Funded Grand Challenges Pathways

Forty-five faculty members from 19 different departments and every division of the college have received funding for 15 Grand Challenges projects that included more than 100 courses.

Funded Pathways: Teams and Descriptions

The Empire Writes Back: Narratives of Imperialism in India and Anglophone Africa

ERNEST COLE (English) and ANNIE DANDAVATI (Political Science)

Two new courses — English 234, Modern Global Literature: Resistance to British Imperialism in Sub-Saharan Anglophone Africa (CH2) and Political Science 110, Topics in Political Science: Reel Politics through Film (SS2) — will focus on the changing trends in the phases of colonialism from the colonial enterprise to the post-independence or post-colonial era, with particular reference to the resistance to colonialism leading to the establishment of independent nation states. The courses will focus on the representation of British imperialism from two perspectives: the literature of Anglophone Africa, specifically Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya; and the political and educational systems in India. Through a comparative analysis of British imperialism in both geographical spaces by an examination of readings and films, the courses will explore parallels and contrasts in the approaches to and implementation of British imperialism. This approach will allow students to draw both specific and general claims pertaining to the exploitation and destruction of indigenous societies and the overthrow of foreign domination. Theoretical constructs that deconstruct power and hegemony and facilitate the project of writing back to empire will also be studied through novels and films. Both courses will begin in fall 2018.

Technology and Society

MATT DEJONGH (Computer Science), CURTIS GRUENLER (English), John Krupczak (Engineering), Jesus Montaño (English)

As the power of technology grows and we become more deeply connected to it, thinking critically and imaginatively about the social impacts of technology becomes more and more important. This collaboration will strengthen and connect the attention given to questions of technology and society in four introductory, general education courses: Introduction to Engineering (ENGS 100, NSL), Software Design and Implementation (CSCI 125, NSL), Expository Writing: Technology and Society (ENGL 113, EW) and Expository Writing: Secrets of the Universe (ENGL 113, EW). These gateway courses to majors in engineering and computer science as well as to college writing will build a foundation for continued reflection on issues of technology and society throughout students’ careers. This collaboration will also include a series of speakers on technology and society open to the whole community.

Women's Search for Justice, Equality and Solidarity

MARIA CLAUDIA ANDRÉ (World Languages and Cultures), ANNIE DANDAVATI (Political Science)

Challenging the European/colonial viewpoint that tends to erase the differences between women within and across nations, Political Science/Women's and Gender Studies 110: Women in a Global Society (SS2) and Spanish 495: Gender Politics: Women’s Agency and Activism in Latin America (both beginning in fall 2018) will examine transnational feminisms and gender issues from an interdisciplinary perspective and provide a foundation for women and gender studies, international studies, peace studies and ethnic studies. Like several other Grand Challenges courses, these will address the search for equality, social justice, peacemaking and reconciliation. In addition, students will learn how most of the feminist and social movements led by women rely on visual arts, music, performance and literature as tools to “depoliticize politics” and challenge traditional power structures.

Environmental Sustainability in the 21st Century

BRIAN BODENBENDER (Geology and Environmental Sciences), STEVE BOUMA-PREDIGER (Religion), STEVE MCMULLEN (Economics and Business)

Four new and revised courses — Introduction to Environmental Science (GES 130, NSL), Principles of Macroeconomics (ECON 211, SS1), Earth and Ethics (REL 100, RL1) and Environmental Philosophy (ENVR 377) — will increase student engagement with environmental sustainability by incorporating it more intentionally into a greater variety of courses and demonstrating its relevance across a variety of disciplines. These courses will provide a coherent, sustainability-focused theme within the General Education program and enrich the Environmental Science and the Environmental Studies programs, especially by adding new gateway courses. They will use activities that draw from multiple disciplines and can be shared across courses to better educate students about environmental sustainability. 

