Digital Research Apprenticeship: Projects For Intersectional Justice

Research and scholarship in Digital Humanities applies technology to humanities questions and subjects technology to humanistic interrogation. DH pedagogy can be difficult to develop because DH is inherently collaborative and interdisciplinary, crossing the humanities, archaeology, arts and architecture, computer science, film and media studies, information studies, geography, and the social sciences. DH project-based work can also provide opportunities for professional development in humanities-oriented technology.  

As a model for engaging graduate and undergraduate students together in collaborative, public-facing DH projects within a pedagogical framework that encourages experiential learning, the pilot course I proposed focused on projects in the special collections at UT that advocate for intersectional justice by recognizing overlapping or intersecting social identities and the related systems of oppression, domination, or discrimination.   

Key activities and unique characteristics of the project include (1) pre-course consultations with students and outside advisors from the UT gems to conceptualize manageable projects and to craft achievable goals, (2) graduate students will learn to mentor DRL undergraduate students. All students will learn (1) about the active relationship between archives and social justice, bringing an open mindedness to learning and sharing authority, (2) how to plan a project, how to collaborate and communicate, project management, among other topics, and (3) exhibit and share their work for the UT community and future employers through an e-portfolio and events such as COLA’s poster session as part of research week the library’s Graduate Research Showcase.