The John Nicholas Brown Center supports initiatives that serve as models for public humanities programming, benefit local institutions, and provide students with a wide range of experiences. Recent local work includes collaboration with historic preservation organizations and museums to enhance and expand their programs. On a national level, the Center and its students have worked with Smithsonian Institution initiatives including the Bracero history program and the new National Museum of African-American History and Culture. Internationally, the Center is spearheading a collaboration with the cultural heritage and management programs at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
The JNBC works with other organizations at Brown and elsewhere to support student and faculty projects and community public humanities and cultural heritage efforts. Contact us if you think we might be able to work together.
2009
Sven Ahlbäck "Local Culture in a Global Society: Folk Tonality in Contemporary Sweden"
co-sponsored with the Department of Music
Coming to the Americas lecture series
co-sponsored with the Rhode Island Geography Education Alliance
Eating Chinese: Comestibles, Cuisine, Commerce and Culture
co-sponsored with the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America and the Johnson and Wales Culinary Arts Museum
Stih and Schnock “Art Goes Public: Memorials and Interventions”
co-sponsored with the Cogut Center for Humanities and the Department of American Civilization
Michael Brown "Culture in an Iron Cage: Cultural Appropriation and the Governance of Indigenous Heritage"
co-sponsored with the Department of Music and the Watson Institute for International Studies
Undocumented Immigrants and Higher Education
co-sponsored with the Department of Education, the Department of American Civilization, and the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America
Days of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) Altar
co-sponsored with the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology
Screening of Revolution ’67
co-sponsored with the Department of American Civilization and the Urban Studies Program
Emil Her Many Horses and Colleen Cutschall “Identity by Design at the NMAI”
co-sponsored with the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology
Colonel Matthew Bogdanos "Thieves of Baghdad: The Loss of Cultural Heritage"
co-sponsored with the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World
Stephanie Yuhl “Preservations and Imaginations: Buildings and Beyond in Historic Charleston”
co-sponsored with the Providence Preservation Society
Russell Thornton "Repatriation and Healing the Trauma of Native American History"
co-sponsored with the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology and the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America
Donovan Rypkema “Economics of Historic Preservation”
co-sponsored with the Providence Preservation Society
A Thousand Ships: A ritual of remembrance at WaterFire marking the bicentennial of the abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
co-sponsored with Waterfire Providence
Emancipated Memories: Uncovering the Hidden Faces of Slavery
co-sponsored with the Sarah Doyle Women's Center
Roger Williams and America's Journey Toward Religious Freedom
co-sponsored with the National Park Service
2008
Oscar Ho “Critical Curatorship”
co-sponsored by the Department of Visual Art
Cultural? Heritage? Tourism? Lecture series
co-sponsored with the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World
Eating Chinese: Local and Global Perspectives on Memory and Identity
co-sponsored with the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America and the Johnson and Wales Culinary Arts Museum
Kenneth Rendell “The Rationale and Collecting for the World War II Museum”
co-sponsored with the Friends of the Library
Modern Perspectives of a Modern People featuring new works from young Native American artists
co-sponsored with Native Americans at Brown
Semana Chicana
co-sponsored with Brown's Third World Center
co-sponsored with the History Departmental Undergraduate Group
David Amram: Celebrating a Half-Century of Multi-Cultural Artistic Collaborations
co-sponsored with the Department of Music
2007
Neil Silberman “Rethinking the Concept of ‘Heritage:’ Some Perspectives from the European Union”
co-sponsored with the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World
Urban Transformations / Shifting Identities; Graduate Student Symposium in Architecture and Urbanism
co-sponsored with the Department of History of Art and Architecture
Bracero History and Archives Project
co-sponsored with the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America and the National Museum of American History
American Seminar
co-sponsored with the departments of American Civilization, History, and English and the John Carter Brown Library
StoryCorps a national oral history project sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, visited Providence
sponsored by the JNBC and organized by students in the public humanities program
“Is Radio Still Important?” Colloquium Series
co-sponsored with the Department of American Civilization
2006
Displaying Race and Ethnicity: Communities and Their Museums Lecture Series
co-sponsored with the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America
Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America colloquium series
“Science in the Public Eye: A Science and Technology Studies Symposium”
co-sponsored with the Faculty Committee on Science and Technology Studies
“Writing History outside the Academy: Three Perspectives on Public History”
co-sponsored with the Department of History
Chamber music at the Nightingale-Brown House
co-sponsored with the Department of Music
2004
Public Spheres and American Culture
co-sponsored by the Department of American Civilization and the Provost’s Office