The Intersection of the Fellowship and my Life’s Work

by Professor Howard Feinstein, History and Political Science

Throughout a highly challenging 2021, the Smithsonian Faculty Fellowship consistently served as a welcome weekly ray of light. The interdisciplinary aspect of the cohort was particularly satisfying – with our own departments physically shut down, I came to rely on this group of colleagues for information, suggestions, and support. Fortunately, our SFF leaders understood this, and allowed us the necessary time ton process the unusual times and let the cohort create, to a great extent, its own agenda. No doubt: it was not just a weekly get-together, but an academic and emotional lifeline. The relationships we formed continue on!

My own Fellowship project was a continuation of my lifelong social justice activism. It was a true blessing to find that my fellowship colleagues, while coming from very disparate disciplines, shared this emphasis on racial and social justice. I have been busy writing and speaking on the general theme of how to recapture our prior optimism and cooperation in this sphere – how do we start to bend that “arc of the moral universe” back toward justice, under difficult social and political circumstances? The discourse among the cohort and our leaders showed me that progress can come from different avenues – I had never previously thought of language, interior design, anthropology, and other fields as fertile territory for contributions to the struggle for dignity and equality.

The Fellowship also afforded me the opportunity two give guest talks on social justice advocacy in two of Professor Mann’s English classes. The diversity (in just about every way) of the students was apparent, even via Zoom. This helped me remember that advocacy is not a strict procedure or path, but dep[ends substantially on the individual’s background – ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, etc. While I did discuss my efforts during the civil rights movement and since that time, I tried to give contemporary examples of activities calculated to suit the students’ situations. Time marches on – it is so important not to rely just on past methods, but to adapt the movement to present circumstances.

I am particularly pleased – no, delighted! – that Social Justice is the theme for the 2022 Fellowship. I hope, during our February showcase and on other occasions, to contribute what I can to this year’s fellowship. It is an experienced that lives on for me beyond 2021.