South Africa: History, Conflict and Justice

DEIRDRE JOHNSTON (Communications), LAUREN JANES (History)

This interdivisional collaboration involves interdisciplinary work and engaged learning about apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa in History 321: Making of Modern Africa and Communication 395: Narratives of Peace, Conflict & Justice in Post-Apartheid South Africa. Communication students will gain greater understanding of how the modern history of Africa has shaped political and social struggles in South Africa. History students will gain greater understanding of the processes of identity, memory, forgiveness and reconciliation in peacebuilding in South Africa. Students will interact across the two courses through experiential learning opportunities including a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) simulation activity. They will prepare for, travel to and participate together in a one-day GLCA workshop at Wabash College on “South Africa Protest Movements and Parallels with US.” Finally, students will share their research presentations across courses at the end of the semester.

Transforming Lives and Communities through Art

Tori Pelz (Art), TEMPLE SMITH (Sociology), DEBORAH STURTEVANT (Social Work)

Students in three courses — Art 114: Basic Drawing (FA2), Sociology 101: Introduction to Sociology (SS1) and Social Work 401: Social Interventions III (Communities and Organizations) — will explore together how community-based art initiatives serve as a platform to address economic disparity. Sociological theories of economic vulnerability that generate cyclic economic disadvantage will sharpen the development and consumption of art. Drawing students will work alongside community members of economically vulnerable populations to foster social awareness, public engagement and reflection. Students of social work will examine practices that aim to remedy disadvantage through generating resources at the micro, mezzo and macro levels and to influence planning and policies. Courses are planned for fall 2017.

Engaging Africa and its Diaspora: Recognizing Power, Pursuing Reconciliation

VIRGINIA PARISH BEARD (Political Science, Women’s and Gender Studies), KENDRA R. PARKER (English, Women’s and Gender Studies)

Two linked courses offered in spring 2018 — Political Science 305: African Politics and Interdisciplinary Studies 172 (CH2): Africana Womanism: Origins, Legacies — will study Africa’s histories and the contemporary political, economic and cultural realities of Africa and the African diaspora. Recognizing how power contributes to the systematic exploitation, oppression and dehumanization that African peoples experience will give students a better understanding of the challenges to restorative reconciliation faced by Africana people around the world, at both local and national levels. Understanding imperialism, colonization, political instability, economic uncertainty and the spread of infectious diseases (among other oppressions) will help students better understand how such challenges to human flourishing are encountered by people around the world and in their local communities. Misuses of power have caused conflict, suffering and divisions that are in deep need of restoration and renewal. Recognizing such oppressions is foundational to the work of reconciliation at every level, which students will have opportunities to explore and to present in research-based final projects.

Sport and Values

CHAD CARLSON (Kinesiology), ANDREW DELL'OLIO (Philosophy), Stephen Maiullo (World Languages and Cultures), Pablo Peschiera (English)

Four new and revised courses examine the tensions between sport and ethical and moral values, especially the power of sport to build, maintain and restore community and social norms even as corruption, greed and immorality undermines the same norms. Sport in the Ancient World (IDS 171, CH1), Sport in the Modern World (IDS 172, CH2) and Sports in Society (KIN 2017, SS2) will examine the development of sport, how it interacts with philosophy, literature, history and the social sciences, and what that tells us about ourselves in our everyday lives. Developed by the Greeks and adopted by the Romans, sport became part of the Christian world, but always contained deep tensions and contradictions. Ancient culture valued personal glory, success in war, physical beauty, political ambition and at times violent spectacles. Christianity, on the other hand, condemned ambition and pride and prized compassion, forgiveness and love of one’s enemies. In the modern world, the rise of capitalism, Calvinism and the Enlightenment redefined freedom in terms of the individual, property ownership and productivity. New initiatives in the modern world — such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, Civil Rights and Title IX — have reshaped questions about freedom, duty and access in sports. These courses aim to help students deepen their understanding of the historical, philosophical and moral influences of sport on society and society on sport.

