Research | College of Arts and Humanities

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class="wrapper--ks"> <h1 role="heading" aria-level="1">Research</h1> </div> </div> <div class="section--gray"> <div class="wrapper--ks"> <div class="breadcrumbs"> <nav role="navigation" aria-labelledby="system-breadcrumb"> <ol> <li> <a href="/">Home</a> </li> </ol> </nav> </div> </div> </div> <div id="node-391" class="container"> <section class="section section--intro section--padded-small"> <div class="wrapper--ks"> <div class="silc-grid silc-grid--collapse paragraph paragraph--type--intro-text paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="silc-grid__col silc-grid__col--8-medium"> <p>Arts and humanities research represents a range of disciplines and distinctive modes of knowledge and methods that result in articles and books, ideas, exhibitions, performances, artifacts, and more. This deliberate and dedicated work generates deep insights into the multi-faceted people and cultures of the world past and present. </p> </div> <div class="silc-grid__col silc-grid__col--4-medium"> </div>  </div> </div> </section> <section class="section--padded-small"> <div class="wrapper--ks"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--html paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="silc-grid silc-grid--collapse silc-grid--no-gutters"> <div class="silc-grid__col silc-grid__col--8-medium">     <p>Whether individual or collaborative, funded or unfunded, learn how our faculty are leading national networks and conferences, providing research frameworks, engaging students, traversing international archives and making significant contributions to UMD's research enterprise.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </section>  <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--view paragraph--view-mode--default">  <div class="field field--name-field-view field--type-viewfield field--label-hidden"> <div class="field__item field__item-label-hidden"> <div class="views-element-container"> <div class="wrapper--ks"> <div class="silc-grid silc-grid--collapse"> <div class="silc-grid__col silc-grid__col--10-medium"> <h2 class="header__h2 header--padded">Featured Research News </h2> <div class="silc-grid featured--grid"> <div class="silc-grid__col silc-grid__col--8-large"> <a href="https://arhu.umd.edu/news/dialogue-reproductive-justice-through-art-play-and-pupusas" class="featured featured--main parallax-slow"> <article> <div class="featured__img" style="background: url('/sites/default/files/2025-03/adobestock_785636458.jpeg') center / cover"> </div> <div class="featured__content"> <span class="featured__meta hide-if-no-children">Communication</span> <h4 class="featured__title header__h4">Dialogue for Reproductive Justice through Art, Play and Pupusas!</h4> <p class="featured__excerpt">New research by communication professor Carina Zelaya aims to improve sexual and reproductive health communication among Latinx families.</p> </div> </article> </a> </div>  <div class="silc-grid__col silc-grid__col--4-large"> <a href="https://today.umd.edu/10-faculty-receive-umd-independent-scholarship-research-and-creativity-awards" class="featured featured--block parallax-slow"> <article> <div class="featured__img" style="background: url('/sites/default/files/2025-01/dsc_0876_1920x1080.jpg-copy.jpg') center / cover"></div> <div class="featured__content"> <span class="featured__meta hide-if-no-children">Art, Communication, English, Philosophy</span> <h4 class="featured__title header__h4">10 Faculty Receive UMD Independent Scholarship, Research and Creativity Awards</h4> </div> </article> </a>  <a href="https://arts.umd.edu/articles/fall-2024-artsamp-student-grants-announced" class="featured featured--block parallax-slow"> <article> <div class="featured__img" style="background: url('/sites/default/files/2024-02/afa-logo.jpg') center / cover"></div> <div class="featured__content"> <span class="featured__meta hide-if-no-children">Art, College of Arts and Humanities, English, School of Music, School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies</span> <h4 class="featured__title header__h4">Fall 2024 ArtsAMP Student Grants Announced</h4> </div> </article> </a></div> <div class="featured__link"> <a href="/news" class="fancy-link ">More Research News</a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>  </div>  <section class="section--padded-small parallax-slow"> <div class="wrapper--ks"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--events-feed paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="silc-grid silc-grid--no-gutters silc-grid--collapse"> <div class="silc-grid__col silc-grid__col--10-medium"> <h2 class="header__h2 header--margin-bottom title-with-link"><span>Events</span> </h2>  <div class="views-element-container"> <div