Doors of Culture

Institutions of Public Culture: A Collaborative Cape Town-Atlanta Program, 2000-2008

Institutions of Public Culture: Previous Theme Years (1997 - 2000)

Institutions of Public Culture are critical social locations where knowledge and perceptions of the social sphere are debated, imposed, challenged and disseminated. Since 2000, the CSPS has collaborated with South African cultural institutions to bring together scholars of public culture from universities, museums, NGOs, political and arts organizations, or related institutional sites.

South African cultural institutions have long been important arenas for political engagement and social critique. In post-apartheid South Africa, new relationships have been forming between public institutions and spheres of cultural production that once were separated by the apartheid system. Similarly, South African museums and other institutions have been undergoing rapid change that calls for rethinking of basic categories and practices. In this time of transition it is vital to promote critical engagement, to sustain commentaries and debates, and to forge scholarly perspectives that are comparative, historical, and practical.

The Institutions of Public Culture program provides significant opportunities for South African scholars and staff in public institutions to think through their recent experiences and to work with peers in Atlanta and other American institutions. During 2006-2007 the program will offer two Research Fellowships. Research Fellows will be in residence for one semester. They will have the opportunity to work on a research project, will help organize and participate in CSPS programs, participate in other relevant Emory programs and courses, and present their research to an audience drawn from the scholarly communities of Emory and Atlanta. For application information, please click here.

From 2000-2004, the program offered four semester-long Research Fellowships and three year-long Studentships based at Emory in Atlanta. Research Fellows worked on a well-developed project dealing with the theme of Institutions of Public Culture and helped organize and participated in CSPS programs. Student Fellows on the program took a year of courses at Emory, helped plan and participated in CSPS programs, and participated in summer internships at public institutions in the U.S. During 2005-2006 the program also offered a PhD Dissertation Completion Fellowship. The Dissertation Fellow was in residence for nine months and given support for dissertation completion. The Dissertation Fellow also participated in forums to discuss their work and in CSPS seminars and programs.

The application and selection process is organized each year by the program's Cape Town Committee. Institutions of Public Culture also has an Atlanta Committee that helps define program themes and activities in conjunction with the Cape Town Committee. 



Atlanta Committee:
The Atlanta Committee works in conjunction with the Cape Town Committee in defining program themes and activities and selecting Research Fellows and Dissertation Fellows. It consists of representatives of CSPS and partner institutions. CSPS partners in Atlanta are the Michael C. Carlos Museum, the Atlanta History Center, and the Institute of African Studies. Outside Atlanta, the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage is also a partner in planning and programs. The Atlanta Committee members are:

Ivan Karp, Co-Director, Institutions of Public Culture, Emory University
Corinne Kratz, Co-Director, Institutions of Public Culture, Emory University
Tim Crimmins, History Department, Georgia State University
Hilary Ford, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Emory University
Elizabeth Hornor , Michael C. Carlos Museum
Catherine Howett Smith, Michael C. Carlos Museum
Gordon Jones, Atlanta History Center
Anthony Knight, Atlanta History Center
Richard Kurin, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Institution
Eleanor Main, Educational Studies, Emory University
Diana N' Diaye, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Institution
Diana Parker, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Institution
Dana White, The Graduate Institute of Liberal Arts, Emory University

Cape Town Committee:
Cape Town Committee members come from institutions and programs fundamentally engaged in the production and understanding of public culture. The Cape Town Committee has primary responsibility each year for recruitment and selection of Research Fellows and Dissertation Fellows. Its members organize Cape Town-based programs, often participate in Atlanta programs, and work in conjunction with the Atlanta Committee to shape program themes and activities. Cape Town Committee members are:

David Bunn, University of the Witwatersrand
Patricia Davison, Iziko Museums of Cape Town
Valmont Layne, District Six Museum
Zayd Minty, One (Arts Production)
Deirdre Prins, Robben Island Museum
 Ciraj Rassool, History Department, University of the Western Cape
Dumisani Sibayi, South African Heritage Resources Agency
Crain Soudien, Education Department, University of Cape Town
Leslie Witz, History Department, University of the Western Cape
 
Summer Internships:
Summer internships at an appropriate U.S. institution were arranged for Student Fellows in the program from 2000-2004. Internships were shaped to individual interests and needs each year. Internships have involved working with people and departments at some of the following institutions: Atlanta History Center, UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, Museum of International Folk Art, Michael C. Carlos Museum, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, National Museum of African Art, or National Museum of Natural History. Student Fellows have also held internships at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the Chicago Historical Society, the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, and the National Park Service Southeast Regional Office (Cultural Resources).


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Gabe Sibley & Corinne Kratz
1/26/2001