From growing up with social media to using it to uncover social justice trends, a select team of students will be taking part in a two-year collaborative research project as student fellows.
The students have been named the first Lender Student Fellows by the Lender Center for Social Justice. The group will focus on “The Social Justice #Hashtag Project: A Digital Humanities Study.” They will select hashtags exemplifying the social justice causes they are most interested in exploring and then develop innovative approaches to those social justice concerns.
“The recent events of racism and anti-Semitism on our campus have reinforced the importance of tracking and understanding systemic bias and exclusion,” says Kendall Phillips, Lender Center co-director. “We are hopeful that projects like ‘The Social Justice #Hashtag Project’ can help our University and our culture be more just and more inclusive.”
The 2019-2021 Lender Student Fellows are:
The research project was developed by the Lender Center’s first Faculty Fellow, Casarae Gibson-Abdul-Ghani, an assistant professor of African American literature and studies in the College of Arts and Sciences. Gibson-Abdul-Ghani will lead the students in exploring contemporary social issues, developing innovative approaches to these problems and implementing useful and sustainable initiatives.
“The ways in which we teach our students in the Information Age about social justice and how they must be equipped to challenge messages of inequality is vital,” says Gibson-Abdul-Ghani. “Our student fellows have an incredible opportunity to help students and the greater campus community understand the importance of advocacy in research as critical to advancing the mission of diversity and inclusion.”
Gibson-Abdul-Ghani’s project will culminate with the 2021 Lender Symposium, with national guests and experts participating in a discussion of the research and proposals developed by the Lender Fellows team.
About the Lender Center
The Lender Center for Social Justice was established in September 2018 and is managed and housed in the School of Education. The center is host to activities and programming, including multidisciplinary conversations related to issues of social justice and collaborations with other University units to promote a robust dialogue about issues of justice, equity and inclusion.