The fourth course, World Philosophies I – Sport as Moral Self-Cultivation, East and West (PHIL 237, CH1/GLI), adds a global perspective to the pathway by including both Western and Eastern traditions of philosophy and bodily disciplines. The course introduces philosophy in a global context through the lenses of sport, broadly construed to include martial arts, yoga and swordsmanship. The course aims to explore the connection between training in philosophy and sport in the ancient world, East and West, as it considers the ways the philosophical teachings were embodied in physical disciplines and the ways these disciplines influenced training in philosophy.  A unique feature of this course is that students will be taught to do tai chi chuan throughout the semester as a special form of experiential learning.

The Power of Immigration and Acculturation Narratives to Cross Borders and Build Bridges

Jesse Montaño (English), REGAN POSTMA-MONTANO (World Languages and Cultures), DEBORAH VAN DUINEN (Education)

Three courses — Encounter with Cultures (IDS 200, GLD), Senior Seminar: Between the World and You (IDS 495, SRS) and Spanish for Social Justice (SPAN 122, FL2) — will explore the vital educational effects of crossing borders, both across and within cultures. Border-crossing generates the dissonance of cultural adjustments but also builds bridges and connections. Looking at and listening to the borders people within our community have to cross on a daily basis (mental, emotional, cultural, racial, socioeconomic, academic) teaches the bridge-building skills of perspective, understanding and empathy. By looking at common texts through different disciplines, students will learn that knowledge is multivalent, best seen through different lenses. They will discover the power of the liberal arts at the intersection of multiple disciplines. By analyzing the composition of narratives — from the elemental parts of storytelling and how they reflect culture, to what cultural ingredients are used, even to ways of speaking and the places where it takes place — students will better understand the immersive power of listening and storytelling. These courses build toward action, empowering students to respond to issues of immigration and acculturation in our society, our community, and our college.

Imagining Peace

Pamela Koch (Sociology), JEANNE PETIT (History), REGAN POSTMA-MONTAÑO (English/World Languages and Cultures)

Three linked courses explore peace movements from an interdisciplinary perspective and provide a foundation for the Peace and Justice minor. Two courses, a thematic version of Sociology 101: Introduction to Sociology and Social Problems (SS1, GLD) and History 200: Peace Movements in the 20th-century United States, integrate sociological theories and historical analysis. As C. Wright Mills showed in his seminal Sociological Imagination, one needs to understand personal experience within the context of the social experience of the era in which one lived. Students in both courses will create a website that presents sociological and historical analysis of peace movement pioneers and activists and have an opportunity to apply for a summer research project that explores peacemakers who emerged from Hope College and Holland, Michigan. Overall, these linked classes will model an interdisciplinary approach to an urgent topic of study and provide students with tools to understand current movements like Black Lives Matter and the North Dakota Access Pipeline protests.

The third course, Interdisciplinary Studies 172: Peace and Justice in the Hemispheric Americas (CH2), will invite students to investigate particular moments of injustice in the 19^th-21^st centuries Americas and how social activism, literature, faith, and the arts have been used in peaceful response. By learning about tactics for peace/justice utilized in a variety of historical and contemporary contexts in Latin/o America, students will consider how these might be deployed in the service of peace in present contexts. Students will also have the opportunity to apply for a summer research project on Latinx peace and justice in the local community.  

The Healing of Memories in Post-Conflict Societies

ERNEST COLE (English), DEIRDRE JOHNSTON (Communication)

Two courses will address traumatic memory in post-conflict situations in contexts of healing and reconciliation using war narratives from Sierra Leone and testimonies of witnesses to atrocities in South Africa. The narratives in both courses share a focus on the health of society, individually and collectively, after a period of carnage. Understanding of post-traumatic stress disorders provides a discursive praxis to engage mental health and healing. The courses will use novels and memoirs of post-conflict trauma in tandem with communication theory and social science research on narrative healing and reconciliation to explore PTSD as a grand challenge to achieving social-political stability after individual and national traumas.  The Healing of Memories in Post-Conflict Societies will be explored in English 234: Modern Global Literatures (CH2, GLI) and Communication 395: Special Topics in Communication in fall 2017. 

