Brian Rosenblum receives Fulbright Specialist Award to Ghana

LAWRENCE — Brian Rosenblum, co-director of the Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities at the University of Kansas, has received a Fulbright Specialist Award to lead a six-week course in digital humanities at the University of Ghana this semester.

Rosenblum is one of more than 400 U.S. citizens selected each year to share their expertise with host institutions abroad through the Fulbright Specialist Program. Recipients are selected based on academic and professional achievement, demonstrated leadership in their field and their potential to foster long-term cooperation between institutions in the U.S. and abroad. Established in 2001, the Fulbright Specialist Program provides U.S. academics and professionals with significant expertise with the opportunity to complete short-term project-based exchanges designed by institutions around the world.

Rosenblum traveled to Accra, Ghana, last week, where he will be leading a digital humanities class in the English Department at the University of Ghana, consulting on student and faculty projects, and meeting with members of CARLIGH (Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Ghana), who are developing open access repositories and policies.

While in Ghana, Rosenblum will also help advance efforts to establish a digital humanities curriculum at the university and strengthen connections between the University of Ghana and KU in the area of digital humanities.

The project ties into Rosenblum’s research interest in global digital humanities and connecting digital humanities scholars in different countries. He has served on the executive committee of Global Outlook::Digital Humanities (GO::DH), a special-interest group that aims to help break down barriers that hinder communication and collaboration among scholars and practitioners of digital humanities in high-, mid- and low-income economies.

GO::DH recognizes that while funding and visibility of digital humanities is dominated by wealthy countries in the Global North, much of the innovation takes place at the margins, and the perspectives of the Global South are vital for shaping the future of digital humanities. Though he is leading a class, Rosenblum noted that he was not going there to “teach” digital humanities.

“The purpose of this project,” Rosenblum said, “is to establish a dialogue, learn from each other, do some hands-on work together and build stronger personal and institutional connections between KU and the University of Ghana.”

Rosenblum connected with faculty at the University of Ghana through programs organized by KU’s African Digital Humanities initiative, a project led by James Yeku, assistant professor of African digital humanities.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to build lasting connections between the people of the U.S. government and the people of other countries.

Rosenblum is a previous recipient of a Fulbright Award to Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, where he taught a class in digital libraries and worked on open access digital publishing initiatives. He also has served on the KU Fulbright committee and reviewed applications for other Fulbright programs.