We propose an ACM Planning Meeting on Mississippi Studies to build faculty interest and develop infrastructure on Mississippi Studies, a new research initiative to encourage intercollegiate collaboration on publicly engaged projects that center on the Mississippi River watershed and its inhabitants. The goal of Mississippi Studies is to re-imagine the river and its tributaries as a coherent cultural and research corridor and foster new ways of thinking about its shared environment, its heritage, and its rich role in the history of the United States. Mississippi Studies will have a direct role in faculty career enhancement by creating off-campus opportunities for faculty to work with colleagues at other ACM colleges and cultural and scientific institutions in this region.
The long-term objective of the Mississippi Studies initiative is the creation of the Mississippi River Research Barge, a floating cultural and scientific research platform that travels the length of the river promoting translocal collaborations. The vision is to establish a research environment that encourages faculty working in close proximity to each other to integrate scientific research with the arts, humanities and social sciences. Participants of the ACM Planning Meeting on Mississippi Studies will conceptualize this project in anticipation of its realization.
More info: http://mississippistudies.org/