Nations, Citizens, and Outsiders: Paris Stories

Principal recipients: LAUREN JANES (History), HEIDI KRAUS (Art history), NATALIE DYKSTRA (English)

supporting collaborators: MARISSA DOSHI (Communication), CHUCK GREEN (Psychology), Pauline Remy (French)

Paris Stories website 

Six new and revised courses focused on the city of Paris will examine national identity and the role of so-called “outsiders” — immigrants, people of color, women, travelers, expatriates — in the formation and maintenance of that identity, using the disciplines, texts and stories of history, literature, art, psychology and communication. Courses include:

• ART 241 Modern Art and Architecture (FA1)
  
• COMM 151 Media and Society in the World (SS2, GLI)
  
• ENGL 371 American Writers in Paris
• IDS 100 First-Year Seminar: Defining Nations, Shaping a City (FYS)
  
• IDS 172 Cultural Heritage II: Defining Nations, Shaping a City (CH2)
  
• IDS 495 Senior Seminar: Identity and Inclusion (SRS)
  

On the weekend after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Anne-Marie Slaughter, president and CEO of New America, described his inaugural speech as an announcement of a “global nationalist movement,” in which he celebrated a “resurgence of nationalism against globalism.” As nationalism takes center stage in American politics and grows in importance around the world, we seek to examine the historic development of nationalism and the meaning of citizenship. We will focus our studies on the city of Paris: heart of the French Revolution; birthplace of universalism; capital of a global imperial power; Catholic by tradition, secular by law and largely Muslim in practice; a cosmopolitan city home to people from around the world, where women were denied suffrage until 1945; refuge for writers and artists seeking intellectual and cultural freedom; a place where citizens of North African heritage are largely segregated to the outskirts of the city; and a population targeted for terrorist attacks. As we examine the complexity of French national identity and the place of “outsiders” in the French nation through history, literature, art, psychology and communication, we will gain insight into the questions we wrestle with in the American context. Who is American; who belongs; what do we believe in; how do we make meaning; how do we make change? Sometimes it helps to examine another community to better understand our own. In asking these questions, we hope students develop a richer appreciation of themselves: their faith commitments, their role as citizens of a nation and their obligations in a global community.

Building Meaningful Connection across Cultural Divides

MICHELLE BOMBE (Theatre), JOANNE STEWART (Chemistry), ELIZABETH TREMBLEY (English)

Headlines caution that Americans are more divided than ever. Research across disciplines indicates that a failure of empathy underlies this fragmentation. How can higher education help heal this divide?  The best way to build meaningful connection, according to many experts, is through story — listening to the stories of others, telling our own stories and sharing these stories with others. Building Meaningful Connection across Cultural Divides involves courses in three divisions: Interdisciplinary Studies 100 (First-Year Seminar): Telling Our Stories, English 253: Introduction to Creative Writing (FA2), and General Education Math & Science 295: Abrupt Climate Change (NS2). Through performance, literary genre and contentious concepts, students in these courses will explore human difference to strengthen their empathetic muscles. Each of the three courses will use its particular disciplinary approach to look into controversial issues and what motivates people to position themselves on different sides. The Abrupt Climate Change students will collect stories throughout the semester of people around the world who have been impacted by climate change. They will explore their own beliefs about the natural world through a scaffolded poetry assignment adapted from the Introduction to Creative Writing course. The Telling Our Stories students will work with narrative collection, improvisation and acting exercises to develop curiosity and understanding of the language of physical and verbal communication. The Introduction to Creative Writing students will focus their study of poetry and narrative through the lens of climate change and other divisive issues. They will collaborate to create a script for performance by the Telling Our Stories students. Ultimately the art of both acting and creative writing lies in understanding in such depth another person’s story that one can communicate that story to others. By connecting these skills to the issue of climate change we will guide students to understand how artful empathy can help them build meaningful connections across cultural divides and lead to respect and collaboration in future problem-solving.

