ICS

ICS Interdisciplinary Research Groups
ICS coordinates and supports research groups that serve a variety of purposes and take a number of forms depending on faculty needs and interests. They are intended to provide support for members' ongoing research projects, opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaboration, and a forum for structured exchange of theories and methodologies across disciplines.  
Over the years, ICS Research Groups have:

• Provided an arena for discussion of new cultural theories
• Facilitated faculty research by offering a forum for  feedback and support of work-in-progress
• Planned conferences, workshops, and symposia
• Created opportunities for collaborative research and interdisciplinary projects

ICS welcomes applications for new research groups. Please submit a brief proposal in which you describe the specific focus of the group, the rationale for it, the goals the group will aim to accomplish, a list of likely participants, and any financial needs the group anticipates.

Current ICS Groups

• The Disability Studies Interdisciplinary Research Cluster (DS-IRC) is an interdisciplinary group of BGSU faculty and graduate students engaged in research and teaching that critically examines disability and the social construction of disability.  We define “disability studies” as work that focuses on the social, political, and economic implications of emotional, physical, and cognitive difference.  Rather than simply approaching disability through a medical framework, disability studies examines the social construction of disability, asking how and why certain bodies are valued and others are devalued.  The DS-IRC provides an intellectual space for scholars across Colleges at BGSU to read and discuss new scholarship in the field, workshop member’s papers in progress, comment on member project proposals, share calls for papers and grant proposals, develop disability studies courses, and to work together on disability related initiatives.  For more information about the DS-IRC, please contact Dr. Sarah Rainey at sasarah@bgsu.edu
  
• The Latin American and Latino/a Studies Cluster is an interdisciplinary group of faculty members at BGSU committed to developing the fields of Latin American and Latino/a Studies. The Cluster works to increase the visibility of Latin American and Latino/a Studies on campus through programming initiatives, curriculum development, and research. Currently, faculty in History, Romance and Classical Studies, Ethnic Studies, and Women's Studies participate in the Cluster. More information about the Cluster can be found at: www.bgsu.edu/organizations/lalsc/
  
  The ICS Latin American and Latino/a Studies Cluster was selected to host the Ohio Latin Americanist Conference (OLAC) in 2011 and 2012. This two-day academic conference is an annual statewide meeting of professors and students who work in the fields of Latin American and U.S. Latino/a Studies. The 2011 conference featured over 100-scholarly papers organized into 28 panels delivered by students and scholars from Ohio and the region. In addition to presentations from undergraduates, graduate students, and professors from BGSU and other major Ohio universities and colleges, we also had presentations from Consul of Mexico in Detroit, Vicente Sánchez, and scholars from as far away as the University of San Diego and University of Sao Paolo. Information about OLAC 2012 can be found at: www.bgsu.edu/organizations/lalsc/index.html
  
  Contact Francisco Cabanillas fcabani@bgsu.edu or Amy Robinson arobins@bgsu.edu (both of ROCS) if you are interested in participating in the Latin American and Latino/a Studies Cluster.
  
• The Visual and Cultural Studies Cluster is dedicated to the development and critical discussion of visually-oriented faculty research on a wide range of cultural texts, including art, architecture, urban space, theatre, film, music and literature. Committed to multidisciplinarity in its composition of membership and topics of consideration, the cluster provides a forum for in-depth exploration of strategies of visual and performative communication about the social and cultural worlds in both theoretical and practical terms. Through bi-weekly workshops on individual member's research-in-progress, the cluster engages with the various methodological approaches of its members and seeks to enhance members’ original research through collaborative brainstorming and discussion. In addition, the Visual and Cultural Studies Cluster engages with the wider university public through the staging of conferences and symposia and the participation in critical discussions with visiting speakers to campus to promote and continue the dialogue about the visual and cultural world. Contact Scott Magelssen magelss@bgsu.edu for more information.
  
• The ICS Trauma Cluster is a new project started by co-organizers Yiju Huang (Chinese Studies), and Christina Guenther, (German Studies) for the 2012-2013 academic year.
  
  We invite colleagues to take part in a research cluster that focuses on trauma theory. We are particularly interested in how trauma theory is articulated and represented in trans-generational, trans-cultural, and trans-disciplinary contexts.  For instance, how well does trauma theory travel as a concept across cultural and temporal boundaries?
  
  We plan to begin the cluster with a study of foundational texts dealing with trauma theory by early scholars, such as Freud, Abraham and Torok, and work our way to more contemporary texts by Marianne Hirsch, Michael Rothberg, Dominick LaCapra, Cathy Caruth, and Judith Butler. During the second semester, participants are expected to share their scholarship in progress. We also intend to organize a workshop with a guest speaker who can address trans-cultural and trans-generational questions with regard to trauma theory.
  
  For more information or to join the cluster please contact either Yiju Huang (Chinese Studies) hyiju@bgsu.edu or Christina Guenther, (German Studies) cguenth@bgsu.edu