The New American Conversation: Belonging and Identity Politics Re-Loaded

The New American Conversation: Belonging and Identity Politics Re-Loaded The New American Conversation: Belonging and Identity Politics Re-Loaded As we approach the year 2020, our sense of what it is to be an American is at stake. We are at a crossroads, both in the U.S. and abroad, in our understanding not only of American ways of being, but also American ways of knowing. This interdisciplinary, collaborative project seeks to build the foundation for a large-scale project on what we believe is a desperately needed new conversation about belonging as the manifestation of inclusion -as well as how we think about identity. 2020 is a historical landmark for Americans: it is the year when students in K-12 flip to being majority minority, it is the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, and it is an election year when multiple women and minorities have been contending for the highest seat in our nation. At this time in our history, we want to build a new conversation; one that is approached from the vantage point of those historically marginalized in and by America. To do so, we need to understand how people define identity, how it could be defined, who can/should lead new dialogues and what these dialogues will look like. Who gets to narrate our past, present, and future? Simultaneously, we seek to understand how American-ness is narrated epistemologically as well as experientially. The project has three branches: a Discursive Intervention, a Programmatic Intervention, and an Epistemic Intervention. We seek funding primarily to support our Programmatic and Epistemic Interventions. We are requesting support from the Luce foundation to support our inaugural programmatic intervention that will lay the foundation for a new epistemology. We propose a knowledge convening that seeks to build inclusive languages, new ways of knowing, and new communications across different ethnic, racial, and religious groupings. We will produce new ways of knowing that are situated, grounded, and reflective of the demographics of America today. These new languages, forms of knowledge, and modes of communication will undergird a transformative curriculum to be implemented at the university and community levels.