Perspectival Effects in Ancient Roman Mural Paintings
Assistance sought for a collaborative project on perspectival effects in ancient Roman mural paintings. A background in art history or in computational image processing is desirable, but fundamental skills in library research and an interest in Roman antiquity are crucial. The RA will be needed for 3-5 hours of work weekly.
Afrofuturism
For an ongoing project on Afrofuturism led by a faculty member in the law school, assistance is sought for bibliographical research. Some experience in African-American studies or Cultural Studies is desirable. Student would join a team and would be expected to work 2-4 hours a week.
China at the 1904 World’s Fair
Assistance sought for curating an exhibit, “Gateway to the East: China in the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair” at Olin Library. The RA will join a team of staff, students and faculty, and will help compile the exhibition list.
Faith, Family, and Flag: Branson Entertainment and the American Right
Research assistance needed for the final stages of work on a book manuscript entitled Faith, Family, and Flag: Branson Entertainment and the American Right. The RA will help research important Branson productions such as Shepherd of the Hills; compile annotated bibliographies on important topics such as the idea of the frontier, Disney theme parks, and the Experience Economy; and fact-check citations. Four to six hours a week.
Object Lessons
A crossover book series about "the hidden lives of ordinary things." The research assistant will read contracted manuscripts (c. 30,000 words), checking facts and producing a written report (no more than one-page) on each manuscript. Roughly 3 hours weekly. Advanced reference-checking skills required. Since efficiency and precision are so crucial to this position, the first three weeks of this R.A.-ship will be probationary (though fully paid).
Gender Violence Database
The Gender Violence Database is an accessible searchable tool designed for researchers, practitioners, and the gen- eral public interested in the multidisciplinary field of Vio- lence Against Women. Applicants with NGO experience, specialized training (SARAH, Uncle Joe's, etc.), or course- work related to these topics are preferred. No prior com- puter skills are necessary (though they are welcome).
Visit https://ada.artsci.wustl.edu/gvd/#/ for more information.
Rethinking the History of German Literature, 1731-1864
This project employs the techniques of probabilistic topic modeling to test a set of longstanding assumptions about the periodization of German literary history.
The Spenser Project
The professor and five editors are producing the Complete Works of Edmund Spenser for Oxford UP. The work is being developed as an electronic edition, from which two print ver- sions, and an online archive will be generated. Student RAs do a wide range of research depending on the tasks at hand, ranging from pure research projects, to proofreading the ed- ited text against original witnesses, to writing software to process images and texts. RAs work five hours a week and attend a weekly project meeting.
Visit https://spenserarchive.org/ for more information.
Freedom, Dissimulation, and Resistance in African American Political Thought
Professor seeks help with editorial and research projects for publications on African-American political thought. Work includes research assistance for a book on Freedom, Dissimulation, and Resistance in African American Political Thought. This project reconstructs debates about the efficacy and ethics of the dissimulation in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century African American political thought and investigates the real-life tactics that African American intellectuals and activists employed in their own lives and careers.
The RA should have strong research, organizational and editing skills and be able to work 3-5 hours a week.
Love in Religion, Ethics and Political Thought
Assistance needed for a book on Love in Time, which proposes a view of love for religious, ethical, and political thought. The project spans philosophy, critical theory, religious thought, literary theory, and art criticism. This manuscript is nearing completion, so much of the work will involve manuscript-preparation and checking of the bibliography. When this project concludes, work will shift to a project on the ethics of time in the work of Abraham Heschel. This RA-ship requires strong organizational skills and research skills; no foreign languages required. Some background in Jewish Studies would be a bonus. Roughly 4 hours per week.
Queer Theory and Modernism
Undergraduate research assistant sought for remote work on a developing project about modernist studies, queer theory, and digital humanities. No experience in these scholarly fields is required, but some familiarity with navigating journals and databases through our library website is recommended. Student should be comfortable working with Excel, meeting deadlines, and asking questions. All other skills will be developed over the course of the semester. Approximately 4 hours/week, with one biweekly meeting via Zoom. Possibility to continue work for multiple semesters.
Travels of Korean Intellectuals in the Early 20th Century
Professor of Korean Languages and Literature & Comparative Literature seeks a research assistant for a project on the travels of Korean intellectuals in the early 20th century, I am looking for a student interested in digital map-making with historical data. Experience in digital methodologies and digital humanities (DH) tools will be an asset; reading knowledge of Korean/Japanese/Chinese language and culture would also be helpful but is not necessary. The tasks will involve designing and generating digital maps. Workload per week is flexible and will not exceed 6 hours per week.