Going Global, Starting Local: Disability in Contemporary Societies

Principal recipients: WEI YU WAYNE TAN (History), DENNIS FEASTER (Social Work), ALYSSA CHEADLE (Psychology), JARED ORTIZ (Religion), CHRISTIANA SALAH (English)

Supporting collaborators: MELISSA BOUWS (Nursing), NATALIE DYKSTRA (English)

Six new and revised courses focused on disability and framed by broader discourses of health will address the relationship between disability and society and explore how this holistic understanding of disability is crucial to our identities as local community leaders and global citizens.

Disability affects all of us at some point. According to the World Health Organization’s most recent 2015 estimates, over a billion people of the world’s population experience some form of disability. By thinking about disability as a global challenge and, at the same time, as an issue of urgency for our local communities, this project proposes to uncover the significance of disability in our lives in global and local contexts. Informed by the goals of theoretical and experiential learning, the interdivisional project team combines the latest research on the historical constructs of disability in contemporary societies with fieldwork findings from social workers and health practitioners. New and revised courses include two General Education IDS 172 (CH2) courses (Cultural Heritage II: History, Literature, Philosophy), "Disability in Modern Societies" and "Challenging Bodies: Disability, Gender & Culture," and more specialized courses with a focus on disability: Social Work 295: Disability and Community; Psychology 420: Health Psychology; Nursing 385: Gerontological Theory and Practice; and Religion 295: Theology of the Human Person (RL2). This range of courses, individually and together, will introduce to students to the rich fields of interdisciplinary scholarship on disability and allow students to find new perspectives for themselves through hands-on work and to embody Christian values in caring for our communities.

Immigration Stories

BERTA CARRASCO (Spanish), ROGER NEMETH (Sociology), Pablo Peschiera (English), DEBRA SWANSON (Sociology)

Immigration is a hot button topic in the media. Much of that attention, however, focuses on the negative aspects of immigration while ignoring the personal stories of strength and industry in individual immigrants, the history of immigration and the identity struggles of immigrant families. This pathway gives students the opportunity to delve deeper through a series of courses on the theme of immigration. First, two identical sections of First Year Seminar (IDS 100, FYS), one section taught in Spanish (Carrasco) and one section taught in English (Swanson), explore immigration and immigrant stories. Students in these classes will collaborate on assignments, projects and field trips. Second, several other courses will be revised to include “immigration” teaching components or modules: a course in Race and Ethnic Relations (SOC 269, SS2/GLD) and a course in Environmental Sociology (SOC 395); a Poetry Workshop (ENGL 155, FA2) in English; and a course offered in Spanish for Heritage Speakers (SPAN 295). Third, a Border studies May term will be offered May 2019, followed by two summer research projects that will take place in Tucson, Arizona, and at Hope College.

Funded Projects: Summer Collaborative Research

Exploring British Colonialism in Selected Novels from Anglophone Africa and India2019

ERNEST COLE (English), ANNIE DANDAVATI (Political Science)

This summer student-faculty collaborative project is an extension of English 234, “Literature and Empire: The Empire Writes Back,” funded by a Grand Challenges grant, taught in fall 2018 and repeated in spring 2019. Two students from the course, Ernesta Cole and Jordan Powers, will explore and problematize new perspectives and theoretical conceptions in the teaching and design of this course in future. The project specifically focuses on collection of materials and their analysis in ways that reflect not only students’ educational experiences and engagement with the course but will also deepen their understanding of the relationships between former British colonies and post-modern Western societies by addressing cultural stereotypes, redefining ‘Third World’ subjectivities and rethinking diversity/otherness in the context of minority discourse. Students will write annotated bibliographies of peer-reviewed articles and plot summaries of post-colonial novels and will create a webpage repository of fully-searchable online data for access by students and faculty.

