An exhibit currently in development for the Cal State San Bernardino Museum of Anthropology has received another major grant.

“In|Dignity,” which will open in January 2018, received $15,000 from the California Humanities, a nonprofit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Humanities for All Grant was awarded to the exhibit’s co-curators Arianna Huhn and Annika Anderson. Huhn is the museum’s director and an assistant professor of anthropology; Anderson is an assistant professor of sociology.

“In|Dignity ” is a double entendre simultaneously reading as a single word – “indignity” – and two separate words – “in dignity.” These two meanings capture precisely what the exhibition will explore: experiences with oppression, discrimination, and prejudice, and simultaneously the pride and self-respect that we must have for ourselves and for others facing such injustices. The collaboration is based on a series of 42 interviews conducted with San Bernardino and Riverside county residents.

The stories include personal experiences with ableism, androcentrism, cisgenderism, racism, heterosexism, educationalism, ageism, Islamophobia, classism, colorism, size-ism, pro-natalism, and other axes of life outside of the societal “norm.” The stories make clear both the persistence of inequalities and biased normative standards in our communities — often in subtle and unintentional ways — and their impacts on individual lives.

Each community participant’s story will be presented in the museum using words, sound and imagery. Each participant’s picture will also be displayed, photographed by CSUSB professor of art Thomas McGovern, using techniques aimed at deepening emotional connections between the audience and portrait subjects.

Huhn and Anderson hope that audiences of the exhibition will emerge from In|Dignity with more empathy and insight for disadvantaged “others,” and a pledge for making a difference in the community through open-mindedness and civic participation.

Humanities For All Project Grant is a competitive grant program of California Humanities. Grants are awarded to projects that give expression to the extraordinary variety of histories and experiences of California’s places and people to ensure that the stories can be shared widely. These narratives help us find our commonalities, appreciate our differences and learn something new about how to live well together.

“Everyone participates in the humanities in one way or another, and everyone has something to share to help us better understand and appreciate each other,” said Tricia Wynne, chair of the board of California Humanities. “Our new Humanities for All Project Grants program is a way to make support for public humanities programs more accessible across the state of California, amplifying voices we may not often hear.”

California Humanities is an independent nonprofit and state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. This year marks the organization’s 40th anniversary of promoting the humanities as relevant, meaningful ways to understand the human condition and connect us to each other in order to help strengthen California. 

The organization produces, funds, creates and supports humanities-based projects and programs, eye-opening cultural experiences and meaningful conversations. During the past 40 years, California Humanities has awarded over $29 million in grants across the state.

Visit the California Humanities website at www.calhum.org for more information on its work and current initiatives, and follow it on Facebook at California Humanities (search @calhumanities), and Twitter at @Cal_Humanities.