Professor Receives NEH Funded Research Fellowship

Zakiya Adair, assistant professor in the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, will spend six months at New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture conducting research for her first book. She is one of six professors who have received this postdoctoral research fellowship for 2012–13. The Schomburg Scholars in Residence fellowship assists those whose research in the black experience can benefit from extended access to the center’s resources.

Adair’s project will take research on African-American women, who were vaudeville performers, in a new direction. “Negotiating Spectacle: Black Women Vaudeville Performers and Trans-Atlantic Theatre 1915-1940” describes the phenomenon of trans-Atlantic black cultural production in the expressive arts during the early 20th century. The book will demonstrate the connections between black modernity and black uses of commodity culture during that time.

“My goal is to complete revisions to two core chapters of my book manuscript,” says Adair. “As a scholar-in-residence, I will have access to several collections that are housed primarily at the Schomburg Center and secondarily at the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts.”

She will also give a public talk during the residency, which begins in January 2013. Adair will return to MU next fall and will then incorporate some of her research findings into her fall classes.

“As the recipient of a national award, I am humbled and honored,” says Adair. “The opportunity to devote all of my time to writing and research will be invaluable for me.”

Established in 1983, the residency program has provided direct funding support for 131 fellows. Funding support for the program has been provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

By Laura Lindsey, College of Arts and Science
August 21, 2012