CAMBRIDGE, MA | JULY 5, 2016 – The debate around the safety of youth football, grassroots feminism in the Appalachian South, and mass migration among Mexican Americans are among the topics being examined by the 2016-17 class of Visiting Scholars of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The seven members of the newest class of Visiting Scholars at the American Academy were selected from an applicant pool of nearly 300 candidates. The program provides these scholars in American history, literature, and the social sciences with an academic year-in-residence for writing and the completion of article and book manuscripts. The Academy provides office space and computer services as well as library privileges in cooperation with the Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard University.
The 2016-17 Visiting Scholars will dedicate their inquiries and expertise to the following studies:
- Minou Arjomand: Judging in the Company of Others: The Courtroom and the Stage after WWII
- Kathleen Bachynski: “No Game For Boys To Play”: Debating the Safety of Youth Football, 1945-2015
- Daniel Couch: The Imperfect Form: Literary Fragments and Politics in the Early Republic
- Houman Harouni: Reckoning Society: The Problem of Purpose in School Mathematics
- Daniel Morales: The Making of Mexican America: Industrialization, Revolution, and the Rise of Mass Migration 1900-1940
- Jessica Wilkerson: Where Movements Meet: From the War on Poverty to Grassroots Feminism in the Appalachian South
- Kristiana Willsey: Narrative Battlegrounds: A Politics of Veterans’ Storytelling
“Since its founding in 1780, the Academy has convened scholars and leaders from across disciplines and professions to conduct scholarly research and civil discourse to benefit the common good,” explains American Academy President Jonathan F. Fanton. “I am pleased to welcome these young scholars to be part of this tradition.”
The accomplishments of former Visiting Scholars have been recognized by a variety of academic and professional organizations. Most recently, for example, Senior Lecturer at Harvard University Jonathan Hansen received a Public Scholar Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.