ACLS Names 2023 Luce/ACLS Collaborative Programming Grantees in Religion, Journalism, and International Affairs
The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is pleased to announce the recipients of the Luce/ACLS Collaborative Programming Grants in Religion, Journalism & International Affairs for 2023.
The grants, made possible by the Henry Luce Foundation, support cross-disciplinary projects hosted by US colleges and universities that connect scholars of religion with journalists and media outlets to deepen public knowledge about world religions. Each team will receive $45,000 for their projects.
“ACLS is proud to advance work that not only creates new knowledge but considers how it can and should circulate in society,” said John Paul Christy, ACLS Senior Director of US Programs. “By fostering connections across the academic and media spheres, Luce/ACLS grantees are creating the conditions for a broader understanding of the many roles religion plays in public life around the world.”
The 2023 awardees are:
Muslims in the Media: Empowering Youth Engagement through Global Perspectives (Arizona State University, host)
This project advances public understanding of Muslims and Islam to overcome gaps in journalists’ knowledge of Muslim lived experiences; to amplify the voices of Muslim youth as active and creative cultural agents and knowledge producers; and to connect students from the United States, India, and Sweden to produce stories that address Islamophobia. The project will bring together a team of journalism and humanities faculty from Arizona State University, Aligarh Muslim University in India, and the Institute of Multiculturality and Secularity at Södertörns University in Sweden through two intensive workshops. The team will also produce a media toolkit focused on Muslim lived experiences across the three countries.
Project leads: Chad Haines, Co-Director, Center of Muslim Experience in the United States and Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Arizona State University; Syed Ali Hussain, College of Communication, University of Sharjah; Yasmin Saikia, Co-Director, Center of Muslim Experience in the United States and Professor of History, Arizona State University.
The Sacred Writes Extended Fellowship Program for Untenured Scholars (Northeastern University, host)
Since 2018, Sacred Writes has trained more than 90 scholars to collaborate with the media, producing more than 400 pieces of award-winning public scholarship. The Extended Fellowship Program leverages the most effective components of the public scholarship training into a new six-month program for untenured scholars consisting of an in-person intensive training, additional online programming with a series of editors, and one-on-one writing coaching and editorial feedback.
Project leads: Elizabeth (Liz) Bucar, Director, Sacred Writes and Professor of Religion, Northeastern University; Jeb Sharp, Associate Teaching Professor of Journalism, Northeastern University; Brook Wilensky-Lanford, Associate Director, Sacred Writes.
Learn more about these and past awarded projects.
Since 2016, ACLS has partnered with the Henry Luce Foundation in support of innovative scholarship on religion designed to better equip journalists in covering urgent issues around the world. These projects demonstrate the importance and value of direct engagement between humanistic scholars and audiences beyond the academy.
Learn more about the Luce/ACLS Program in Religion, Journalism & International Affairs and additional ACLS programs for scholars in the humanities and interpretive social sciences.