Overview
Request for Proposals from Scholars
The Crossroads Project at Princeton University’s Center for Culture, Society, and Religion, with the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, invites proposals for its Crossroads Fellows Program from scholars (independent scholars, graduate students, and holders of Ph.D.s employed in academic and non-academic contexts) for grants for projects related to Black religious histories, communities, and cultures. Fellows’ projects will be presented on SPIRIT HOUSE, the Crossroads Project's companion website.
The Crossroads Project engages the diversity of Black religious history and cultures, past and present, and highlights stories not featured in traditional accounts of African American Religious history. The project engages a geography beyond the US, recognizing the historical and contemporary impact of African American religious connections to Africa and the Americas and the influence of immigration from the Caribbean and Africa on religious life in the United States.
Funded projects are featured on the companion website and provide tools for students, scholars, and interested publics to explore this rich story. The cohort of grantees will have the opportunity to be in conversation with one another and are expected to participate in several virtual meetings with the Crossroads Project team over the course of the grant as they develop their projects.
With grants up to $5000, Research Fellows will draw on their areas of research expertise from a range of fields to produce interpretive materials for the website related to major topics or themes in Black religious studies. We encourage proposals that highlight local histories, institutions, and communities to further diversify the geographic scope of representations of Black religions. Such work might highlight historical or contemporary materials like photographs, pamphlets or manuscripts, architecture, films, or music that helps to reveal less-familiar histories or collect new data in a form like an oral history. Work that takes advantage of the possibilities of the digital humanities, including mapping or digital storytelling, will be of special interest from these fellows.
The Crossroads Project anticipates making two to three awards to Research Fellows in the 2024-25 funding cycle.
Deadline: December 9, 2024
Eligibility and Guidelines
- Independent scholars, graduate students, and holders of Ph.D.s working in academic and non-academic contexts are invited to submit proposals.
- Research Fellows may apply for up to $5000 for projects completed within 12 months from the time of the award.
- Applicants may submit proposals for projects that are already underway or that are part of larger projects, but they must be able to be presented in some form on SPIRIT HOUSE.
- These grants will be made as stipends paid to fellows as individuals in two installments over the 12-month grant period. We are not able to make payments to institutions.
Application Requirements
- Three-page proposal narrative with timeline for completion within 12 months of the award. Proposals may be single-spaced or double-spaced, and should use a font no smaller than 12-point.
- CV or resume.
- One-page budget with brief narrative.
- An ethics plan for projects that depend on community engagement, including plans for a formal community agreement or Institutional Review Board approval.
- For graduate students, one letter of recommendation from their faculty advisor.
- Deadline: December 9, 2024
Criteria
Proposals should:
- Address some aspect of the study of Black religious histories, communities, and cultures.
- Contain a clear and feasible timeline for completion of the project within twelve months from the time of the award.
- Contain a clear budget justification.
- Indicate how the project might be presented on SPIRIT HOUSE.
Application Process and Timeline
- All materials must be received through the online application form by 11:59pm EST on December 9, 2024.
- Graduate students should have their faculty advisor send a letter of recommendation directly to [email protected] with the subject line: Recommendation for Your Name.
- Award notifications will be made by February 10, 2025.
- Please direct any questions about the application process to [email protected].
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, July 1829, Drawn on Stone by W.L. Breton.
Image courtesy The Library Company of Philadelphia