From reimagining Harlem through the eyes of a poet to envisioning the future of Detroit together with residents, Cornell students explored creative ways to understand urban landscapes during two cross-disciplinary courses this year, part of Cornell's (AUH).
Two graduate courses co-taught by faculty from the 麻豆视频 and 麻豆视频 (A&S) and the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP) drew students from multiple colleges; undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers took part.
鈥淭he Mellon Foundation has recognized Cornell鈥檚 longstanding commitment to the interdisciplinary study of race and social justice,鈥 said , director of the Cornell Council for the Arts. 鈥淢ellon AUH provides a fertile environment for a reflection on urbanism that combines architecture and the humanities.鈥
Supported by a third renewal grant from the Andrew D. Mellon Foundation, the collaborative studies program is directed by Murray and , the Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of the College of Architecture, Art and Planning. The program is a partnership between the Mellon Foundation and four entities at Cornell: AAP, Cornell University Library, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art and the Society for the Humanities (A&S).
Students in the spring 2023 鈥淯rban Justice Lab: Seeing to Be in the Aftermath,鈥 co-taught by , associate professor of literatures in English (A&S) and , professor of art (AAP) and a composer, are looking at ways poems and songs help us develop theories of place.
As her students prepare their final projects this week, Van Clief-Stefanon said the course was inspired by 鈥淪kyrise for Harlem,鈥 a redesign of Harlem that the poet June Jordan envisioned with architect Buckminster Fuller to save herself from the hatred she felt after riots in that neighborhood in 1964.
鈥淚 thought, what a hopeful and beautiful thing to do in a moment of violence, when bitterness could overtake you,鈥 Van Clief-Stefanon said. 鈥淭o turn instead toward collaboration and creativity as the response.鈥
In the course, Van Clief-Stefanon and Obadike challenged their students from disciplines as diverse as creative writing, architecture and music composition to produce their own creative works as a mode of thought. Students thought through how the realm of the imagined has intersected with architectural projects and the development of communities.
鈥淚 wanted them to think about home,鈥 Obadike said. 鈥淐ities are made of multiple homes. We looked at important songs people learn from their mothers and how those things help them construct their ideas of home.鈥
The fall 2022, 鈥淒esign Justice Workshop: Community/Engagement: Methods for Critical Theory and Design鈥 class, co-taught by , assistant professor of architecture (AAP) and , professor of Romance studies and comparative literature (A&S), explored Detroit as a case study, centered around a weeklong residency in the city.
鈥淲e worked with local artists, activists, high school students and other community members to explore what it means to do community engagement,鈥 Lettieri said. 鈥淲e were learning through active projects in Detroit: Who are the actors within a community engagement project and how do projects vary in scope, scale, impact?鈥
鈥淧h.D. students from comparative literature and Romance studies learned a great deal about applying theoretical concepts 鈥 such as climate justice, autonomy and reparations 鈥 to design,鈥 Pinkus said. 鈥淭he experience will have long-term effects on their research. The beauty of a workshop is that we were experimenting in ways that conventional literature classes do not allow.鈥
In addition to its courses, Mellon AUH also supports summer internships at nonprofits focused on racial justice and the Mellon Curatorial Expression Program for which exhibitions were curated for the by two teams of graduate students in the departments of Africana Studies, Romance Studies, Comparative Literature, Human Centered Design and Anthropology, and in the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program.
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