Stolen Relations is a tribal collaborative database project that seeks to understand settler colonialism and its impact through the lens of Indigenous enslavement and unfreedom. The project is led by Associate Professor of History Linford Fisher, and is robustly supported by the Center for Digital Scholarship (CDS) at Brown University Library. CDS staff members include: Cody Carvel, Ashley Champagne, Birkin Diana, Mairelys Lemus-Rojas, and Patrick Rashleigh. The project was first conceptualized by Prof. Fisher in 2015 and has been supported by a variety of centers, departments, and initiatives at Brown, including the Population and Studies Training Center, the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice, the Department of History, the Brown Library, the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative, and the Office of the Vice President for Research.
The NEH Grant
The National Endowment for the Humanities Digital Humanities Advancement Grant will expand the collaborative work the project team has done and launch a public portal that will allow others to learn about the impact of settler colonialism and Indigenous enslavement by accessing archival documents that would otherwise be difficult to find and read, further enhanced with supplemental aids that help to contextualize and decolonize the archival information and documents from Indigenous perspectives. The award will fund infrastructure to facilitate robust tribal community collaboration and support, including partnerships with the Tomaquag Museum, a graduate student staff person, regular meetings with community tribal members, and interns from Indigenous communities over three years. Stolen Relations is among 226 humanities projects across America totaling $31.5 million to receive funding through this NEH grant program.
List of NEH Awards and Offers
For the full list of awards and offers, visit the National Endowment for the Humanities Grant website. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this press release do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.