This month, National Book Award winner Sarah M. Broom and staff writer for The Atlantic Vann Newkirk visited Tulane for a conversation as part of the Environmental Studies program’s “American Water and Actual Air” series. Broom, a native New Orleanian, released her first book The Yellow House just last year, which has continued to receive critical acclaim. Lyrical and honest, The Yellow House is a tribute to the New Orleans East and is a historical account of life “on the margins.”

A salute to the title of the lecture series, Broom and Newkirk focused much of their conversation on water. Among many subjects pertinent to life in New Orleans, including inequality, race, and place, the authors kept returning to the unavoidable—water sustains life, and also threatens it. The yellow house Broom grew up in met its demise during and after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on that fateful August day in 2005.

“People are more than the sum of their disasters,” said Broom, commenting on a tendency for Hurricane Katrina to define what it means to be a New Orleanian. Water is a main character in The Yellow House, “a personified force,” Broom explained during the conversation, “that can potentially get us all.” When asked why she chose to refer to the flood that followed Hurricane Katrina as “the water,” Broom said she wanted to distinguish between the Hurricane and its aftermath: the category of the storm was one thing, “the negligence that led to 80% of the city being under water” was another.

Places are central to our identities. In Louisiana, climate change threatens to wipe our homes off the map. And across the world, people’s senses of identity are in question as communities seek relocation due to environmental shifts such as rising sea levels, from Kivalina, Alaska, to the Marshall Islands. As Broom mentioned in her conversation with Newkirk, climate change is a catastrophe because we know how beautiful and precious a place can be. As Broom explains, “to have a place for yourself that you can claim is a human act, and that’s what it means to be part of a family.” Places and objects, she continued, retain memories that “shape us in our inner fibers.”

We fight long and hard to keep our feet on the ground to which we belong, but climate change is a battle we may not win. What we can do is write, read, and talk about the problem, include more voices of color, and weave the stories and struggles of climate victims into our narratives of place. The Yellow House does just that, shining light on the importance of ‘home’ and what it feels like to lose it.

The “American Water and Actual Air” series is organized by the School of Liberal Arts Environmental Studies program and the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South. The speaker series focuses on interpreting the environment across disciplines, and is hosted by Tulane professors Andy Horowitz and Thomas Beller.

“Art has always, and I believe will continue to, impact the way we see and experience the world around us,” explained Holly Flora, a professor of art history and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs for the School of Liberal Arts.

In January, Flora traveled to Rome, Italy to accept the Premio San Francesco from the Pontifical University of Saint Anthony (Antonianum) in Rome for her new book Cimabue and the Franciscans (Brepols/Harvey Miller, 2018). “It’s a huge honor to be selected for this very prestigious, international prize,” said Flora. The Pope’s university awards the Premio San Francesco prize every two years for the best book in Franciscan studies, with works ranging from books on family and spirituality to historical and academic works. Flora’s book charts the life and work of Cenni di Pepo, known as Cimabue, an artist from Florence that lived in the late 1200s. Cimabue is widely considered to be the forefather of the Renaissance and a precursor to individuals such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. And while his large paintings and mosaics are discussed in art historical contexts, very little was known about Cimabue, until now.

“I thought it was really time for a fresh look at this artist,” said Flora, referring to the beginning of her research on Cimabue that occurred when she was a curatorial fellow at the Frick Collection from 2003-2005. After studying a small painting at the Frick by Cimabue that was likely cut from one of his larger works, Flora became more interested in how artists and religious orders of the time drove the patronage of the early Renaissance.

“What I think I was really able to do with this book is look at Franciscan theology and Franciscan ideas about art, beauty, and experiences of God, and create a greater understanding of how Cimabue’s works were really responding to those ideas and also how the artist and religious patrons worked together.” To complete the research, Flora made multiple trips to Italy and participated in fellowships at the American Academy in Rome and the Harvard Center for Renaissance Studies at Villa I Tatti in Florence.

While Flora’s main focus has been on Cimabue over the last decade, this work builds on her interest in asking bigger questions about the Franciscan order and how art in the late medieval period is a moment of change, turning to a more naturalistic approach and also speaking to a more personal experience of religion. “We still live in a moment where we are bound, in some ways, ideologically to constructs of history,” said Flora. “For example, we think of the ancient world, the medieval world, the Renaissance, and the modern world as separate, defined moments. What I really tried to underscore in Cimabue and the Franciscans is that Cimabue falls between “medieval” and “Renaissance,” so I suggest considering his moment in its own way so we can understand the changes in art and society at this time more broadly.”

