The Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society has announced nine new faculty-led research projects that will address a range of complex questions and social problems. Each year Collegium projects bring together University faculty and other researchers to work through challenges that require diversity of thought and practice to resolve. The collaborations vary widely in scope and methodology, and many integrate the arts into broader research inquiries. This year’s cohort brings the total number of research collaborations supported by the Neubauer Collegium to 147.

“The unifying concept for our 10-year milestone is ‘The Solution Is Human,’” said Tara Zahra, the Roman Family Director of the Neubauer Collegium. “It’s fitting that this year’s projects embody the conviction that humanistic research is central to understanding the world and changing it for the better. I am excited to see where these new initiatives lead.”

The following projects launch on July 1, 2025:

Arts Labs II
Leslie Buxbaum Danzig (Theater and Performance Studies), David Levin (Germanic Studies; Cinema and Media Studies; Theater and Performance Studies), Tina Post (English; Creative Writing; Theater and Performance Studies), Srikanth “Chicu” Reddy (English; Creative Writing), Julia Rhoads (Theater and Performance Studies)

This initiative, comprising five linked projects, will continue to shape and support a culture of experimentation and critical analysis around arts research across campus. The labs will develop creative projects while fostering dialogue among scholars and arts professionals about the opportunities and challenges of artistic research.

Autonomy Is Not Freedom and the Sticky Ball
Untidy Objects: Sara Black (School of the Art Institute), Marc Downie (Cinema and Media Studies), Samantha Frost (University of Illinois), Amber Ginsburg (Visual Arts); Gulf South Open School, represented by: Amy Lesen (Antioch University), Rebecca Snedeker, Monique Verdin (Land Memory Bank & Seed Exchange); Awi’nakola, represented by: Rande Cook, Lindsay Delaronde (University of Victoria), Kelly Richardson (University of Victoria), Teresa Ryan (University of British Columbia), Suzanne Simard (University of British Columbia), Stephanie Smith, Paul Walde (University of Victoria)

Three North American land-based collectives will join together to explore the discourse of rights in environmental politics. The team will develop an experimental research methodology grounded in collaborative art-making that draws on data collection and artistic methods.

The Case of the Human II: Co-Producing Plural Knowledge on the Body, the Social, and the Subject
David Meltzer (Medicine; Harris School of Public Policy), Eugene Raikhel (Comparative Human Development), Brian Callender (Medicine), E. Summerson Carr (Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice; Anthropology), Julie Orlemanski (English), Michele Friedner (Comparative Human Development), Seth M. Holmes (University of California, Berkeley; University of Barcelona; ICREA), Mayssa Rekhis (University of Gothenburg)

This project extends a global initiative to identify a comprehensive understanding of “the human” that is neither exclusively medical nor humanistic. Collaborators are developing a series of case studies that will be published in a special edition of The Lancet. They also aim to establish the University of Chicago as a global hub for medical humanities research, teaching, and practice.

Humanistic AI: Reimagining Humanistic Pursuits in the Age of Generated Media
Hoyt Long (East Asian Languages and Civilizations), Chris Kennedy (Linguistics)

An interdisciplinary group of researchers will convene for a series of workshops focused on generative models, laying the conceptual and methodological foundations for a new approach to humanities research and related cultural activity in the age of AI.

The LGBTQ+ Intergenerational Dialogue Project
Lisa Moore (Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice), Karen Morris (School of the Art Institute), Adam Greteman (School of the Art Institute), Nic Weststrate (University of Illinois at Chicago)

Building on a highly collaborative collection of data grounded in LGBTQ+ dialogues between younger and older adults, this project will ask whether and how these dialogues improve outcomes for LGBTQ+ people throughout the life course.

Linguistic Futures: Language Shift and Revitalization in Rethinking (Socio)linguistic Theory
Lenore Grenoble (Linguistics), Susan Gal (Anthropology)

Recent efforts to revitalize endangered languages have created the opportunity to advance linguistic scholarship. Mobilizing new evidence alongside current and emerging methods, this project will position shifting languages at the center of sociolinguistic theory in order to rethink some of its core questions.

The Political Theory of Labor Unions: Solidarity, Class Identity, and Organizing across Difference
Ben Laurence (Philosophy), Gabriel Winant (History), Steven Klein (King’s College London), Alex Gourevitch (Brown University), Mie Inouye (Bard College)

Americans’ support for unions is at a historic high, and a large percentage of workers now say they wish to belong to a union. This project brings together political theorists, philosophers, and historians to explore questions about unions’ institutional structures, political visions, and organizing strategies as they look to build on this potential resurgence.

Sonic Borderlands of South Asia
Philip Bohlman (Music), Anna Schultz (Music), Dipesh Chakrabarty (History), Lars-Christian Koch (Humboldt Forum of Berlin), Amit Chaudhuri (Ashoka University, India), Saymon Zakaria (Bangla Academy, Bangladesh)

This two-year research project will integrate music and dance performance as part of a larger initiative to explore the connections among varied forms of sonic encounter across borderlands in South Asia. The initiative, part of an International Balzan Prize project, will convene discussions with an international cohort of scholars, performers, writers, filmmakers, and more.

Translation Networks and the Stakes of Comparison: Convergences and Crossings Between Arabic and Hebrew
Na’ama Rokem (Comparative Literature), Dima Ayoub (Middlebury College)

This seed-stage project will lay the groundwork for a large-scale comparative study of the translation and reception of Arabic and Hebrew literature in the West. A key focus will be creating digital resources and mapping tools that visualize the networks through which texts are translated and circulated across languages and regions.