The CHR aims to open up humanities scholarship to general audiences, beyond the academic community, by sponsoring public-facing research projects. In the process, CHR promotes a version of intellectual collaboration premised on the idea that lively exchange and debate, across disciplinary boundaries, is crucial for knowledge production and that these collective exchanges fertilize and enrich individual research projects.
The Center expands the work of knowledge production beyond the realm of academia. At CHR, we continuously develop relationships with humanities-oriented local community organizations, centers, and sites, as well as state and federal humanities institutions across the DMV region. Through these partnerships, we week to foster mutually productive public humanities projects while providing transformative research opportunities for Mason students.
Ultimately, we hope to demonstrate that research in the humanities is, by definition, “engaged scholarship” playing a crucial role in addressing society’s most pressing social, civic, political, and ethical challenges, including immigration and nationalism, the ethics of science and technology, and the persistence of inequalities rooted in class, race, gender and ability.