Aimed at graduate-level and advanced undergraduate students, the humanities studiolab draws inspiration from both the studio and laboratory as pedagogical spaces, organized around a theme or problem for a sustained period. In addition to work on the central topic, members of the studiolab community incorporate and develop capacities, beyond specific disciplinary skills, considered essential to success within and beyond academia: competency with digital and other media, collaboration, project management, communication with multiple audiences and oral presentation.
Studiolab courses were originally funded by the Mellon-funded Redefining Doctoral Education in the Humanities (RDE) grant. Recently, they have also been supported by the Mellon-funded Divided City initiative and the Office of the Provost’s Here and Next initiative.
Current & Past Studiolab Courses
The World of an Antique Wedding Bed: Material Culture and Digital Humanities
Using a 19th-century Chinese bed as a starting point, the 2024–25 studiolab “The World of an Antique Wedding Bed: Material Culture and Digital Humanities” will combine digital tools with humanistic research methods to facilitate a cultural history that engages questions of intimacy, nuptials, curation and conservation, and global trade and cultural exchanges. Led by Zhao Ma (EALC) and Trevor Sangrey (WGSS). *RDE-funded
The Politics of Reproduction
This studiolab course created an engaged space for students to learn about and develop projects with a community agency around the topic of the politics of reproduction. The politics of reproduction refers to the intersection between politics, gender, race, and reproduction. Students enrolled in “Sexual Health and the City” (fall 2023) and “The Politics of Reproduction, Race, and Power” (spring 2024). Led by Shanti Parikh (AFAS) and Denise Lieberman (WashU Law). *Here and Next funding
Launched in 2022, Sumner Studiolab brings together Sumner High School students, WashU students and Ville residents in a Community Hub to discuss and design Sumner’s historic legacies and promising futures. Combining public workshops, student internships, listening sessions and academic courses, the overall goal of the Sumner StudioLab is to deepen understandings of Sumner High School as a physical and cultural site through a shared focus on historic preservation and neighborhood community. *Divided City funding, *Here and Next funding
In fall 2022 and spring 2023, the Memory for the Future (M4F) Studiolab combined the study of interlinked histories and legacies of colonialism, slavery and genocide with collaborative development of reparative public humanities projects in St. Louis. Led by Geoff Ward (AFAS) Anika Walke (History) with pre/postdoctoral fellow Santiago Rozo Sánchez. *RDE-funded
The Freedom | Information | Acts Studiolab was a full-year interdisciplinary course (fall 2021–spring 2022) bridging cultural studies, sociological inquiry, and digital humanities. Students worked together to apply digital tools to archival materials on the Civil Rights Movement with the aim of enhancing and expanding public access to digital archives. Led by Joseph Loewenstein (English, IPH) and David Cunningham (Sociology), with pre/postdoctoral fellow Meredith Kelling. *RDE-funded
Assistant Director for Research and Public Engagement Laura Perry brings the Sumner StudioLab’s story on the road, sharing its new model with colleagues around the country.
The Divided City Initiative brings together Arts & Sciences and the Sam Fox School to support community-led efforts to save north St. Louis’ historic Sumner High School.
