Goals
Goals
Embedded Files
Proposed Aims of the Global Opportunity Grant
Proposed Aims of the Global Opportunity Grant
From the GOG application (November, 2022)
Plan:
Workshop/Symposium/Study Trip, Madrid, January 2024 (one week).
The in-person capstone meeting in Madrid during the J-term will allow the participants to: meet and collaborate in person with each other; meet the NYU Madrid staff and other faculty; become familiar with the academic center its culture and resources; become familiar with the curricular resources available in Madrid and its environs; meet local intellectuals, artists, activists and leaders working on the topics at hand.
The exact shape of the January encounter will depend to a large extent on the needs and desires of the participants. We imagine lectures and panel discussions held each morning from Monday to Friday at our academic center, followed by afternoon outings/excursions to sites of particular interest. Some examples of the kinds of special events that we can foresee, and stand ready to organize:
A walking tour of Madrid, paying special attention to the scars left on the city by the Spanish Civil War. This tour leads naturally into a discussion of how fascism is remembered and forgotten in Spain, and, more broadly, how Civil Wars are memorialized in different contexts. Led by Emilio Silva, Founder of the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory in Spain, and Almudena Cros, art historian who has developed these itineraries.
A walking tour of Madrid focusing on the history of slavery and of Afro-descendants in the city and in Spain. Led by Antumi Toasijé, NYU Madrid lecturer.
Meetings with some of the principal collectives of Madrid’s afro-descendant and Asian communities. Conciencia Afro and Asociación Li Wai.
A visit to the Prado, guided by Estrella de Diego, one of Spain’s leading art historians and former holder of the KJC Chair. Estrella’s most recent book is a personal exploration of the Prado from the point of view of diversity (or lack thereof), paying specific attention to the question of gender.
A visit to the Reina Sofía, led by Germán Labrador, Director of Public Programs at the Museum. Spain’s most important museum of Modern Art is located at the edge of Lavapiés, one of the most ethnically and racially diverse neighborhoods in Spain. The museum has made a major effort to develop as a “museo situado” –that is to say, a museum that is in and of a specific site, a museum that serves and represents a specific community.
A visit to the Museo de América, a controversial collection and institution documenting Spain’s actions in, and ties to, the Americas, followed by a visit to one of the city’s Latino neighborhoods, such as Cuatro Caminos.
Proposed goals:
=Networking: to strategically establish, restart or rekindle relationships between faculty at NYU Madrid and other NYU sites, particularly New York; to allow a corps of strategically selected non-Madrid faculty members to become intimately acquainted with the installations, resources, curriculum, staff and faculty of NYU Madrid, while collaborating on a meaningful curricular project.
=Curricular: to revise and enrich course offerings in Madrid, New York and potentially other sites,through the sharing and revision of syllabi, resources and experiences; to explore the development of new networked courses, or other forms of cross-site collaborations via the curriculum: to sharpen the intellectual/curricular identity of NYU Madrid
-Academic/intellectual: to explore in an interdisciplinary way the interconnected histories and legacies of fascism/anti-fascism, racism/ antiracism and imperialism/anti-imperialism, particularly, though not exclusively, in Spain and the US.
Contemplating a "stolpersteine" on the Calle Augusto Figueroa, just a few yards from the NYU Academic Center, marking the residence of a Spanish Republican who after being exiled to France at the end of the Spanish Civil War, was killed at Gusen, a Nazi death camp.
Outcomes
Outcomes
Would you care to provide a blurb about your experience at NYUMadrid's GOG workshop?
