Dr. Joan Titus and Dr. Linda Rupert have both received 2016 summer stipends from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Universities may only submit two applications per year for these highly competitive awards, and less than 10% of all applicants secure funding. The funding of not one but both applications reflects highly on the winners and UNCG.
The stipends provide funding for two months of research. One project will explore a current gap in research at the intersection of non-western cinema, media studies, and music, while the other seeks to highlight the varied experiences of escaped slaves in the Caribbean.
Titus, an associate professor of musicology, will conduct archival research in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia in preparation for her second book, currently titled “Dmitry Shostakovich and Music for Stalinist Cinema.” Titus’s analysis will include discussions of Soviet identities, post-war film narratives, and the musical strategies Dmitry Shostakovich employed as he explored these ideas while composing for cinema. Spanning the rise and fall of the Stalinist Soviet Union, Shostakovich’s work reflects ongoing advances in cinema technology and style, his collaborations with film directors, and the sociopolitical climate of his time.
Rupert, an associate professor of history, specializes in trans-Atlantic colonialism. Her stipend will support work on a book examining the actions and impacts of Carribbean slaves who escaped to settle in free Spanish colonies in the late 17th and 18th centuries. The book explores how the choices of these escaped slaves went on to shape colonial law and policy. Rupert has also been awarded a fellowship at the John Carter Brown Library in Providence, RI, for the 2016-2017 academic year, where she hopes to complete the manuscript.
Olivia Wood is a media and communication intern with the Office of Research and Economic Development. Olivia is a senior at UNCG double majoring in English and cultural anthropology with a minor in classical studies. She has a deep love for Virginia Woolf and a passion for research toward social justice. She likes this job because she gets to learn about all the fascinating research happening at UNCG.
