Expose the question, the answer hides.
–James Baldwin, “The Creative Process,” 1962
The Inaugural Baltimore Field School, June 21 – 25, 2021
Theme: Community Control of Land, Community Control of Stories
How can scholars and university students support land sovereignty and the collective community power of neighborhoods in Baltimore? What have universities done in the past and what can they do better in the future? How might cultural documentation projects produce actionable information with communities? How can public arts and humanities projects work with and support community-driven work? What are the ethics of informed consent and how money works in research and teaching, from ownership to honorarium payments? How can we seek clarity and demand information the public has a right to know from the City of Baltimore, developers, and our own universities? How can the rich history, culture, and beauty of Baltimore be amplified and celebrated? How can we collectively build a community of the question?
What is the Baltimore Field School summer institute?
The Baltimore Field School is a planning intensive focusing on building collaborative public humanities projects developed with community partners. Sponsored by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the project seeks to create a model of ethical humanities research and teaching in Baltimore and cities like it. During 2021, we will focus on programming, a week-long summer institute, and a fall convening. The Baltimore Field School is committed to anti-racist and decolonial models of engagement working with communities in Baltimore.
When is it? Where is it?
The week of June 21 – 25, 2021 based out of the UMBC downtown classroom at the Lion Brothers Building in Southwest Baltimore. We will have hybrid programming, involving virtual talks and work in the field.
Why are we doing it?
To develop anti-racist and decolonial models of engagement working with communities in Baltimore. As UMBC has expressed a deeper commitment to community engaged work and honoring this work in Promotion and Tenure for faculty, we want to think through methods and ethics of public humanities work with communities and scholars across the region.
What’s next?
Who knows? Fellows and participants in the summer institute will develop ideas for fall programming and future public humanities courses based on the ethics of community control of land and stories with the potential for further collaborations, projects, and joint ventures. We strive for next steps to organically arise from conversations based on the guiding questions of the inaugural Baltimore Field School.
Who are our foundational community planning partners?
Eric Jackson of Black Yield Institute and Curtis Eaddy of the Stories from Sowebo project of the Southwest Partnership and the Beautiful Side of Ugly cultural festival.
March 10 there were two events that address the themes of Community Control of Land, Community Control of Stories hosted virtually in Baltimore.
The A Place Called Poppleton project documents the history and culture of the Poppleton neighborhood of Southwest Baltimore. UMBC students will produce a StoryMap digital walking tour of the neighborhood with a focus on the area’s African American history and places lost or endangered due to redevelopment. We seek to document and share engaging stories of the past and present through archival research and listening to those who live, work, and are connected to Poppleton. Check out the slides from the presentation of work plan for feedback.
Black Yield Institute and Farm Alliance of Baltimore published a report entitled Community Control of Land: The People’s Demands for Land Reparations in Baltimore. “Our organizations have teamed up on this project in order to accomplish a historic feat. Our aim is to set a new normal for how people-centered policy change can occur. Our universal goal is land reparations that prioritizes Black people and communities in the pursuit of expanding urban agriculture and moving toward food sovereignty in our city.”
Read the full report here.
Read the one-pager here.
If you missed the public meeting on March 10, please feel free to view the recording and engage with the content by subscribing to Black Yield Institute on Youtube .