Dear masters and doctoral students: Greetings and Happy New Year! For those interested in an opportunity to collaborate on a project with the US Department of State you can take an independent study (as a 594 Graduate Research Participation) with me to work on an important area of information-related research and technology application (“Mapping “LGBTI” Cultural Representations of Difference in Historical Sub-Saharan Africa” that is included in the US Department of State’s Diplomacy Lab program for SPRING 2016, URL: http://www.ou.edu/content/diplomacylab/semester-schedule.html).
For details see my email copied below. Feel free to get in touch with questions, comments, etc. I look forward to hearing from you! My best regards, Dr. M
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Bharat Mehra, PhD
Associate Professor
School of Information Sciences
University of Tennessee
# 454 Communications Building,
1345 Circle Park Drive
Knoxville, TN 37996-0341
Telephone: (865) 974 5917 (O)
E-mail: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Homepage: http://www.sis.utk.edu/users/bharat-mehra;
https://web.utk.edu/~bmehra/ (cut and paste the URL in your web browser).
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________________________________
From: Mehra, Bharat
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2015 12:14 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Cc: [log in to unmask]
Subject: NEW Opportunity to Collaborate on Research with the US Department of State during SPRING 2016
Dear students: Greetings! As a follow-up next step to my work with five students who are part of the current Diplomacy Lab program with the US. Department of State I am delighted to share with you that through UT's Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy my second proposal entitled “Mapping “LGBTI” Cultural Representations of Difference in Historical Sub-Saharan Africa” has been included in the US Department of State’s Diplomacy Lab program for SPRING 2016 (URL: http://www.ou.edu/content/diplomacylab/semester-schedule.html), under the project category “LGBTI Issues: Analysis of Historic Participation of LGBTI Persons in African Culture” (Problem 20).
For this project, I am looking for 2-4 masters or doctoral students who are interested to take an independent study (as a 594 Graduate Research Participation) during the 2016 spring semester. The student will work with me and the US Department of State representatives to provide research-based evidence about LGBTI people in sub-Saharan Africa from press, scholarly literature, and/or qualitative data collection. Narrative discourse/content analysis of folktales & myths, fiction & non-fiction, song & theatre, and other oral histories of non-conforming examples of Africans who have challenged traditional lifestyles will also be conducted.
Students will develop an integrated Web-based report (including literature review, metadata descriptions, online records, and interactive visualized database) delivered via GIS-based tools (e.g., Google Tour Builder: https://tourbuilder.withgoogle.com/ or StoryMap.JS: https://storymap.knightlab.com/) to map the story (highlighting locations, events, places, and time) related to the cultural representations of difference of the “LGBTI” in historic sub-Saharan Africa. Providing culturally nuanced tangible historical markers of “non-conforming” LGBTI representations will give the Department of State leverage to further human rights advocacy on behalf of this disenfranchised population.
US Secretary of State John Kerry had announced the Diplomacy Lab Program to help solve the world’s biggest challenges and it will be a tremendous opportunity for any student interested to collaborate on this project with the US Department of State representatives [URL: http://www.ou.edu/diplomacylab.html].
Interested students should contact me at [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> and we will schedule a meeting. Also, send me your latest resume and a brief narrative sharing what aspect/part of the research you are interested in and why as well as how it fits with your career goals and objectives. If you want (optional) you can also complete a draft of the Graduate Research Participation form at URL: http://www.sis.utk.edu/sites/default/files/docs/Independent%20Project%20or%20Research.pdf
I look forward to hearing from you ASAP so we can get this started with the coming of the New Year.
Thanks and my best regards, Dr. M
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
LGBTI Issues: Analysis of Historic Participation of LGBTI Persons in African Culture, Office of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Bureau of African Affairs, Department of State (AF/PDPA).
Overview:
Recognition of the human rights of LGBTI persons is a foreign policy goal for the United States. One argument heard in Africa against support of human rights for LGBTI persons is that LGBTI communities are a western invention and African cultures should not be asked to accept western modes of thought. Occasionally we hear from African contacts that their traditional culture included LGBTI persons.
Examples include statements such as:
· “We have a specific name for lesbians and homosexuals, and the word carries no negative connotations, it just is”;
· “In my town there was an entire street of shops and businesses – those who owned those stores and socialized there were known to be homosexuals, and that was fine,” and
· “There were always aunties or uncles living together, and no one cared.”
This project asks for research into traditional African cultures and their acceptance of what western societies might term “LGBTI communities.” That terminology could indeed be a “western” one. Research should therefore not focus exclusively on those who have identified or could be identified in folktales, fiction, song, or non-fiction as “LGBTI.” Rather, research should broadly identify examples of Africans who have not conformed to cultural constructs of “traditional” lifestyles. They could be individuals who are different in terms of behavior, dress, field of work, or personal aspirations as well as same sex individuals who co-habit or have close emotional relationships, with or without explicit references to sexuality. The Department of State can use an enhanced, nuanced understanding of culturally accepted “non-conforming” figures to more effectively support recognition of human rights for LGBTI persons in sub-Saharan Africa.
Format of Final Product:
Results could be presented in narrative summary citing specific examples from written/oral traditions or interviews.
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Bharat Mehra, PhD
Associate Professor
School of Information Sciences
University of Tennessee
# 454 Communications Building,
1345 Circle Park Drive
Knoxville, TN 37996-0341
Telephone: (865) 974 5917 (O)
E-mail: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Homepage: http://www.sis.utk.edu/users/bharat-mehra;
https://web.utk.edu/~bmehra/ (cut and paste the URL in your web browser).
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