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American Studies Department at
Brown University
Box 1892
82 Waterman Street
Brown University
Providence RI 02912
Telephone: (401) 863-2896
Fax: (401) 863-1385
The Junior Seminar: The Public
The purpose of the junior seminar is to include work in the public humanities as a vital and unique part of the American Studies concentration at Brown. Each concentrator must take a junior seminar, and each faculty member teaching this seminar will define how the public focus of his or her scholarship will form the basis for the course, whether it is public policy, memorialization, community studies or civic engagement, to give four examples.
We expect that some junior seminars will be contained within the classroom, perhaps with the public as the subject, and that others will work with the public, in a range of ways. They might undertake oral histories, do community work, or produce an exhibition, web site, media or other materials for a public audience.
Junior seminars that include work with the public outside the classroom will take advantage of the resources of the John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage. These can include teaching and project assistance by students in the Public Humanities MA program, up to 10 hours per week; use of exhibition space at the JNBC; consulting with JNBC staff; and whatever other support the JNBC might provide.