Spring 2009 Disciplinary Innovation Grants

 “Human Rights”

Within the humanities a large literature has already developed on the topic of status, rights, welfare, experience, subjectivity, and culture of civilians in countries at war, primarily during the last 100 years. It is fast turning into an interdisciplinary subfield, often referred to as the cultures of war.

Based on this emerging literature, the goal of the “Human Rights” thread is to establish an interdepartmental undergraduate academic program in human rights. Led by Catherine Gallagher, Professor of English, the thread is borne from the findings of a G.R.O.U.P. Research Team she led with Thomas Laqueur, Professor of History, and Alan Tansman, Professor of East Asian Studies, during the 2007-08 academic year. The team performed extensive research on three topics: undergraduate human rights teaching programs at other universities that might serve as models for a Berkeley program; Berkeley faculty whose research and/or teaching deals with the topics of human rights; and internships with some human rights dimension that would be available to Berkeley undergraduates.

In this second phase, the group will disseminate the information collected in 2007-8 and make it the basis of an academic program on the UC Berkeley campus. Undergraduate researchers will help to thread courses being offered in the 2008-9 academic year so that students interested in human rights from all corners of the campus will be able to access the information, and the group will begin the process of institutionalizing the program.

In addition to Gallagher, Laqueur and Tansman, the "Human Rights" group includes Kent Puckett of the English Department.

 “Visible Language: from Cuneiform to Electronic Media”

As a materialization of language, writing is intrinsically and inevitably bound not only to sign systems but also to technological systems and cultural systems. The “Visible Language: from Cuneiform to Electronic Media” thread will focus on the interfaces between language, technology, and communication, from the origins of writing to the electronic media of today. Led by Rick Kern of the French Department and Niek Veldhuis of Near Eastern Studies, the group will investigate reading and writing as cultural practices that follow rules dictated by the social environment and by the technical constraints and affordances of the medium.

The “Visible Language” thread contests the notion of a “great divide” between so-called “oral” and “literate” societies, positing that in the case of cuneiform texts (and instant messaging and Web 2.0 applications today), oral/literate dichotomies only obscure understanding; that the cultures of orality and literacy are so intertwined that they must be considered together rather than separately. The thread also challenges what is considered “new” in the computer age, pointing towards precursors in past technologies.

The “Visible Language” project explores the similarities between underlying human processes of adapting forms and functions to various technologies of writing and to the social needs of the time. Through the juxtaposition of different media from different periods in the history of writing, the aim is to bring new insights to light, both in terms of the technical aspects and the social practices associated with writing.

In addition to Kern and Veldhuis, the "Visible Language" group includes Sarah Freedman of the School of Education; Davitt Moroney of the Music Department; Gary Holland of the Linguistics Department; and Jerrold Cooper, emeritus of Johns Hopkins University.