Society Fellowships 2027-28
Forecasted
Society Fellowships 2027-28 support scholars and artists in residential interdisciplinary humanities research on PLAY, exploring play as a core human activity through scholarly and artistic inquiry.
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Funder: Cornell University
Due Dates (Anticipated): September 2027 (Application and recommendation letters)
Funding Amounts: $68,000 per fellow for one year (August–July); up to six fellows
Summary: Residential fellowships support interdisciplinary humanities research exploring PLAY through scholarly and artistic inquiry.
Key Information: Fellows must live and work in Ithaca, participate in weekly seminars, and teach one small seminar.
Description
The Society for the Humanities at Cornell University supports year-long residential fellowships for scholars and artists conducting interdisciplinary research. The 2027–28 focal theme, PLAY, invites critical inquiry into play as a core human activity. Relevant disciplines include anthropology, literature, history, performance studies, music, theater, media studies, gender and sexuality studies, cultural studies, and game studies.
Projects may explore improvisation, imagination, creativity, futurity, rules, expertise, mastery, or risk-taking through gambling and speculation. The theme also encompasses play’s relationships to pleasure, harm, fantasy, truth, and delusion, alongside everyday practices such as wordplay and children’s play. Fellows pursue research and writing within a communal intellectual environment, sharing work and readings with one another and the Society’s director.
