Townsend Working Groups: A Hub for Scholarly Collaboration beyond the Classroom

Townsend Working Groups: A Hub for Scholarly Collaboration beyond the Classroom

A group of students study together at the library.

Scholarly collaboration doesn’t stop at the classroom door. Professors and students are always looking for opportunities to work with like-minded scholars, share and receive feedback on their research, and engage in a stimulating intellectual community. Each year, the Townsend Center provides such an opportunity by supporting working groups that bring together faculty and graduate students from various fields and departments with shared research interests. Last year, over two dozen working groups met regularly to conduct a variety of activities for their members and the campus community at large. 

One of the most important purposes of working groups is to foster a sense of scholarly community among the graduate students of different departments, both for the evident benefits to their research and for the intellectual and emotional support that such a community provides. The aim of the Early Modern working group, for example, was to stimulate more extensive discussion among faculty and graduate students interested in the “long seventeenth century” (approximately 1550-1689) from all departments and to promote intellectual and social connections. Last year, members of the working group took great steps towards building such a network, particularly through the success of their “Back to Basics” graduate colloquia, reading groups, and peer review. Overall, members reported that the working group was crucial to developing and sustaining an interactive intellectual community that benefited both the individuals involved and the university as a whole.

Working groups are also an ideal place for members to share their own work and receive constructive feedback from like-minded colleagues.  Over the 2011-2012 school year, several working groups focused on improving their members’ research. The Bay Area Studies working group, for instance, met for a series of research presentations and workshops, and conversations about research methodology and results presentation. Their talks all emerged from dissertation research, usually representing a single chapter-in-progress. In some cases, members helped each other prepare for upcoming job talks and refined ideas about dissertation research and beyond.

Likewise, the International Organizations in the Twentieth Century working group focused on discussing a members’ research. These meetings enabled members to share their research, learn from each other’s methodological approaches, and examine research projects through different lenses. According to the working group organizers, “the financial and institutional support from the Townsend Center was instrumental in enabling our group to have the type of intellectual exchange with fellow colleagues and professors.”

Other working groups focused on deep reading of difficult texts. The Frankfurt School working group spent the Fall semester focusing on Walter Benjamin’s theology of place and time, selecting readings and engaging in discussion each week.  During the spring semester, they hosted a series of talks by Berkeley faculty who presented their new works-in-progress that turned to critical theory to address various issues salient to our times.

Working groups often invite scholars from outside the University to engage with members. The Dance Studies working group hosted internationally acclaimed dancer Shantala Shivalingappa who performed Kuchipudi, a classical Indian dance form that dates back to the third 2rd century BCE.

The Tourism Studies working group co-convened a conference with the Society for Cultural Heritage and Law entitled “Current Questions in Authenticity,” which brought together scholars from varied disciplines for a thoughtful discussion probing the meanings and practices of “authenticity.”

Townsend working groups benefit more than just members. Many working groups organize events for both on and off campus communities. The Muslim Identities and Cultures working group co-hosted a lecture by New York Times columnist Roger Cohen, a conference on “The Emergence of the ‘Muslim Question’ in Europe”, and several talks by invited scholars that were open to the public.

For information on all Townsend working groups, see here