Boarding School Stories

In response to the 2021 creation of the United States Federal Indian Boarding School Truth Initiative, this group seeks to bring together scholars and community members who are working toward localized visions and practices of reconciliation that are grounded in the gathering and telling of Indigenous boarding school stories.

Cognition and Literature

This group aims to leverage insights from neuroscience, psychology, and management to deepen our understanding of how cognitive processes influence and are influenced by literary and artistic expression. This initiative is aligned with BYU’s commitment to interdisciplinary learning and research, fostering an environment where diverse academic perspectives can synergistically advance knowledge and understanding.

Disability Studies

The Disability Studies (DS) research group focuses on the intersection of disability with world literature and visual culture, drawing from its roots in the social sciences and its evolution in the humanities and arts. The group aims to foster interdisciplinary collaboration, recruit scholars from various colleges and nearby universities, and host public lectures, seminars, and workshops. This initiative supports BYU’s efforts to enhance belonging and complements discussions on health and wellness in light of the new medical school.

Editing and Publishing

The Editing and Publishing Research Group includes scholars from across the United States who are involved in editing, publishing, writing, and linguistics research. The group is currently focused on establishing BYU’s Faculty Publishing Service (FPS) as a site that can generate data for research projects.

Game Studies

This research group aims to explore the role of games in culture and academia, examining them as historical objects, creative works, and examples of reception and adaptation. It seeks to connect faculty across different departments and provide training on integrating games into scholarship and teaching. The group will also engage the university community through public humanities initiatives, enhancing BYU faculty’s participation in this expanding field.

Greek and Latin Translation Working Group

This group helps interested faculty and students maintain their skills in ancient Greek and Latin. We translate a Latin text each fall semester and a Greek text each winter semester. The texts that we will work on as a group will be chosen collectively and ideally will arise out of a faculty member’s research project, who also wants the opportunity to discuss the text in its original language, and who perhaps would like to have assistance in the translation process.

Health Humanities

The Health Humanities Research Group focuses on understanding the embodied human experience of health and illness, emphasizing the unique perspective provided by BYU’s religious context. The group aims to enhance interdisciplinary collaboration and explore how our faith-based approach influences the health humanities. The group also prioritizes improving intercultural and multilingual communication in healthcare and values the role of creative expression in enriching the understanding of health and illness.

Humanities and the Learning Sciences

This research group aims to integrate the humanities and learning sciences to enrich research and teaching in both fields. It focuses on fostering human development through interdisciplinary approaches, emphasizing deep understanding, connected learning, and innovative learning environments. The group also seeks to strengthen faculty research expertise and support M.A. graduate students in their study design, data collection, and data analysis during their programs.

Humor

The Humor Research Group meets several times per semester to 1) study and discuss humor scholarship and practices and 2) workshop group members’ humor-related research.

Medieval and Renaissance Studies

MARS (Medieval and Renaissance Studies) members come to us from across several disciplines and colleges to share our interest with the historic period from the end of antiquity (roughly ca. 500) down to the development of the early modern world (roughly up through the seventeenth century).

Metaethics in the Mountains

Contemporary philosophy, just as in ancient times, requires the agora. Despite the fact that so much of philosophy is solo-authored, it is always done best when it is the product of lively philosophical conversation and debate. The work of this group is focused on morality and metaphysics.

Provo Walks Lab

The Provo Walks Lab proposes to turn the focus of faculty expertise towards the immediate community surrounding Brigham Young University through the creation of a series of themed guided walks based in and around the city of Provo, Utah. By creating this lab, we invite faculty to consider a project-based learning approach to publicly engaged scholarship. In other words, we invite faculty to create a research-based guided walks, possibly with the assistance of students, centered on a specific theme and located in Provo. The goal of creating this collection of walks is to provide a resource that can educate students at BYU and residents of Provo about the rich, complex, and diverse history and culture of Provo and its landscapes (human, urban, natural, etc.).

Religious Studies in Modern Europe

In addition to the study the history of the Church in Europe, the Religious Studies in Europe Research Group also focuses on how the idea of Mormonism was used and adapted around the globe to explore the way members of the LDS Church are depicted and thought of in a non-American context.

Short Story

This research group focuses on exploring the modern short story’s adaptability and significance across various disciplines, including literary study, history, and art. They aim to discuss existing work on short stories and identify areas for further study to better understand and promote the form. The group will also explore how short stories can be used in public humanities contexts and potential interdisciplinary collaborations.

Theology and Humanities

 This group looks to take up, in a more extensive and reflective way, theological works of broad impact across multiple fields – literary studies, philosophy, theory, culture and gender studies, and more.

Translation Studies

In the age of globalization, Translation Studies has emerged to meet the dramatically increased need not only for the practical translation and interpretation of texts and documents, but for transcultural and transnational understanding and communication.

Women’s Studies Teaching and Research (WSTAR)

The Women’s Studies Teaching and Research Group helps to further its members’ training in contemporary theories and practices related to women’s studies. We schedule events and activities that involve presentations and workshops conducted by eminent scholars in the field of women’s studies as well as by members of the group. We also sponsor visiting lectures and conduct workshops for work-in-progress by members of the group.