class="silc-grid silc-grid--collapse callout callout--events"> <a href="/events/pathway-post-global-warming-future-communicating-climate-science-consequences-and-solutions" class=" silc-grid__col silc-grid__col--4-medium news news--kitchen-sink"> <div class="callout--events__wrapper"> <span class="news__date"><time datetime="2025-04-08T18:00:00-04:00">Apr 8 2025 | 6</time> - <time datetime="2025-04-08T19:00:00-04:00">7pm</time> </span> <h4 class="news__title header__h5">"Pathway to a Post-Global Warming Future: Communicating Climate Science, Consequences, and Solutions," A Lecture by Dr. Jeffrey Bennett</h4> </div> </a> </div> </div>  </div> </div> </div> </div> </section> <section class="section--padded-small parallax-slow section--gray"> <div class="wrapper--ks"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--resources-services-feed paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="silc-grid silc-grid--no-gutters silc-grid--collapse"> <div class="silc-grid__col silc-grid__col--10-medium"> <h2 class="header__h2 header--margin-bottom title-with-link"><span>Recent Research Activities</span></h2>  <div class="views-element-container"><div class="js-view-dom-id-ced8ad03aa7ef7aedf6e69f0af71d11c1bfc9f82a8308d5d884855a04759de10"> <div class="silc-accordion silc-accordion--light silc-accordion--results" data-silc-accordion-open-multiple> <section class="silc-accordion__section"> <div class="silc-accordion__header"> <h2 class="silc-accordion__label "> Rape in Period Drama Television </h2> <h3 class="header__h5">"Rape in Period Drama Television" critically examines how modern period dramas use rape not just as a historical backdrop but as a lens to reflect contemporary issues around sexual violence.</h3> <p class="contact--feed__unit hide-if-no-children"> <span class="unit"> College of Arts and Humanities, History </span> </p> </div> <div class="silc-accordion__content inner-field-wrap"> <div class="silc-accordion__content--leading"> <span class="caption bolded">Dates:</span> <span class="caption inline-block--caption"> <time datetime="2024-07-15T12:00:00Z">Monday, July 15, 2024</time> </span> <br> </div> <div class="silc-accordion__callout"> <div class="silc-accordion__floating-content"> <p><em>Rape in Period Drama Television</em> considers the representation of rape and rape myths in a number of the most influential recent television period dramas. Like the corset, has become a shorthand for women's oppression in the past. Sexual violence has long been, and still is, commonplace in television period drama, often used to add authenticity and realism to shows or as a sensationalist means of chasing ratings. However, the authors illustrate that the depiction of rape is more than a mere reminder that the past was a dangerous place for women (and some men). In these series, they argue, rape functions as a kind of “anti-heritage” device that dispels the nostalgia usually associated with period television and reflects back on the current cultural moment, in which the #MeToo and #Timesup movement have increased awareness of the prevalence of sexual abuse, but in which legal and political processes have not yet caught up. In doing so, Rape in Period Drama Television sets out to explore the assumptions and beliefs which audiences continue to hold about rape, rapists, and victims.</p> </div> </div> <p><a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793625878/Rape-in-Period-Drama-Television-Consent-Myth-and-Fantasy" target="_blank" class="button">Read More<span class="visible-for-screen-readers"> about Rape in Period Drama Television</span></a></p>  </div> </section> <section class="silc-accordion__section"> <div class="silc-accordion__header"> <h2 class="silc-accordion__label "> Looking Back to Look Ahead: COVID-19, domestic violence, and digital activism in India </h2> <h3 class="header__h5">This analysis focuses on two case studies – the #LockDownMeinLockUp campaign mobilized on Instagram, and articles drawn from the digital feminist publication, Feminism in India. </h3> <p class="contact--feed__unit hide-if-no-children"> <span class="unit"> Communication, College of Arts and Humanities </span> </p> <span class="caption bolded">Non-ARHU Contributor(s): </span> <span class="caption inline-block--caption"> Ishani Mukherjee, Soham Sen </span> </div> <div class="silc-accordion__content inner-field-wrap"> <div class="silc-accordion__content--leading"> <span class="caption bolded">Dates:</span> <span class="caption inline-block--caption"> <time datetime="2024-05-30T12:00:00Z">Thursday, May 30, 2024</time> </span> <br> </div> <div class="silc-accordion__callout"> <div class="silc-accordion__floating-content"> <p>We look back to explore the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on domestic violence amplification in India and the