Call for Applications: Humanities EXPLORE Undergraduate Research Fellowship with Professor M. Ty, 2024-2025
Research Assistant: Counter-Colonial Ecologies (CRES)
We encourage work-study and non-work-study students to apply. This role is only open to undergraduate students with a declared or proposed Humanities major or minor and requires work authorization .
Application Deadline: Sunday, March 9, 2025
The Humanities Division and The Humanities Institute are excited to announce an experiential learning opportunity for undergraduates at UC Santa Cruz to work with Critical Race & Ethnic Studies Professor M. Ty.
The Humanities Experiential Learning Opportunities in Research (EXPLORE) Program connects Humanities majors and minors to faculty-led research projects in the division. EXPLORE Fellows are mentored by faculty members to develop skills and knowledge to help them make an impactful intellectual or creative contribution to their field. Students gain practical experience and professional training that builds on their studies in the Humanities. At the same time, faculty benefit from students’ assistance and academic expertise.
Applicants must have a declared or proposed major or minor in the Humanities Division at the time of their application to be eligible. Please see the Humanities Division majors and minors list to check your eligibility before applying.
About The Project
This project invites students to work collaboratively on two projects that engage in counter-colonial ecological research. Each fellow will select one of two areas of inquiry.
The Gardens at the End of the Plantation
The first will study the small gardens that enslaved people tended on the fringes of plantations. Black captives turned to these patches of soil to support their subsistence in ways that deviated from the plantation’s commitment to depleting both land and labor. At the same time, these gardens were sites for recollecting and reinventing anti-colonial cultures. They also played an integral part in sustaining relations of mutual support–between captives and fugitives, able-bodied and disabled people, and those whose sexual practices did not conform to settler norms of heterosexuality. By engaging in archival and text-based research, students will look for scattered traces of these gardens in plantation records, autobiographies, colonial archives, and scholarship on Black botanical knowledge and indigenous land stewardship. The project will work against monolithic narratives of plantation economies by bringing forward alternative plant-practices and the possibilities they introduce for rethinking race, sexuality, survival, and liberation. Beyond academic research, the project aspires to create a public-facing website, a public presentation, and a campus garden inspired by these histories.
Some Waters of Palestine
The second project turns its attention to the waters of Palestine. Our team will build upon previous investigations of how decades of occupation have transformed aquatic ecosystems and the practices of subsistence on which they depend. Taking inspiration from the artist Jumana Emil Abboud, who understands water divination as an act of collective memory, the project will work to tell the stories of springs, wells, and rivers that have been forcibly disappeared—as well as those that persist, despite threats of toxicity and unilateral diversion. In doing so, the project seeks to move discourses about environmental destruction in Palestine beyond the parameters of quantitative analysis. Fellows will engage colonial archives, learning to read against their currents. They will also work together to assemble a visual counter-archive of Palestinian waters, which will be drawn from historical footage and various traditions of Arab cinema. The project will culminate in the launch of a public-facing website, where we can share our work of water-mapping and its significance for reimagining indigenous politics of land.
Position Description:
Students will learn how to navigate a range of archives and primary and secondary source material related to histories of black subsistence. Specifically, they will learn about the difficulties involved in researching histories that have been relegated to the periphery of History proper. They will learn to read against the grain of practices of colonial documentation and to listen not only to what the archive says but also to what it omits.
This role provides hands-on experience in archival research, historical analysis, and public humanities work. Training will be provided for students who may not have prior research experience but can demonstrate a commitment to racial justice and historical inquiry.
RESPONSIBILITIES AND EXPECTATIONS
- (35%) Sorting, reading through, and screening primary sources with an eye for material that's relevant to the project; assembling these resources in a central repository
- (10%) Corresponding with librarians to request materials from archival collections; managing those files
- (10%) Transcribing handwritten sources into formats compatible with a word processor
- (15%) When the student has the appropriate language skills, translating selections from primary documents
- (10%) Generating informal literature reviews and report-backs about secondary literature
- (10%) Helping to set up and maintain a website with a curated set of materials to offer a way for the public to interface with our research
- (10%) Team meetings to share knowledge
At later stages of the project, these percentages would shift. Should it be possible to start a garden on the campus that would draw from our research, there would be additional work to do, including making arrangements for the space, doing outreach for a public event, helping with some physical work in setting up a garden (with accommodations for anyone with a disability); collaborating on a plan to keep the garden going beyond the original cohort.
Who You Are:
- You are a declared or proposed major or minor in a department in the Humanities Division and are in good academic standing. If your major or minor is proposed, you can declare by the end of the academic year in June. [strict eligibility requirement]
- Eligible majors: Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism, Classical Studies, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Feminist Studies, History, Jewish Studies, Language Studies, Linguistics, Literature, Philosophy, Spanish Studies
- Eligible minors: Black Studies, Classical Studies, East Asian Studies, History of Consciousness, History, Italian Studies, Jewish Studies, Language Studies, Linguistics, Literature, Middle Eastern and North African Studies, Philosophy, Spanish Studies
- You have work authorization. [strict requirement]
- You will be enrolled through the entire length of the position. [strict requirement]
- Interest in interdisciplinary research related to ecology, botany, history, and/or racial justice.
- You’re willing to engage deeply with archival research, including reading historical documents and analyzing colonial records.
- You have strong reading and analytical skills, with a willingness to read substantial amounts of historical and scholarly material.
- You can work independently and collaboratively in an interdisciplinary research setting.
- You’re committed to exploring marginalized histories and engaging with questions of race, sexuality, and subsistence within plantation economies.
- You have strong organizational skills for managing archival materials and corresponding with faculty and librarians.
A bonus if you have:
- Interest in or experience with critical race and ethnic studies (CRES); students who have taken Introduction to CRES will be well-prepared for the project.
- Academic background or personal experience in ecology, botany, gardening, or farming.
- Experience with archival research or an eagerness to learn methodologies for working with historical documents.
- Language proficiency in Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, and/or French, with an interest in translation work.
- Familiarity with or willingness to learn website maintenance for public-facing research dissemination.
- If working on the project about Palestinian water, some familiarity with video editing software
- Interest in public history, community engagement, and/or digital humanities projects.
- Enthusiasm for collaborative, project-based work, including potential involvement in creating a campus garden inspired by historical subsistence practices.
- First-generation college students and underrepresented minorities are especially encouraged to apply!
Position Term: Spring 2025-Spring 2026
Hours: 10 hours/week
Compensation: $20/hour
# Positions Available: 4
Mentorship: You will work closely with and report to Professor M.Ty. They will delegate tasks, review your work, provide coaching, and help you understand professional research. You will meet to check in at least once per week
Apply By Submitting
- Your updated resume
- A short cover letter (no more than one page) answering these questions: Why are you interested in this position? How does your academic expertise and skillset prepare you for this role? What are you hoping to gain from this opportunity? Please indicate which of the two projects you’re interested in applying for.
REVIEW these resume and cover letter resources to ensure you are a strong candidate! For application help, see Humanities Career Engagement .
- Address your cover letter to Professor M. Ty,
Once the application window closes, there will be an interview process with top candidates. This job is expected to start the week of March 31, 2025.
Please contact the EXPLORE Program coordinator, Kylie Rachwalski, at hum-experiential-learning@ucsc.edu with any questions.
The Mellon Foundation, The Helen and Will Webster Foundation, The Humanities Institute, and the UCSC Humanities Division generously support the Humanities EXPLORE Program.