Religiousness, Spirituality and Health in Post-Polio Patients2019

ALYSSA CHEADLE (Psychology), JARED ORTIZ (Religion)

Extending from the Grand Challenges pathway “Going Global, Starting Local: Disability in Contemporary Society,” student Kimberly Paquette will work with us to build on research that has shown beneficial associations of religiousness and spirituality with health by examining associations of religiousness and spirituality with disability. First, we will conduct an interdisciplinary literature review of the theorized and empirical associations of religiousness, spirituality and disability. Second, we will test these associations in a sample of post-polio patients. We will examine associations of religiousness and spirituality with general physical and mental health as well as polio complications and late effects. Additionally, we will examine whether other positive psychosocial resources, like optimism and forgivingness, mediate any associations we observe. This study will be an important advance in the field of religion and health which has largely ignored disability as health-relevant.

Augustine on the Body and Disability2019

JARED ORTIZ (Religion)

This research is an extension of the new course “Theology of the Human Person,” part of the “Going Global, Starting Local: Disability in Contemporary Society” pathway.  To develop this course, I read broadly in the field of contemporary theological anthropology and the theology of disability. This project returns to my area of expertise, Augustine. My research this summer will focus on his magnum opus et arduum, the City of God, a book where Augustine gives a systematic account of Christianity, including an extensive treatment of the creation of human beings, the consequences of fall, and the redemption and resurrection of the body. While not a book exclusively about the body and disability, the City of God treats these topics in many places in the context of his broader theology. Contemporary theologians of disability have been critical of Augustine’s understanding of the body and disability, though their objections raise bigger questions about the meaning of what it means to be human. This summer, I will read the City of God with religion major, Abigail Nickles, in order to retrieve or “resource” Augustine’s contribution to these important questions.

Archive Stories at the American Library in Paris2019

Natalie Dykstra (English)

This research project, part of the Paris Stories pathway of the Grand Challenges Initiative, is in collaboration with the American Library in Paris (ALP), an institution located in the heart of the city and founded by the American Library Association in 1920. In summer 2018, Sarah Lundy, Michaela Stock and I worked in the ALP archives, focusing on the rare books in the library’s special collections. Sarah and Michaela wrote a detailed finding aid on the books owned and donated to the library by the influential musician/composer Nadia Boulanger (1887–1979). Their document, which describes each book’s provenance, markings and signatures, is now used by the ALP as both an internal record and as a link on the library’s website for patrons. The students also designed and built a multi-page website, Archive Stories, which is a record of their work and a digital frame for future projects at the library. My goal has been twofold — to provide hands-on, rigorous research experiences for students in an international context; and to develop an on-going institutional relationship with the ALP for future teams of faculty, librarians and students.  Our first summer was a success, as measured by the quality of the work by the students, the overwhelmingly positive response of the library staff and the students’ testimony about how their time in Paris has shaped their education. I return to Paris in May 2019 with a second team of students: Aine O’Connor and Hannah Jones. Kelly Jacobsma, director of Hope Libraries, will join our team to lend her expertise to our work and to consult with the ALP staff. This project is also documented on Twitter at @GCParisStories and in a recent college Stories of Hope.

Immigration Stories2019

BERTA CARRASCO (Spanish), DEBRA SWANSON (Sociology)

This summer, together with student Maggie Houseman, we will be researching the history of Latino immigration to the Midwest in general and Holland in particular. With a population consisting of 38% Latinos in Holland, we are surprised by the scarcity of primary sources that studies this phenomenon. Through this research we want to answer fundamental questions: When did they arrive? What was attractive about Holland? What kind of jobs did they have? What is the situation today? Besides traditional-analytical research, we will be conducting interviews to Latino leaders in the Holland area and visiting different locations where the history of Latino immigration is kept. This project is an extension of an already funded Grand Challenge project by which we created a new first year seminar (FYS) titled “Immigration Stories.” This FYS has already been taught twice. Through this summer grant, we hope to add this new information into this course for future iteration.

