SUMMER DISSERTATION FELLOWSHIP
The American Institute for Philosophical and Cultural Thought (AIPCT) is pleased to announce the Foundation for the Philosophy of Creativity (FPC) Summer Dissertation Research Fellowship is now accepting applications for summer of 2023. We have suspended the fellowship in 2021 and limited our program in 2022 due to the pandemic, but we expect to resume the program in 2023.
The FPC Fellow must be in residence at the AIPCT in Murphysboro, IL, from June 1 until August 2, 2022, and will receive free housing and $1000 per month, plus a travel stipend of $200. The FPC Fellow will carry out research on the dissertation (the idea is to finish a chapter while there). The dissertation can be in any discipline in the humanities or social sciences, so long as the topic of the research relates to theoretical ideas about creativity, broadly construed. The dissertation need not be wholly concerned with creativity, but the portion of the research carried out at AIPCT must be related to creativity. Toward the end of residency the FPC Fellow will present the research at AIPCT in a public lecture, the William S. Minor Fellowship Lecture (the 2017-2020 dissertation lectures and other presentations sponsored by FPC can be viewed here). See the AIPCT website (www.americanphilosophy.net) for more information about the research location, and visit the FPC website (www.creativityfoundation.org) for information about the grantor. To apply, please send:
*Brief application letter
*CV
*1000-1500 word description of the project (and how it relates to themes of creativity)
* A letter of support from the dissertation director
Send all e-mail attachments to cmccall@elmira.edu. The deadline is February 15, 2021. Notification of results by February 28, 2021.
2020 DISSERTATION FELLOW
Jordan Kokot was the William S. Minor Fellow for 2020. Residency was adjusted for the pandemic. His residency lecture is here. Dr. Kokot defended his Ph.D. in Philosophy at Boston University in August 2022, with a dissertation on the Phenomenology of Time Consciousness in Art and Aesthetic Experience. His dissertation focused on the writings of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and the foundational relationship between aesthetic practices and the phenomenology of temporality. In creating and appreciating works of art, we are inevitably and foundationally engaged in the practice of bringing time into focus for ourselves while also rebuilding the structures of our lived temporalities. Jordan also works and teaches in the phenomenology, aesthetics, and ethics of technology, analyzing the deep connections between artificial intelligence and virtual reality. He is also a practicing artist and creative writer, presently focused on producing a curated multimodal volume called field|guide which is dedicated to exploring the poetics of silence. You can learn more about Jordan here.
2019 DISSERTATION FELLOW
Gioia Laura Iannilli was the William S. Minor Dissertation Fellow for 2019, in residence at AIPCT June 1 to July 31, 2019. Her residency culminated with her public lecture, available here. She is currently Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bologna. She took her second PhD in Aesthetics at the University of Rome Tor Vergata (Philosophical-Social Sciences). Her thesis addressed the modalities through which the implicit component of experience is constituted from a specifically aesthetic viewpoint. She also holds a PhD in Aesthetics from the University of Bologna (Architecture), and also an MA in Visual Arts and a BA in Philosophy. She has taught Aesthetics of Design at the University of Florence in collaboration with Tongji University (Shanghai). Her areas of expertise are Deweyan Aesthetics, Everyday Aesthetics, Aesthetics of Design, Aesthetics of Fashion, Aesthetics of New Technologies. She has authored a book, L’estetico e il quotidiano: Design, Everyday Aesthetics, esperienza (2019) on these topics. She is currently book review editor of Studi di Estetica – Italian Journal of Aesthetics, and member of the editorial board of the “International Lexicon of Aesthetics.” Dr. Iannilli says of her experience: “During my fellowship at AIPCT I had the opportunity to access rich bibliographical resources and to discuss various aspects of my research with prominent scholars in philosophy. A valuable experience for anyone with an interest in American philosophical and cultural thought and in creativity. This fellowship not only allowed me to further develop my research, but also to get to know a scholarly environment which is both professional and extremely welcoming and human.”
2018 DISSERTATION FELLOW
Jennifer Marra was the 2018 William S. Minor Dissertation Fellow sponsored by the Foundation for the Philosophy of Creativity, in residence from June 1 until August 1. She is a PhD Candidate at Marquette University. Her areas of specialization include German phenomenology, carceral studies, and the philosophy of humor. Her scholarship is influenced by the work of Angela Davis, Ernst Cassirer, Richard Pryor, and Carol Burnett. Her current project focuses on Ernst Cassirer’s philosophy of symbolic forms as a means of informing metaphysical and normative understandings of humor. She is currently serving her fourth term on the executive board of The Lighthearted Philosophers Society. Her residency lecture is here. She defended her dissertation in spring 2019. Dr. Marra says of her experience: “The hosts are kind and generous, the town is quaint and welcoming, and if you ever get stuck on an argument there are plenty of books, scholars, and cats within arms reach for inspiration. The Institute itself is beautiful, located in a peaceful alcove within a ten minute walk of a local craft brewery and the best BBQ you’ll ever eat. The building itself houses a impressive library of resources, and if one is ever in need of a particular text, just ask – it will make it’s way to the Institute within days at most. This fellowship was the opportunity I needed to engage in dialogue and work with those rare resources I needed to breakthrough those final pesky complications of my dissertation.”