First, please review the eligibility criteria for participation in NEH Seminars and Institutes for School Teachers: http://www.neh.gov/files/divisions/education/eligibility/school_teacher_eligibility_criteria.pdf.

Our anticipated audience for this summer seminar is primarily middle and high school English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Art instructors with a pedagogical interest in ethnic literature/film and contemporary issues around multiculturalism, racial diversity, immigration, citizenship, and national identity, as well as people who are involved in curriculum development around these lines.

We are particularly eager to welcome participants from states with limited or very concentrated Asian American populations, as well as those whose student populations may reflect these demographic shifts in ways that the curriculum simply cannot yet keep up with. In short, we will consider both teachers who work with immigrant (not necessarily Asian) and/or indigenous student populations, as well as those who don’t.

We suggest potential applicants from all levels and disciplines make their case for inclusion in the seminar. In the application essay, we encourage applicants to discuss the specific questions which are raised for them around Asian American culture and communities in their home state, and the kinds of challenges and opportunities which they are faced with. We intend to create a cohort with great regional diversity, and one which can learn from within, and across America, as it well as from the social laboratory of New York City.