The Art of Translanguaging2019

Jesus Montaño (English), REGAN POSTMA-MONTAÑO (Spanish/English), DEBORAH VAN DUINEN (Education)

This summer project grows out of “The Power of Immigration and Acculturation Narratives to Cross Borders and Build Bridges” pathway. Translanguaging is an emerging field of study that investigates the ways Latinx people utilize English and Spanish to create a new language — a third language that showcases transcultural lived experience. This project examines works by Latinx authors who creatively translanguage in children’s and young adult texts and thus articulate identity via language use for themselves and for their young Latinx readers. Over the course of six weeks, student Sarah Herrera, supported by the three pathway faculty, will analyze translanguaging in contemporary Latinx texts for young readers. The results of this study will be developed in a scholarly essay and disseminated via submissions to an undergraduate research journal and to an undergraduate research paper award. Additionally, Sarah will share her research at an academic conference and an undergraduate research poster presentation.

Imagining Peace2018

Pam Koch (Sociology) and JEANNE PETIT (History)

This project, an extension of the Imagining Peace pathway of the Grand Challenges Initiative, consisted of two main goals. First, students Halla Maas and Olivia Brickley, both of whom are minors in the Peace and Justice program, completed research on the history and social context of Hope College during the Vietnam War Era. The students spent four weeks exploring the Holland Joint Archives, examining newspaper, yearbook, letters and other manuscript records. They also did an oral history interview with Dr. Donald Luidens, who was a Hope student from 1965–1969 and a leader in student protest. Through these sources, the students examined both anti-Vietnam War protests as well as other social movements and protests that emerged during that time, such as the Civil Rights movement and the emergence of feminism. They created a web exhibit titled “Hope College and the Vietnam War” with essays, images and the oral history. Second, Prof. Koch created a larger “Imagining Peace” website, which will host the student exhibit. Koch and Petit also downloaded material from other peace studies classes, and the website will serve as a repository for future courses and projects that are part of the Imagining Peace pathway.

Gen-narratives of Conflict, Peace and Justice in Post-apartheid South Africa2018

DEIRDRE JOHNSTON (COMMUNICATION), ROGER NEMETH (SOCIOLOGY)

Building on the spring 2018 Mellon Pathway — connecting Communication 395: Narratives of Post-Apartheid South Africa and History 321: Modern Africa — and the fall 2017 Mellon Pathway — connecting Communication 395: Narratives of Healing Trauma in Post-Conflict Societies and English 234: Global Literature — six Hope College students will join six students from Slovakia and Pakistan to conduct oral history research in South Africa in June 2018 for 17 days. This oral history project will explore: How do “gen-narratives” (generational narratives) help us understand the perceptual changes necessary for post-conflict recovery, maintenance of peace and reconciliation? And, how do gen-narratives help us understand the processes and meanings of political participation and political radicalization in post-apartheid South Africa? 

Participants for the project will represent four generational groups, defined by the political and social events defining the historical period of the time they came of age and entered adulthood: the Born Frees (20- to 30-year-olds born into an apartheid-free South Africa), the Rainbows (40- to 50-year-olds who came of age during transition), the Soweto Uprisings (50- to 60-year-olds who came of age during anti-apartheid conflict and came to adulthood under transition), and the Sharpevilles (70-year-olds who came of age during the Sharpeville Massacre that marked the change in the anti-apartheid movement from non-violence to militarization). The sample will be ethnically stratified, representing Afrikaner, Black, Indian and Colored identities in South Africa. Participants will be asked to tell their apartheid story and their post-apartheid story, and the narrative transcripts will be analyzed using various narrative tools from history, communication studies, political science, sociology and radicalization studies.

This will be a truly multi-disciplinary, multi-national and multi-cultural research project that will enrich the cultural interaction, international knowledge and research perspectives and methodologies of faculty and students alike. This type of investigation will yield new insights into the level of progress in reconciliation, the level of support for social democracy, and the prevalence of new narratives to replace cultural narratives of violence, radicalization and otherness.