Xyy Yang (SLA ’27) took the skills from his coursework in Digital Media Practices (DMP) to football's biggest event, joining the Super Bowl LIX media madness in New Orleans as a production assistant in the days ahead of the game.

The prospective DMP major has spent the last year sharpening his skills in video production with the Dean’s Office marketing & communications team — an experience he says helped prepare him for the high-pressure environment of sports media coverage. Introducing him to the team at Front Office Sports (FOS) was an easy solution that enabled Yang to earn hands-on experience in his field, and he was partially prepared for the pace. Still, with 6,414 accredited members of the media filling the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center — the most ever for a Super Bowl — being exposed to Radio Row was a definite first.

FOS is a media company with over 800K newsletter subscribers, known for publishing off-the-field content at the intersection of sports, business, and culture. Xxy’s PA duties included tasks like set fabrication and production suite setup, as seen in the photos of FOS' "before" rendering as well as the ultimate build. He also logged and organized video assets and jumping in on last-minute edit needs so producers could keep a rolling cadence of social media assets to their fanbase.

"The concept of a media row was something I didn’t know about before. Just the sheer number of media companies there was something astonishing," said Yang. "AP News was just a few steps away from the booth I was working, which was pretty wild, as was the crowd of celebrities. The week started on Monday with the build of Front Office’s set in the Convention Center, so I was able to really experience things beginning from the ground up."

This was a key role in our production workflow. Xyy handled himself in a professional and smart way, and was very well respected and appreciated by our production crew.

-Alan Springer

Xyy's main duties fell under Jon Shames, Podcast Producer for FOS, to help setup a Roland VR-120HD Direct Streaming AV Mixer for use as a backup recording device, as well as to act as video switcher. "I had to troubleshoot issues, such as the stream not showing up on a MacBook, and come up with testing solutions to pinpoint what the issues were. I mainly supported Jon and helped with whatever was needed. He was a force on-site... both with how many people he knew, and all that he was able to recall from memory."

Alan Springer, CEO of Springtime Media and part of the FOS Super Bowl coverage team, commented, “As a PA, Xyy helped our production team set up the wiring and internet, assisted in managing the production schedule, and traveled offsite to get production gear that was needed. He learned the skill set to operate and run our Black Magic audio/video board used to stream the live feed back to our editors in New York.

Read on for more in Xyy's own words, from highlights of his experience, what he learned from producers, and how he will continue to build on this opportunity.

Applicable Skills from Current Courses

In Final Cut Pro Mastery (THEA3910) with Professor Antony Sandoval, I'm learning the ins and outs of professional video editing, and understanding video workflow. With Professor Duane Prefume's Virtual & 3D Filmmaking (DMPC391001) I’m able to experience 3D filmmaking and what it’s like to jump into a whole new world — as well as try my hand at troubleshooting new applications, programs, and tech. And then Glass I (ARST1170) with Professor Christian Stock proved a very valuable endeavor in working as a team under intense heat and pressure.

Advice from the Professionals

• “Being a good producer is getting ahead of potential issues before they happen.”
  I was told I was on the right path when, as we were leaving to go to Best Buy around 6pm, I asked security by the entrance if there was a certain time we had to be back in case there was a cut-off for allowing new entrances.
• “Start gaining hands-on experience early.” 
  Others advised me that students should begin building their skills well before their junior or senior years — it makes a significant difference.

Key Takeaways

Listening to professional career journeys was incredibly insightful. Hearing them discuss the people they worked with, which collaborations were successful, which weren’t, and how their paths unfolded — all of it. Each story was packed with valuable lessons, reinforcing that every journey is unique.

The ability to wear many hats is so important! Maybe a team member needs to suddenly be somewhere else on a critical assignment. Being able to step in could mean anything from having to cut and craft footage for social media to working as the video switcher. It not only gives the team flexibility, but everyone works better together when they understand other roles besides their own.

Stay in ongoing communication, and ask questions. For example, communicating to the camera operators current issues or cutting to the other camera so the camera can setup for a close-up shot… then cutting back to that camera with the video switcher. It’s not always going to be the same gear but being able to go into a new environment and problem-solve on the fly in a high-pressure environment can apply to any situation.

This spring, Laura-Zoë Humphreys, a professor in the School of Liberal Arts Department of Communication, will continue her research on media in Cuba with the support of a competitive award from the Wenner-Gren Foundation. Humphreys’ work bridges her background in anthropology and media studies, and while living abroad this year, she will focus her research on new methods of digital media piracy in Cuba.

