The Ground Beneath Our Feet: Centering Place-Based Experiential Humanities in the Curriculum

FAIN: AA-295699-24

Pace University (New York, NY 10038-1502)
Kelley Arlene Kreitz (Project Director: May 2023 to present)
Maria Iacullo-Bird (Co Project Director: May 2023 to present)

A two-year project to form a local humanities consortium that would facilitate experiential learning and public humanities projects within the undergraduate curriculum. 

Pace University requests $150,000 for The Ground Beneath Our Feet project to center place-based, experiential humanities in our undergraduate core curriculum and humanities degree programs. Recognizing the location of our Lower Manhattan campus on unceded Lenape land near the African Burial Ground–at the convergence of Chinatown, Civic Center, Financial District, and the Seaport–we will engage student participation and community collaboration in investigating the area’s previously obscured people, places, and events. A Lower Manhattan Humanities Consortium (LMHC)--including NYC Municipal Archives, American Indian Community House, Bowery Residents’ Committee, Billion Oyster Project, South Street Seaport Museum, and Trinity Church Archives–and Pace courses in ethnic and gender studies, language, literature, history, and peace and justice studies will uplift stories of marginalized people in the historical record through co-creation of digital humanities and public humanities projects.