The Institute of Speculative and Critical Inquiry, a new center devoted to developing alternative forums for the humanities, is currently crowdfunding for two, two-year research fellowships that will begin in fall 2022. We are concurrently seeking matching philanthropic support for all money raised.  

As the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic has deepened the crisis in the U.S. university system, it has become more urgent than ever for researchers in the humanities to envision new ways by which their profession can be practiced by individuals not holding tenured professorships. The ISCI is therefore fundraising for these fellowships with the aim not only of providing financial and career support to promising scholars but also of devising new methods of financing them. 

This is why we are taking the unusual step of crowdfunding these initial fellowships.  We ask that you give between $100 and $500 (or more) to support two, two-year fellowships that will pay at least $60,000 per year as well as medical and dental insurance (at the cost of $8,000 or more per year). We aim to raise $275,000, a sum that we can meet with only 1,000-2,000 individual donations in the above range. We also intend to raise larger matching donations that will be used for the further development and maintenance of this fellowship program.  

Help us get there! If you're reading this, you're likely aware of the poor pay, working conditions, and dire job market faced by most new PhDs in the humanities and humanistic social sciences. Your support will not only directly impact the eventual recipients of these fellowships but also help with the development of a new kind of research center that remains part of academia while creating opportunities for talented scholars without secure university employment.

The ISCI is already underway with a number of projects. Most visibly, we are holding a series of summer schools in Lisbon (or online if again necessary) that are designed to bring together faculty and PhD students in a context that allows for experimentation and new kinds of collaboration. Taught by leaders in their fields and on advanced topics,  these have proved galvanizing for many of the PhD students involved. 

In the long term, we intend to develop research fellowships and lines of employment by which not only beginning but also established researchers can be supported in the absence of university employment. We envisage the ISCI as a future model of an academic department and eventual group of departments that will provide its members with institutional affiliations, research infrastructure, intellectual fellowship, and shared working space—things that universities have traditionally provided but that their crisis are making more scarce.

For more information on this campaign, the ISCI’s broader plans and mission, and our upcoming summer schools in Lisbon, please see our website, theisci.iorg or write us at isci@theisci.org