“The revolution in Cuba refers to a time beginning in 1959 and everything after, when the state nationalized all media production, distribution, and exhibition, and it has mostly remained in control of these today,” explained Humphreys. Cuba remains one of the least connected countries in the world with approximately 30% of the population having access to internet due to its prohibitively high rates, in addition to a government that enforces censorship. However, a group of individuals is changing the way residents access media from around the world.

“By 2010, a new thing comes along,” said Humphreys, “the paquete semanal or the weekly package.” The paquete is one terabyte of pirated digital media collected by independent Cuban entrepreneurs and circulated through informal distribution networks across the island on a weekly basis using flash drives and hard drives, allowing individuals across the country to gain access to television programs, news, cultural publications, and music from around the globe. The paquete itself operates in a ‘tolerated but not legal’ realm in Cuba, having grown from historical precedents of families creating informal libraries of books, magazines, and newspapers that weren’t allowed to be distributed in the country.

For Humphreys, one thing is certain: given its exponential growth in the last few years, the paquete is transforming media ecology in Cuba and around the world. As she describes, “my new book project follows the paquete and examines this movement as the most serious threat to the state’s control over distribution that has happened since 1959.” Humphreys’ book will also use the paquete as a premise to look at how Cubans are turning to digital media piracy and new genres of entertainment to rethink social and political values at a time of intense change.

“The Wenner-Gren award has allowed me to receive support and feedback from my peers in anthropology on my media scholarship, which has been a wonderful process. I see this research as really spanning both communication and anthropology, and contributing to the study of communication from both ethnographic and Cuban perspectives.”

The Hitz Foundation has awarded the School of Liberal Arts’ Middle American Research Institute (M.A.R.I.) a grant nearing one million dollars to ensure M.A.R.I.’s important role in the analysis of spatial archaeological data. This award will improve technological offerings in M.A.R.I., an institute that stewards archaeological collections and archives; presents exhibitions, talks, and symposia; and supports anthropological research projects throughout Mexico and Central America.

Primarily funding the purchase of new equipment for M.A.R.I.’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Lab, the Hitz Foundation grant will also support the salary of a full-time GIS Lab manager, Francisco Estrada-Belli, a professor in the Department of Anthropology. GIS software manages and analyzes spatial data, creating important opportunities for comparative analysis. In the field of archeology, for example, GIS software can assist researchers in identifying human-made features on specific landscapes and then analyze their distribution vis-à-vis multiple factors such as topography, vegetation, and soil type.

“Currently, archaeology in the Maya area is undergoing a data revolution spear-headed by the advent of hyper-precise remote sensing data of different kinds,” explained Marcello Canuto, director of M.A.R.I. and a professor in the Department of Anthropology. “While drone-based, aerial, and satellite data are becoming ever more precise, they are also expensive and computer-intensive. Proper computing power, storage space, programming, and expertise are needed to take full advantage of this data revolution.”

Striving to become a center of excellence and foster such innovation, M.A.R.I. will also use the support from the Hitz Foundation award for graduate student research assistantships to train students on the procedures of processing, collecting, and analyzing GIS data in Tulane’s state-of-the-art lab.

Founded in 1924, M.A.R.I. promotes a greater understanding of the vibrant and diverse cultures of Middle America. Over the past decade, the Institute has become a hub for academic research and GIS mapping, as well as other technical databases. “M.A.R.I. is analyzing hyper-precise, high-resolution remotely sensed datasets in the Maya area, such as LiDAR. This generous award from the Hitz Foundation, who has long supported our endeavors, will ensure our ability to analyze, maintain, and curate these and other data for years to come,” Canuto explained. “Moreover, as this technology improves, the grant will allow us to enhance our capabilities for analysis such that we render these data as productive as possible. We intend to become a ‘go-to’ place for GIS analysis in archaeology for the next decade.”

For the past several years, faculty and students in the Digital Media Production program have worked across the School of Liberal Arts departments of theatre, music, communication, English, and history, among others, to pursue creative, cross-disciplinary, and timely works. This year, the program will welcome a name that supports this process and the shifts occurring throughout multiple professional industries: Digital Media Practices.

“Tulane University has a strong record of focusing on narrative filmmaking, and that is definitely something we will continue—students are incredibly interested in this discipline and we have great faculty and alumni connections in the industry,” explained Richard Snow, the new director of the Digital Media Practices program and a professor in the Newcomb Department of Music. “Right now, we have the opportunity to give our students a chance to do even more expansive things with digital media.” Snow’s own work in the emerging field of sound studies offers an intriguing example: he works with interactive computer sound and video mapping instruments to create multimodal artworks of sound and light.