Summary of Divisions, Departments and Faculty Members

• Fine Arts: Theatre (Bombe), Art and Art History (Kraus, Pelz)
• Humanities: English (Cole, Dykstra, Gruenler, Montaño, Parker, Peschiera, Salah, Trembley), History (Janes, Petit, Tan), World Languages and Cultures (André, Carrasco, Maiullo, Postma-Montaño, Remy), Philosophy (Dell'Olio), Religion (Bouma-Prediger, Ortiz)
• Natural and Applied Sciences: Chemistry (Stewart), Computer Science (DeJongh), Engineering (Krupczak), Geology and Environmental Science (Bodenbender), Nursing (Bouws)
• Social Sciences: Communication (Doshi, Johnston), Economics and Business (McMullen), Education (Van Duinen), Kinesiology (Carlson), Political Science (Beard, Dandavati), Psychology (Cheadle, Green), Sociology and Social Work (Feaster, Koch, Nemeth, Smith, Sturtevant, Swanson)

 Summary of Courses Proposed

• ART 114 Basic Drawing
• ART 241 Modern Art and Architecture
• COMM 151 Media and Society in the World
• COMM 395 Healing in Post-Conflict Societies
• COMM 395 Narratives of Peace, Conflict & Justice
• CSCI 225 Software Design and Implementation
• ECON 211 Principles of Macroeconomics
• ENGL 113 Expository Writing: Technology and Society
• ENGL 234 Modern Global Literature: Resistance to British Imperialism in Sub-Saharan Anglophone Africa
• ENGL 253 Introduction to Creative Writing: Empathy and Narrative
• ENGL 371 American Writers in Paris
• ENGS 100 Introduction to Engineering
• ENVR 377 Environmental Philosophy
• GEMS 295 Abrupt Climate Change
• GES 130 Introduction to Environmental Science
• HIST 200 Peace Movements in the U.S.
• HIST 321 Making of Modern Africa
• IDS 100 First-Year Seminar: Immigration Stories
• IDS 100 First-Year Seminar: Telling Our Stories
• IDS 100 First-Year Seminar: Defining Nations, Shaping a City
• IDS 200 Encounter with Cultures
• IDS 171 Cultural Heritage I: Sports and the Ancient World
• IDS 172 Cultural Heritage II: Peace and Justice in the Hemispheric Americas
• IDS 172 Cultural Heritage II: Disability in Global Societies
• IDS 172 Cultural Heritage II: Challenging Bodies: Disability, Gender & Culture
• IDS 172 Cultural Heritage II: Defining Nations, Shaping a City
• IDS 172 Cultural Heritage II: Africana Womanism: Origins, Legacies
• IDS 172 Cultural Heritage II: Sports and the Modern World
• IDS 495 Senior Seminar: Between the World and You
• IDS 495 Senior Seminar: Identity and Inclusion
• KIN 207 Sports in Society
• NURS 385 Gerontological Theory and Practice
• PHIL 237 World Philosophies I: Sport as Moral Cultivation, East and West
• POL/WGS 110 Women in a Global Society
• POL 110 Reel Politics through Film
• POL 305 African Politics
• PSY 420 Health Psychology
• REL 100 Earth and Ethics
• REL 295 Theology of the Human Person
• SOC 101 Introduction to Sociology: Peace Movements
• SOC 101 Introduction to Sociology: Transforming Lives through Art
• SOC 269 Race and Ethnic Relations
• SOC 395 Environmental Sociology
• SPAN 122 Spanish II: Spanish for Social Justice
  
• SPAN 295 Spanish for Heritage Speakers
• SPAN 495 Gender Politics: Women’s Agency and Activism in Latin America
• SWK 295 Disability and Community
• SWK 401 Social Interventions III: Communities and Organizations