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=**Public Histories of social struggles against inequality and “downstate” landscapes**=

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This project will connect UIUC humanities and social science scholars with histories embedded in the public urban landscapes that surround us here in downstate Illinois. The central concept is that there is a need to build interdisciplinary bridges to histories of struggle around issues of social inequality in central/“downstate” Illinois. We want to learn more about the spaces, landscapes, people, neighborhoods and communities which in many ways sustain our work. We will also situate local landscapes in more global economic contexts, as, for example, international commodity flows influence local economic processes.======

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The seminars will model important approaches to how public histories can inform and enrich urban landscape studies and vice versa, providing a critical counterweight to dominant professional discourses that neglect the experiences and voices of marginalized citizens. An important aspect of the seminars will be our attention to and investigations of the particular ways in which these landscapes have developed as segregated, racialized, deeply gendered, and often environmentally degraded spaces.======

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This project will involve two kinds of seminars. First, led by selected faculty and graduate students, Focal Point participants will read works about selected communities, histories and sites of struggle related to social justice and labor issues. These seminars will be led by graduate student participants. The second category of seminars is innovative. Seminar participants will visit the sites and communities which they have read about. These will be research seminars “on the move” where participants will be given the opportunity to see the places they have read about and to meet local people who are knowledgeable about those local histories and landscapes of social inequality. We plan to use web-based technology to record and disseminate our off-campus activities; this could serve as a pilot for enhancing access to education via an online resource for future campus and community learning and dialogues.======

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