With the rise in popularity of creative coding, video games, podcasts, animation, and digital media in studio art practices, the program is eager to offer a broader range of courses and focuses for students pursuing a coordinate major in Digital Media Practices. As Snow explained, “we are really responding to student interest more than anything else. I anticipate being surprised by the projects students propose to pursue, from multi-episode podcasts to interactive media exhibitions, and experimental video games, in addition to imaginative and finely crafted short films and documentaries.”

Starting in fall 2020, Digital Media Practices will include five main areas of study and practice: narrative filmmaking, documentary and expository filmmaking, sound practice, interactive media, and creative coding. “These are exciting spaces in which to work, and they allow for practical teaching as well as a lot of imagination from the students in the ways they apply their skill sets,” said Snow. “For example, working in the field of sound practice, students could end up focusing on the sound that goes into filmmaking, and also the explosive field of podcasting and radio dramas. It is all related to practice, imagination, and creativity.”

Brian Edwards, dean of the School of Liberal Arts, is excited about the program’s growth. “As we enter the third decade of the century, the ways in which digital media have transformed narrative storytelling, journalism, professional communication, entertainment, and sound are nothing less than revolutionary,” Edwards said.

Noting the introduction of Facebook in 2004, the iPhone in 2007, and Instagram in 2010, he commented: “Students entering Tulane in the fall have grown up in the digital age, and bring interests and inclinations, as well as imagination, that we are eager to fuel through new courses, an expanded faculty, and a capacious sense of the power and potential of a variety of practices.” Look for news in the weeks and months to come as Tulane shows leadership in this compelling new set of fields.

Tulane’s Newcomb Department of Music has undertaken its first major curriculum overhaul in decades, responding to the evolving interests of current and prospective students eager to explore and shape the sonic landscapes of daily life. Curriculum innovations include reimagining the jazz studies program as Black American Music (BAM) and introducing a new specialization in Music and Technology (M&T). While working towards these changes, Tulane began to bolster its faculty in BAM and M&T with the addition of acclaimed composer Courtney Bryan, renowned trumpeter Ashlyn Parker, and dynamic percussionist Peter Varnado — enhancing student resources and deepening connections to New Orleans’ vibrant music scene. These efforts are helping Tulane's music program position itself as a national hub for students seeking to merge their passion for music with a forward-looking professional education.

Additional program updates include streamlining the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music into one degree with five possible pathways — allowing students to pursue specific career options that integrate professional areas such as composition, performance, and musical theater, alongside BAM and M&T. In addition, updated core requirements now reflect the diversity of today’s global and popular musical traditions and the transformative role of technology in the music industry.

To further strengthen the music studies, musical theater, and music business offerings, the department recently welcomed internationally recognized ethnomusicologist Ana Maria Ochoa; actor, director, writer, and producer Laura Waringer; and producer and seasoned percussionist Taku Hirano. These professors are leaders within their specialty and are poised to reinvigorate Tulane’s musical legacy.

Launched in the fall of 2024, these reforms are already showing results — with a rise in music majors and minors within just one semester. These positive outcomes are thanks in part to the Department of Music’s faculty working more closely with each student to ensure their success while enrolled and post-graduation.

Ana María Ochoa

Professor

Laura Waringer

Assistant Professor

Taku Hirano

Professor of Practice

A More Expansive Digital Media Program

From narrative filmmaking to creative coding and interactive media, the new Digital Media Practices program will equip students with a greater breadth of skills across multiple media practices.

The Paquete: Transforming Media Ecology

Laura-Zoë Humphreys, a professor in the Department of Communication, received a grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation to further her study of media ecology in Cuba.

M.A.R.I. Awarded Hitz Foundation Grant Nearing $1 Million

The School of Liberal Arts' Middle American Research Institute will enhance their Geographic Information System (GIS) Lab over the next five years with this new grant.

Symposium on the Literary History of New Orleans

Scholars and creative writers who contributed to the new collection of essays, New Orleans: A Literary History, edited by Tulane English Professor T. R. Johnson, will gather for an all-day symposium on January 25th.

2020 Liberal Arts Summer Program Offerings

As you consider your options for Summer 2020, learn about three signature liberal arts programs as well as a new opportunity for high school students to experience college.

 

 

 

Tulane School of Liberal Arts 

102 Newcomb Hall • New Orleans, LA 70118
liberalarts.tulane.edu 

“There is a huge discrepancy between indigenous and non-indigenous people in Guatemala,” explains Rubén Morales Forte, a master’s candidate in Latin American Studies at Tulane University. “My idea is that this disconnection is largely because of a lack of information regarding the region’s past, and my work aims to remedy that.”  

