The New Ideas in the Humanities fund encourages innovative scholarship on original theories as well as enduring questions. Projects may involve the development of new ideas, working groups, conferences, technologies, datasets, expanded access to scholarly resources, or major pieces of scholarly work. The following projects were funded:

Launching the next phase of On TAP: A Theatre & Performance Studies Podcast

• Brian Herrera, Associate Professor of Theater, Lewis Center for the Arts

Originally launched in 2016, On TAP: A Theatre and Performance Studies Podcast has become a successful, far-reaching, and pathbreaking example of what collaborative humanities scholarship can be in the era of digital and social media. This award will enable a critical scholarly assessment of the podcast’s impact and allow OnTAP’s continued production over the next two years.  

Indian Ocean trade, the global Middle Ages and the Cairo Geniza

• Marina Rustow, Khedouri A. Zilkha Professor of Jewish Civilization in the Near East; Professor of Near Eastern Studies and History 

Several hundred letters, legal deeds, lists and accounts dating from Indian Ocean traders from 1060 to 1250 C.E. will be published online and in print in the original Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic alongside English translations. The documents, which survived in a medieval Egyptian synagogue within a larger cache known as the Cairo Geniza, provide unparalleled information about global history before European colonialism.

Program in Law & Public Policy (P*LAW) project in legal journalism 

• Deborah Pearlstein, Director, Program in Law and Public Policy (P*LAW); Charles and Marie Robertson Visiting Professor in Law and Public Affairs

This project will bring a distinguished visiting journalist to Princeton for a two-year residence to foster innovative methods of legal journalism through original investigative research. The project will improve factual and historical research methods through the study of comparative best practices, support original interviews regarding cases of current relevance and historic significance, and disseminate findings through public events and audiovisual and archival preservation.