Jennifer Brier

    Email Address: jbrier@uic.edu
    College: Liberal Arts and Sciences Department: Gender and Women's Studies
    Secondary Department: History
    Title: Associate Professor
    Office: 1228UH Phone: 3-2458
    Webpage: http://historymoves.org
    Participating in the Chancellor’s Undergraduate Research Awards program: Yes

    Research Interest:
    I am currently leading a team of faculty and students (LAS and CADA) in a project to develop a mobile, community-based public history gallery. History Moves, as we call the project, works with neighborhood and community-based groups to develop their own historical sensibility through oral history and analysis of material culture. We then will work together to curate and produce a small history exhibition based on the findings (at first the exhibition will be online, but we hope to actually develop a plan to purchase and retrofit a bus or truck as a mobile and modular gallery).

    Our first community collaboration, in Spring 2012, was with the Immigrant Youth Justice League, we then worked with the Chicago Freedom School. Undergraduate researchers will need to be available to meet with the organization and the team on a regular basis.

    Minimum time commitment in hours per week: 6

    Qualifications of a Student:
    My researchers need to be well versed in the work of either feminism or social justice or both. I also would prefer a student who feels comfortable doing research in a range of humanist/social scientific disciplines. Creativity is a skill I also need in a student.

    Brief Summary of what is expected from the student:
    I enjoy working with students who are engaged in critical thinking and interested in pushing themselves (and me) in new directions. For this project, I would like to work with students who are interested in pushing the boundaries of what public history can and should look like as well as students who are interested in doing community-based work.

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