digital activisms that spotlighted this social and health injustice. This analysis focuses on two case studies – the #LockDownMeinLockUp [#LDMLU] campaign mobilized on Instagram, and articles drawn from the digital feminist publication, Feminism in India [FII]. We share our perspectives on how the #LDMLU campaign visually politicized the public nature of a silenced and normalized injustice against at-risk women during a pan-national health crisis. We turn to FII’s reporting on DV exacerbation during India’s pandemic that vocalized this issue from three critical perspectives: structural problems that contribute to gender injustices; financial violence; and mental, emotional, and physical health impacts on abused and at-risk women. In addition to this ‘look back,’ we look ahead to consider calls-to-action and opportunities, digital and/or on-ground, that remain imperative after the urgency of the viral lockdown. We are still at the threshold of activisms waiting, and needing, to happen. We conclude with questions for ourselves and our readers about what happens to advocacy when urgency ends. This growing body of feminist work demonstrates that advocacy will persist across physical and virtual landscapes. It is our responsibility and hope, as gender and communication scholars, to rally challenges against oppression based on gender or sex. Domestic violence against Indian women is continually overlooked. Our collective perspective intends to consolidate visibility toward such acts of abuse at the center of this scholarly piece.</p> </div> </div> <p><a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2024.1401723/full" target="_blank" class="button">Read More<span class="visible-for-screen-readers"> about Looking Back to Look Ahead: COVID-19, domestic violence, and digital activism in India</span></a></p>  </div> </section> <section class="silc-accordion__section"> <div class="silc-accordion__header"> <h2 class="silc-accordion__label "> Poetics and Power in Phagwa: Media Representation, Cultural Identity, and Religious Play in Trinidad’s Festival of Colours </h2> <h3 class="header__h5">Our findings represent a critical exploration of one religious festival played in a diasporic spatial context, interrogating issues around culture, power, religious identity, and digital media depictions in the act of celebration.</h3> <p class="contact--feed__unit hide-if-no-children"> <span class="unit"> Communication, College of Arts and Humanities </span> </p> <span class="caption bolded">Non-ARHU Contributor(s): </span> <span class="caption inline-block--caption"> Ishani Mukherjee </span> </div> <div class="silc-accordion__content inner-field-wrap"> <div class="silc-accordion__content--leading"> <span class="caption bolded">Dates:</span> <span class="caption inline-block--caption"> <time datetime="2024-05-30T12:00:00Z">Thursday, May 30, 2024</time> </span> <br> </div> <div class="silc-accordion__callout"> <div class="silc-accordion__floating-content"> <p>We conduct a thematic analysis of digital news articles (2016–2020) about religious celebrations of Holi or “Phagwa” in Trinidad and Tobago to explore media representations of the festival of colors and Trinidadian cultural identity. We adopt Stuart Hall’s understanding of cultural identity and diaspora, and draw on Davis’ cultural performance framework that connects observable communicative practices to cultural performances. Two themes frame our analysis, Phagwa as (1) poetic process of performing religious identity and (2) power-play in performing national identity, suggesting that Phagwa rituals and local media attest to color-play as a complex, communicative practice used to demand attention and affirm participants’ religious (Hindu) and national (Indo-Trinidadian) cultural identities. Our findings represent a critical exploration of one religious festival played in a diasporic spatial context, interrogating issues around culture, power, religious identity, and digital media depictions in the act of celebration.</p> </div> </div> <p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15348423.2024.2357975" target="_blank" class="button">Read More<span class="visible-for-screen-readers"> about Poetics and Power in Phagwa: Media Representation, Cultural Identity, and Religious Play in Trinidad’s Festival of Colours</span></a></p>  </div> </section> </div> </div> </div>  </div> </div> </div> </div> </section> </div> </div> <footer class="site-footer"> <div class="site-footer__main"> <div class="compartment"> <div class="silc-grid silc-grid--collapse"> <div class="silc-grid__col silc-grid__col--padded silc-grid__col--5-medium site-footer__info"> <a href="https://arhu.umd.edu/"> <img src="/themes/idfive_silc/silc/build/img/logo-white.png" alt="UMD ARHU Logo" 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