ASU welcomes two ACLS Emerging Voices fellows

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Division of Humanities at Arizona State University is pleased to welcome two American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Emerging Voices fellows. 

Nnamdi Igbokwe will join the Institute for Humanities Research, and Marissa C. Rhodes will join the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies for the 2020–21 academic year. Both will have the opportunity to advance their research and professional development while contributing to scholarship and programming at ASU.

ACLS created the Emerging Voices Fellowship program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the economy. The program supports early career scholars “whose voices, perspectives and broad visions will strengthen institutions of higher education and humanistic disciplines in the years to come,” according to ACLS’s recent announcement.

“The fellowship signifies both adaptability and innovation in the face of the unknown, and I find that extremely exciting,” said Igbokwe. “As fellows, our perspectives will contribute to new processes for our institutions as well as for our respective disciplines, which altogether can help form new paradigms in academic learning.”

Igbokwe hopes to work closely with the Institute for Humanities Research's Digital Humanities Initiative in designing one of his research programs.

Nnamdi Igbokwe

“I hope to produce a renewed methodology for an impact investment political risk barometer that instructs on best practices for the deployment of external development capital in emerging and frontier economies,” he said. 

“Dr. Igbokwe’s work on politics and corruption is not only timely, but invokes an interdisciplinary approach to international politics, economic policy and historical traditions,” said Liz Grumbach, institute assistant director and Digital Humanities Initiative program lead. 

“His digital project is incredibly exciting, and seeks to bring together methodologies from digital humanities, informatics, economics and deep histories of state institutions to discover new ways of analyzing developing markets.”

Igbokwe received his PhD in political science at Johns Hopkins University.

Rhodes, who will be working with the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies Public History Program, including contributing to “A Journal of the Plague Year: An Archive of COVID-19,” is most looking forward to interacting with the people at ASU. 

Marissa C. Rhodes

“Strong mentorship from faculty and support from staff have the potential to transform the trajectories of struggling young scholars,” she said. “ASU faculty have made it clear that this aspect of the fellowship is a priority for them.”  

“We are thrilled to welcome Marissa Rhodes to (the school),” said School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies Director Richard Amesbury. “Her interest in public history and desire to reach broad audiences chimes with our commitments, and we are excited that she will be teaching and conducting research with us for the next year.”

Rhodes’ dissertation research uses digital methodologies such as data mining and text analysis to uncover silences in the historical record, with a primary interest in 18th-century, Anglo-Atlantic homes and wet-nurse trades. She received her PhD in history at the State University of New York at Buffalo. 

“This program is a welcome and needed chance to ensure some recent doctoral graduates have a chance to hone their public humanities skills at institutions eager to mentor and collaborate,” said The College’s Dean of Humanities Jeffrey Cohen. “We are thrilled to have them both join our community and look forward to working with them in the year ahead.”