A number of different groups and individuals have pointed out the ways in which DH, as a field, could do more to include women and people of color. Similarly, there have been calls to encourage more engagement with theories of intersectionality, feminisms, queer studies, and similar ethical and political positions.

While it can be hard to transform a field even as we try to gain footholds within LACs, it might be the case that we are in unique positions to help address these issues within the larger field. This session would be a forum for brainstorming ideas for action within LAC contexts.

The 2008 CLIR report on Digital Humanities Centers suggested that Centers were risking silo-style knowledge and infrastructure development (www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub143/pub143.pdf). At the same time, major private and public funding agencies have begun to target regional collaboration, both amongst LACs and between LACs and other kinds of institutions. Additionally, the recent DH Commons project has begun to facilitate collaborative relationships amongst individual scholars.

I’d like to have a conversation about what kinds of collaborations are both possible and desirable for LAC faculty, whether in the context of a center or otherwise. Rather than thinking in terms of “what can X offer Y,” I’d propose thinking about identifying research/teaching/tech synergies and building collaborations in this manner. In addition to thinking about how to find like-minded scholars, we might also discuss the nuts and bolts, so to speak, of collaborative projects.