We are excited to announce that The Future of the Past Lab and the Center for Premodern Studies have secured an Interdisciplinary Collaborative Workshop Grant through the College of Liberal Arts that will fund a new series of visiting fellowships titled: Exploring the Assumptions of Cultural History. With these fellowships, FoP and CPS hope to foster discussion about the ways in which the study of ancient and premodern cultural history has adopted (often unconsciously) western categories, premises, and practice and how we can move forward in a way that both approaches the study of ancient cultures more inclusively and better understands the contexts we study.  The series will feature 10 week-long visiting fellowships over the course of three academic years (2024-25 through 2026-27) that will bring scholars to the Twin Cities, where they will present their work, engage in discussion, and utilize UMN’s resources to advance their projects. In the third year of the series, fellows will return to UMN for a conference to discuss the findings of the series; papers from this conference will be published on an open access format. We will welcome especially applications from fellows who represent a diversity of backgrounds and experiences, especially those that have been historically underrepresented in American academia, as well as applications from potential fellows who work in institutions and environments that do not have access to the resources available at an R1 institution. More details will be provided in forthcoming call for fellowship applicants.

Meet our first two fellows for Fall 2024!