John Kennedy received his MFA from the University of Pittsburgh and is a PhD student at Cornell University. Prior to graduate study, they co-founded a social impact company, Ix Style Inc., in Guatemala to support Maya artisanal collectives. Their current interdisciplinary and transnational work explores the intersections of memory, trauma, debt, and migration; performance art and literature; documentary and Instagram culture. His work has been featured or published in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Ámbitos Feministas, and other publications. As a NY Public Humanities Fellow, John is organizing a series of conversations, interviews, and surveys on migration with a focus on the […]

Sarah Fisher Davis is a PhD candidate in English at Stony Brook University. Her research interests include contemporary American & Anglophone literature, film, and graphic narratives with a focus on environmental justice and gender studies. She is currently working on her dissertation tentatively entitled, “Detection: U.S. Land, Body, and Text as Sites of Nuclearity,” which examines representations of nuclear radiation and its lingering corporeal & ecological threats in the United States through a variety of media and multimodal forms. In partnership with several New York State Master Teachers and local environmental organizations, Sarah’s public humanities project – “Mapping the Story […]

Evan Starling-Davis is a producer, curator, and literary artist upholding [sub]conscious responsibility in creating content that speaks truth to his experiences as a digital-aged Afro-American griot. Currently, Evan is a doctoral candidate in Literacy Education and Museology at Syracuse University; devising and facilitating art-based literacy spaces and programming within communities reflective of his own. Evan strives to develop innovative access points and experiences which inform healthier learning practices. Investigating storytelling within multidisciplinary art as it relates to sociopolitical discourse, Evan’s literary, visual, and staged work has exhibited in an array of galleries, theaters, and warehouse shows internationally; maneuvering avenues that transform and translate […]

Sara Stamatiades is an English PhD candidate at Cornell University specializing in English and Spanish Renaissance literature. More specifically, her research focuses on translation and displacement in the global early modern period. For her project, Sara will develop a writing workshop with her community partner for migrant and refugee families in Ithaca, NY. In addition to fostering community, this project aims to bring greater awareness and advocacy for those experiencing isolation and facing deportation at the Batavia Detention Center, which is located just two hours northwest of Cornell’s campus.

Shiyue Cui is a PhD candidate in the Sociology Department at University at Buffalo, where she researches international migration and immigrant integration as a cultural process. Her study focuses on how migrants make sense of their journey and navigate the urban space in their destination cities. Her project, “From There to Here: Refugee Experiences in Buffalo, New York,” utilizes in-depth interviews, oral history, and photography documentaries to explore the social meanings of refugees’ everyday lives. The project reflects their perceptions of their journey, cultural heritages, and values. It will also shed light on how refugees play an active role in […]

Luis Rincón Alba is a Colombian artist and scholar based in New York City since 2010. He has taught at the departments of Art and Public Policy and Performance Studies at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He is currently a doctoral candidate in the Performance Studies Department at New York University where conducts research on the political potential of festive performance in Latin America and the Caribbean. As an actor, performer, and oral narrator, he has collaborated with different artistic collectives. Currently, he leads the Non-Local Action Translation Initiative, which is a project with a focus on public humanities that tries to build transnational ties, through collective […]

Austin T. Richey is a Ph.D. candidate in ethnomusicology at Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester. His dissertation research is based in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan, where he is exploring the resonances between diasporic African musical, dance, and visual arts and Detroit-specific musical genres, such as Motown and techno. Richey has published original research in African Music and Opioid Aesthetics: Expressive Culture in an Age of Addiction, as well as publicly-oriented research and writing for the PBS Digital Studios program Sound Field. Support for his work has come from the Frederick Douglass Institute, the Society for American Music, and the Presser Foundation. Richey is an […]

Dana Olesch is a PhD candidate with the Department of Anthropology at Syracuse University. Her research focuses on eviction and other forms of structural and cultural violence in urban spaces during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in Syracuse, New York. Dana earned her B.A. with high honors in Anthropology and History from Beloit College in 2016. Before pursuing her doctoral degree, Dana was the McDermott Intern for Ancient American Art at the Dallas Museum of Art. As an historical archaeologist, Dana has worked in the Maras region of Peru and in Washington DC, Wisconsin, and Virginia. Throughout her […]

Marianne Kupin-Lisbin is a doctoral candidate at the University of Rochester, where she specializes in the early modern history of Southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean world. Her dissertation, “The Illusion of Dissidence: The Virgin Mary, Rome, and Local Catholicism in Seventeenth Century Bosnia” examines the intersection of sacred sharing, community, identity, and marginality in a multi-faith Ottoman town. A longtime instructor for the Rochester Education Justice Initiative and the Cornell Prison Education Project, she is a staunch advocate for equal access to higher education. As a HNY Public Humanities Fellow, she will curate a physical and digital exhibition of the […]

Margaret Banks is an English and Comparative Literature PhD student at Columbia University. She studies coming-of-age narratives of black girls and women to explore their transgression and modes of being in an anti-black world. Her public Humanities, the “Ubecoming Me Summer Camp,” is a program for black girls to unravel and (re)imagine constructions of black girlhood through creative practice. Emulating literary characters like Sula and Nel from Toni Morrison’s Sula, the campers will explore girlhood through various artistic mediums including dance, visual arts, and double-dutch.