Morales Forte studies archeology and linguistics, and about five years ago he and a few colleagues began creating the online database Maya Scripta. Their goal was to make Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions available to everyone for free. They also hoped to fill an important gap for individuals in Guatemala: while journals and articles on the subject exist, most of the research is presented in English, making it difficult for people in the predominately Spanish-speaking region to access accurate information about historical monuments and sites. Launched last year, Maya Scripta includes photos and drawings of many monuments in Guatemala, Spanish translations of texts associated with or inscribed in the monument, and the monument’s chronology (what time period it belongs to, and what time period it covers). Because Morales Forte and his colleagues collate the information from researchers at universities, Maya Scripta also offers bibliographic information for many of its entries.

While developing the database, Morales Forte moved from Guatemala to New Orleans to begin his graduate research at Tulane and immediately applied to participate in the Mellon Graduate Program in Community-Engaged Scholarship, which would allow him to link his research to community work in Guatemala. While Morales Forte knew that Maya Scripta would benefit many researchers, archeologists, and linguists around the world, he also wanted it to have an impact on education throughout Guatemala.

Over the last year, the two ideas began to merge as Morales Forte started working with the director and tour guides at the museum in Dolores, Petén, Guatemala. The museum in Dolores was a key component to giving a great deal of people—from professional archeologists to middle and high school students in the area—access to important historical information. With funding from his Mellon Fellowship, Morales Forte worked with the museum to create new billboards in an effort to increase visitors, offered workshops on reading hieroglyphics,  updated the current exhibition to include more details on monuments and multiple tablets to access Maya Scripta, and is now in the process of printing new didactic materials such as pamphlets. Since news coverage on Morales Forte and the museum’s work was published in the national weekly Revista D, the museum and the platform have seen an impressive increase in visitors and activity.

“Rubén Morales Forte's work is a model of community-engaged scholarship, putting the academy at the service of local populations as well as science,” explains Judith Maxwell, a professor in the Department of Anthropology. Maxwell, who Morales Forte met four years ago working with youth to revive Guatemala’s Kaqchikel language, advises Morales Forte on his master’s thesis, which explores how the knowledge gained through archeology and Maya hieroglyphic writing can be applied in a community-engaged project. Linking his interests has been key to Morales Forte’s time at Tulane. “I always struggled to decide if I would focus on linguistics or archeology, and the Latin American Studies Program at Tulane is the perfect place to combine both in this type of study because of its flexibility and interdisciplinarity,” said Morales Forte. “And the Mellon project really brings together all of my interests—archeology, ancient Maya linguistics and writing, modern Mayan languages, and community engagement.”

Middle school students from Dolores, Petén, Guatemala who attended the workshops about Maya hieroglyphic writing at the regional museum of southeastern Petén, "Juan Pedro Laporte Molina."

One of two new billboards advertising the museum installed on the CA-13 highway in Petén, Guatemala with the support of local Doloreños (people from Dolores).

For more information on Maya Scripta, email mayascripta@uvg.edu.gt or Reveal Email Address.

As our students take exams and finish final projects to wrap up the fall semester, we in the Dean’s Office are also putting final touches on big projects. This has been an exciting semester as we start to roll out programs several months in the making.

In the September edition of this newsletter, I shared with you the three pillars of our strategic vision for the School of Liberal Arts. These priorities—advancing a more global liberal arts education; embracing and our dual identity as a world-class research university and liberal arts college; and deepening our engagement with New Orleans and the Gulf South—guide a wide range of initiatives and investments as we build Tulane for the next generation of leadership.

Beginning in the fall 2020 semester, we’ll launch a new sophomore-year experience, which will bring together faculty and students in small, team-taught seminars and individual tutorials. This new initiative will address the second pillar by offering an exciting opportunity for students to forge close intellectual partnerships with our world-class research faculty early in their careers at Tulane.

Students will join professors selected from our research faculty in a co-taught, interdisciplinary seminar on a special topic. Seminars bring approaches from the humanities and social sciences to bear on issues of broad importance with local or regional resonances.

The experience will prepare sophomores for original research in the humanities and social sciences, which they then carry into the spring semester in independent tutorials with a faculty member of their choice. Each student will have a research budget to assist their inquiries; their work may result in written papers or creative work. 

This program is one we’ve been working on since the summer, and we’re excited to launch it in the spring. Expect formal announcements and applications for students in the coming weeks.

This experience is but one of several new initiatives that I look forward to sharing with you in coming installments of this newsletter. These are exciting times in the School of Liberal Arts!  In the meantime, I wish you and yours a peaceful, joyous holiday season.

Published in the School of Liberal Arts December 12, 2019 Newsletter.