My book project, Funding Footprints: Dance and American Diplomacy, chronicles the relationship between the US State Department and the American dance community, tracking the Cold War and post 9/11 international dance tours sponsored by the State Department. The book has several central questions: What is the relationship between the government and the arts? How do arts programs contribute to the idea of “America?” How do artists support official government agendas, while also critiquing them? How do these processes unfold onstage, as dancers perform, and offstage, as they move through other countries, talking and dancing with non-Americans? The project embraces several fields of study, including dance, theatre, and performance studies; Cold War history; American studies; women studies; and African American studies. Student research assistants will be contributing to the book in several ways, including helping me make decisions about what aspects of this history can/should be documented in words and what should be documented visually through photographs; and conducting collection and analysis of government documents from the late fifties, when government officials debated the value of these newly created programs.  Working on this project will enhance the student’s skills in doing research using online databases, introduce the basics of archival research, and raise important questions about scholarly methods that stretch beyond the analysis of text, particularly in terms of how we can think about the arts as a mode of thinking. 

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Students Tasks and Responsibilities: Students will be reading chapter drafts, giving feedback on when photographs would be useful to include, and then assisting me in locating and getting permission to use these photographs. Students will also catalog archival material related to Congressional hearings, correspondence, and news reports on cultural diplomacy.