German Radio Drama
Germanic Languages and Literatures Professor seeks research assistant to organize archival material (written and acoustic) for a book on German-language radio drama in the aftermath of the Second World War. The project explores the soundscapes of these works composed for radio in the context of discourses about the politics of listening and memory. Time commitment is 2-4 hours a week. Required skills: reading knowledge of German, ability to work with basic word processing and spreadsheet software, familiarity with sound editing software (preferred, but can be taught!), good time management and communication.
Music in Greek and Roman Theatre
Professor of Classics seeks assistance in examining and interpreting evidence for music in the performance of ancient Greek and Roman theatre. Assistant will read ancient plays looking for evidence of music, find relevant bibliography in electronic databases, print bibliographies, and other works, and help compile a database of rhythmic variation in ancient drama. The following skills are desirable but not required: some knowledge of ancient Greek and/or Latin, experience in theatre, and the ability to read music.
Student can work up to 6 hours per week, including a weekly meeting.
Saint Louis Integrated Database of Enslavement (SLIDE)
Saint Louis Integrated Database of Enslavement (SLIDE) is seeking an RA to contribute to the Saint Louis Integrated Database of Enslavement (SLIDE), a website that aggregates historical records about enslavement and enslaved people across Greater St. Louis in one searchable database. RAs will assist in editing and standardizing existing data within the database, and create new datasets from historical records such as the Federal Census Mortality Schedules for St. Louis or Freedom Suits filed by people held in bondage in St. Louis. RAs will commit 4-6 hours per week contributing to the database and participating in occasional meetings with the PI. Necessary skills: familiarity with .csv (excel) spreadsheets; attention to detail. Desirable skills: familiarity with basic coding; ability to read (19th century) cursive; general knowledge of the history of slavery in the U.S., particularly St. Louis.
Creating a Federal Government
This project considers how Americans attempted to distribute appointed power from above in an age when Americans were struggling to create a government where power flowed from below. To support these questions about the implementation of federal power in the early republic, the project is compiling exhaustive data on the making of federal appointments. Using the Senate Executive Journal (transcribed by Library of Congress's American Memory project) as sources, we are building a database of federal appointments. Because this data can support more questions than CFG is presently asking, part of the goal of the project is a kind of data reuse effort: thus, in addition to a book by the project Director, another main product will be a publicly accessible scholarly resource which will present the aforementioned data as well as GIS-enabled visualizations and encoded texts.
Projects in the Humanities Digital Workshop (HDW)
The Humanities Digital Workshop houses a number of faculty research projects. The HDW regularly offers summer fellowships to undergraduates and research assistantships during the academic year when available.
Early Print Lab
Assistance sought for thew continued development of Early Print, a digital corpus of roughly 65,000 books, the output of the English press from its beginnings in 1473 until 1700. The HDW is continuing to develop the search and analytical tools at the Early Print Lab, and is also engaged in investigating large-scale changes in literary and controversial practice as reflected in print culture. RAs sought with interests in English literature, Early Modern British History, corpus linguistics, and data analytics.
Visit https://earlyprint.org/lab/ for more information.
Linguistic Corpora Web App
Student with experience in web development sought to assist in the construction of an app to facilitate user-friendly queries of two linguistic corpora (one greek, one Sanskrit). Some familiarity with XML and some background in linguistics desirable.
Network Poetics: The Big World of African Little Magazines
“Network Poetics: The Big World of African Little Magazines” examines the poetry of two African little magazines, Okyeame and Transition, and will turn the names, locations, and works of the poets, artists, and writers into metadata. This metadata will then be visualized through a network model to highlight the expansive nature of African little magazines.
Research Assistant Duties Include: Weekly meetings, research, documentation for metadata; data entry; refinement of metadata categories. Experience in interpretation of poetry required. Desired skills include proficiency in Twi, Fante, or French; familiarity with African or Black Diasporic Literature; experience with network modeling, GIS, and computational text analysis.
Database of Greek Dramatic Meters
The faculty, students, and staff involved in this project are producing a database that will chart changes in poetic form and musical performance in the comedies and tragedies of ancient Greece. RAs will learn various ways of producing machine-readable texts and making them useable for research.