Some of the money from Mellon Innovating International Research, Teaching and Collaboration award will be used to help Roberta Pergher, assistant professor at IU, research and write her new book about the meaning of the Great War for soldiers and people around the Alps, according to the press release.
“The trenches are still there — the barbed wire, the big tunnels dug into the rock of these amazing mountains — even ammunition,” Pergher said in the press release. “I always found it mind-boggling to think of a three-year war fought there.”
Part of the Mellon award will also be used to fund a workshop Pergher is hosting in Berlin on the aftermath of the Great War, according to the press release.
This is the third year for the Mellon program, which was originally funded through a $750,000 award from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, according to the press release.
The award is meant to support new directions in international research and area studies including collaborations between the humanities, social sciences and professional schools as well as opportunities where faculty and students collaborate, according to the press release.
Doctoral candidate in the Department of Anthropology Madeline Chera will use her portion of the award to study female culinary practices and food culture in South India, according to the press release.
“The Mellon graduate student dissertation fellowship will enable me to gain deep cultural understanding by living in communities of consumers and working predominantly with women,” Chera said in a press release. “I’ll be able to learn about the cultural categories and information sources women use in food-related decision-making and activities, including in purchasing, processing and preparing food.”
IU Provost Lauren Robel is the principal investigator on the Mellon grant and said in a press release that the program adheres to goals in the Bicentennial Strategic Plan.
“We are grateful to the Mellon Foundation for its appreciation of the importance of scholars being able to do work in the country they are studying,” Robel said in the press release. “This program directly enhances the careers of our graduate students and faculty members by giving them the precious opportunity to conduct meaningful international research. It also furthers the goals of our Bicentennial Strategic Plan, which emphasizes research and creative activity that links cultures and communities.”
The award money funds projects in Austria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Costa Rica, France, Germany, India, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Russia and Taiwan, according to the press release.
The Mellon program funds four different types of work including short-term faculty fellowships, graduate dissertation fellowships, curriculum development fellowships and innovative workshops, according to the press release.
“The breadth of disciplines and international areas of focus that MIIRT-funded faculty are pursuing is truly impressive,” said Rick Van Kooten, the interim vice provost for research whose office manages the MIIRT program, in the press release. “I congratulate all of these faculty members for the work they are doing to foster international area studies and global studies research.”
Suzanne Grossman