The Global Opportunity Grant workshop provided a fantastic opportunity for NYU staff from Madrid, New York and Abu Dhabi to explore questions around (anti)racism, (anti)fascism and (anti)imperialism from several different angles. This involved academic presentations and discussions, interactive walking tours around Madrid, meals, conversations, and debates with a range of local artists, authors, intellectuals, activists and even representatives from state-run institutions. The experience was incredibly enriching, and I learnt a lot that will contribute to my teaching in Madrid. Several of the tours and the discussions sparked ideas that I am sure will contribute to my future research. The experience created a strong sense of community for NYU Madrid staff, especially new staff members like myself. The workship also provided the opportunity to establish links with the visiting NYU staff, fostering the sense of belonging to a connected global institution. –Ellen Gordon
It was truly a powerful experience to get to know fantastic faculty colleagues from across NYU's global network, in an informal yet highly stimulating context for learning and sharing observations and perspectives. I will no doubt stay in touch with many of the people I met, and continue to mull over the new ideas and sites I encountered at NYU Madrid. It was a perfect example of NYU's global network at its best! [The GOG workshop] made me feel much more connected to NYU Madrid, and better able to see its potential as a site for future such convenings and for all kinds of interesting coursework. I will also continue to rave about it and its faculty and staff to colleagues in NY and elsewhere who are similarly interested in questions of racism, imperialism, and fascism, not to mention also gender, sexuality, and art. –Ann Morning
The series of events of the program of interrelated stories of anti-racism, anti-fascism and anti-imperialism organized by NYU-Madrid have been a set of experiences relevant to the understanding of various resistances to different forms of oppression. The seminars and visits have been very enriching on an academic level. To highlight just one of the various activities it offers, I find it very relevant to visit the Museum of America where we have had the opportunity to speak with its director about the return of objects acquired in the colonial context. I am looking forward to participating in future years in similar events hoping that this initiative will consolidate these study topics at NYU. –Antumi Toasijé
As a recently hired adjunct faculty member at NYU Madrid, the Global Grant has proven to be a rare and exceptional opportunity, allowing me to truly immerse myself in the vibrant intellectual community here. Until this week, I hadn't had the chance to connect with many of my colleagues in Madrid, and my familiarity with various NYU sites was limited. However, the Global Grant has been instrumental in transforming this experience for me. This week has not only facilitated stronger connections with fellow educators but has also provided invaluable insights into the diverse backgrounds of my students, enhancing my preparedness for upcoming courses. As a scholar, the opportunity to engage with NYU Faculty from different sites has been a genuine pleasure, offering a unique and enriching experience for adjunct faculty members like myself. The grant has played a pivotal role in fostering a sense of belonging within a larger intellectual community, and I am truly grateful for this chance to be a part of something greater. Looking ahead, I am hopeful that such opportunities will become more frequent at NYU Madrid and other sites, fostering a continuous exchange of ideas and collaboration among faculty members. –Elia Romera Figueroa
As an Art professor at NYU Madrid, this experience has provided me with the first opportunity to interconnect histories and legacies of anti-fascism, antiracism and anti-imperialism (in Spain, the US and beyond). The exchanges with the amazing scholars from NYU’s global community have meant a turning point in how I see my course design and the city. This has been a lovingly curated week, with beautifully crafted content, caring programmatic decisions and amazing humans. –Sara Torres Vega
Meeting the global faculty but even more, understanding what my colleagues in Madrid are doing, which is exciting, powerful, and community-oriented. The visit to and debate within the Museum of America's was a big highlight for me. --Daniel Wuebben
The guest speakers and the conversations after their talk were really interesting. The visits to the different spaces in Madrid connected with the subject of the program were very illuminating. Also the connection with other scholars and professors from NYU Madrid, since I had the opportunity to know their work much better. I feel this was a good a good opportunity to create an academic community and exchange resources and interests with other faculty members. --Cristina Colmena
I've been in this business long enough to know that the most meaningful outcomes of an encounter such as this one could take years to materialize, and when they do, it could well be that no one will trace them properly to their source. Will Quan Zhou create a graphic novel about Chinese volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, thanks to her conversations with Emilio Silva? ¿Quién sabe? Will Gad Yola enroll in a PhD program at NYU? Who knows? Will Antumi Toasijé's learned disquisitions on the history of Africans and people of African descent in Spain inflect the teaching of all of us who write and teach about Spanish history and culture? Let's hope so. Will the recognition by more and more students and scholars that Madrid is a fascinating and complex object of study in itself --and a privileged vantage point from which to observe and study the world-- help NYU Madrid sharpen its intellectual identity and fulfill its promise? We'll have to wait and see.... --James D. Fernández
The NYU Madrid workshop was the NYU global network model at its best. It was so stimulating to meet with faculty from other NYU sites, to have the luxury of spending a full week together, and to see the NYU curriculum embedded in this location in a way that allows for the possibility of exploring topics and having conversations that are not possible at other study-away sites and campuses. --Masha Kirasirova, NYUAD
It was an honor to be in a select group of such engaging scholars. I was especially pleased to encounter the powerful work of our junior colleagues teaching at NYU Madrid, and was impressed by the depth of cutting edge expertise in NYU Madrid's faculty …. It made me want to explore other ways that NYU faculty in New York could meet and learn from NYU Madrid faculty, and vice versa…Overall this week revealed a dynamic concert of engaging debates and cultural practices that are contesting the legacies of fascism, racism, and colonialism.
—Jill Lane, NYUNY
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