmanuel Sivan. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2003. Available from publisher.
  
  SOURCE OF FUNDING: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation