UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal: Submission #816

Submission information
Submission Number: 816
Submission ID: 14706
Submission UUID: fd08f041-fd9f-4756-9ceb-6024e9c504ca

Created: Fri, 08/16/2024 - 11:40 AM
Completed: Fri, 08/16/2024 - 12:01 PM
Changed: Mon, 08/26/2024 - 12:42 PM

Remote IP address: 144.174.212.34
Submitted by: Anonymous
Language: English

Is draft: No
Primary Research Mentor Name Sarah Fahmy
Research Mentor Preferred Pronouns she, hers
When potential research assistants are reaching out via email, what is your preferred honorific? Dr.
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated) sfahmy@fsu.edu
Position Title Faculty
FSU College (if applicable) Fine Arts
FSU Department or Non-FSU Organization Affiliation School of Theatre
Headshot (optional) sfahmy-headshot 1.jpg
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from above)
Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Pronouns
Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Honorific?
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated)
Name of Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) (if applicable)
Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Pronouns
Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Honorific?
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated)
Title of the Project The Middle Eastern North African Theatre Scholarship Handbook
Project Keywords Middle East North Africa, Theatre, digital humanities, database, website development, archives
Are you currently looking for research assistants? Yes
Number of Research Assistants Needed 1
Relevant Research Assistant Major(s) Open to all majors
Project Location: Remote
If the project location is off campus, does the research assistant(s) need to provide their own transportation? No, the project is remote
Please select the choice that most accurately describes your expectations for the research assistant(s): Fully Remote
Approximately how many hours a week would the research assistant(s) need to work? 5-7
Roughly what time frame do you expect research assistant(s) to work? Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Overall Research Project Description The Middle Eastern North African (MENA) Theatre Scholarship Handbook is the first open-access digital repository of its kind. It is an initiative by the board of the Middle Eastern Theatre (MET) focus group at the Association of Theatre in Higher Education Conference—one of the largest, most notable academic conferences in theatre academe. The MET Focus Group at ATHE is the only long-term group established at an academic theatre conference in the US that is dedicated to MENA theatre and performance, and only the second in the world; to date.
The Handbook, which is an iterative collaboration between scholars, students, and practitioners around the world, is still in its early stages of archiving and research generation, yet has already been used as a pedagogy and research tool by scholars and students worldwide. Upon completion, it will serve as a central, comprehensive repository of historic and contemporary MENA theatre in the region and diasporas, and scholarship pertaining to it. Through this handbook, we hope to extend research and pedagogical support, connect emerging and senior scholars in the MENA theatre field, as well as provide an accessible entry point to help those who are less familiar with MENA theatre histories and scholarship. The Handbook includes: (1) Plays from the region and its diasporas, in English and regional languages. Each play is listed with a synopsis, casting breakdown, key words, instructions on how to access the script, notable production history, reviews by critics, video archival footage, and scholars who can guest lecture on them. (2) Published anthologies of plays and instructions on how to access them. (3) Academic resources, including books, peer-reviewed journal articles, podcasts, recorded lectures, interviews, websites, digital resources, and play databases. (4) A list of MENA scholars in the US and abroad and their areas of research and contact information. (5) A list of notable MENA theatre companies in the US and abroad and their specialties.
Research Tasks • Data collection: Researching and cataloguing scholarship, videos, plays and their production histories, etc. and entering them into the Handbook database.
• Data visualization: Selecting public-facing data visualization software, and preliminary development and curation of content for the website.
• Enhancing usability of the Handbook. This includes designing user-friendly future data collection surveys (this is how website visitors will submit entries from the website).
Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Required:
• Have interest in Middle Eastern North African performance histories and communities.
• Be self-guided, thorough and detail oriented, trustworthy, reliable, and eager to share/ take ownership of your ideas to advance the research.
• Be capable of designing surveys for qualitative data input that connects to Google Sheets.
• Have experience with website development or humanities data curation and visualization (or something similar).
Recommended:
• Have experience in digital humanities, library science, website development, archiving of humanities resources.
• Be proficient with Google Forms & Sheets.
• (Extra bonus skill, beyond required or recommended skills): Have proficient reading and listening comprehension in any of the languages of the MENA region (including French as there is a lot of North African Francophone literature).
Mentoring Philosophy My mentoring philosophy arises from my experience being a woman of color scholar and applied theatre facilitator who was raised as a Third-Culture-Kid. Whether I’m working with undergraduate or graduate students, my central focus is to celebrate students’ autonomous voices in a dynamic learning environment. My research is on ecofeminist decolonial artvism in the Global South, specifically focusing on Middle Eastern North African performance and identities. As such, I am invested in cultivating intergenerational knowledge exchange circles where I can co-learn and un-learn alongside my mentees. I develop individualized mentorship plans with my mentees, to best serve their self-identified needs and goals and prepare them for a future as researchers. My aim is to cultivate responsive spaces where mentees bring their full selves into the research, and feel capable of intellectual risk-taking without fearing making mistakes. Above all, I firmly believe that education and research should be fun and soul-nourishing; and that everyone no matter of their educational background is a worthy scholar.
Please provide a link to your publications, a video clip, or a website for your research project (if applicable): https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/tt.2024.a920474.
Please add any additional information here (if applicable): Please don’t be deterred by any of the research tasks, or the required/recommended skills. Students involved in this research will be a part of helping develop an emerging sub-field of scholarship. If you are curious about this work in any capacity, let’s chat! The research tasks will be allocated first and foremost based on your interest, engagement level, and capacity. Please skim through the attached journal publication for an idea of what this research is contributing to.
Are you interested in participating in the UROP Research Mentor Roundtable? Yes
Roundtable times and Zoom links Wednesday September 4th from 2:30 - 3pm ET: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/8826419924
Roundtable Info
Mentor Handbook, FAQs, and Communication Yes
UROP Performance Evaluation Yes
Materials Grant Yes
UROP Poster Presentation Yes
Year 2024