Host Institutions serve as the national flagship, central convener, and communications hub for HAL's translocal coalition. Currently, Rutgers University-Newark houses the Humanities Action Lab Hub within Express Newark and provides funding and resources for activities and operations.
Are you a Rutgers student looking for opportunities to get involved and make a difference? Look no further! Our office space, located at 54 Halsey Street Office 422 in Express Newark, Newark, NJ, is open and available for students like you.
Here at HAL, we offer a myriad of ways for students to engage with us. Whether you're seeking internships, interested in taking one of our engaging courses, considering becoming a student worker, or simply looking for a space to study or unwind, our doors are open to you.
But that's not all! We're proud to be a partner with the Food Pantry, serving as an Emergency Food Box Hub. If you're a Rutgers student facing a food emergency and can't make it to the pantry, don't hesitate to stop by our office. We're here to support you in every way we can.
For more information or to get involved, reach out to our Administrative and Communications Coordinator, Thyquel Halley, at tmh204@newark.rutgers.edu or give us a call at 973-353-0790. Join us at HAL and be part of something meaningful today!
Courses & Internships at Rutgers-Newark
Spring 2024
Mutual Aid Storytelling and Sharing: A Translocal Learning Space
Prof. Leora Fuller
Thursdays 2:30-5:20pm
Course Number: 21:050:520:01
Learn about mutual aid! Connect with local NJ organizers! Make creative storytelling projects!
In this nontraditional learning space organized by the Humanities Action Lab, we will explore radically different ways of moving through our lives based upon the experiences of mutual aid practitioners, environmental justice organizers, and Indigenous people. Students will develop their story telling and gathering skills, work directly with mutual aid organizers in Newark and in communities across the country, and make creative shareable resources that will support ongoing mutual aid efforts in these places. Together we’ll tell stories about ourselves and the people we’re connected to; building affinity and organizing towards material change in our lives.
Spring 2024
Portraits of Climate Inequalities
Prof. William Garcia
Course number: 21:089:281
This class collaborates with the Humanities Action Lab, (a national public humanities consortium that includes over 25 universities) The materials from this class will be considered to be a part of an international touring exhibition and website that addresses local stories about environmental justice and climate change and stories of organizing around access to clean water for Newark Residents. The class will focus on documentary video techniques and the personal exploration of people who have been affected by climate change and environmental justice in their everyday lives.
Through a wide variety of non-fiction storytelling methods, including interview-based, experimental, and intimate 1st person stories, the students will conceive, produce, and present their video portrait ideas to be considered for the HAL exhibition.
While this course will cover the basic techniques of recording pictures, sound, and editing, the primary focus will be on personal storytelling through the use of non-fiction filmmaking. Taking advantage of today’s high-tech, low-cost filmmaking tools, such as
iPhone, and laptop and iPhone editing software, students will be able to work in small crews to produce their video portraits. This will also afford them an intimacy with the people they are filming and interviewing, which will be reflected in their work through authentic conversations between filmmakers and their subjects.
Fall 2024
Internship: Humanities Action Lab & Newark Water Coalition
Earn course credit and develop skills in mutual aid organizing, community-based storytelling, and digital media production through this semester-long internship hosted by the Humanities Action Lab at Rutgers-Newark and Newark Water Coalition, a local advocacy organization. Interns will work on Newark Community Voices, a joint project of the Humanities Action Lab and Newark Water Coalition that creates digital media focused on public health and environmental justice issues in the city’s “frontline” communities (those hit hardest by environmental injustice and COVID-19).
Through workshop-style training sessions and on-the-ground practice with a professional videographer and veteran organizers, interns will gain tangible experience:
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Distributing vital resources to local residents through Newark Water Coalition’s mutual aid network.
Conducting public outreach and developing organizing relationships with frontline communities. -
Collaborating with local residents to identify and collect stories about the environmental challenges, material needs, and public policy priorities of Newark’s frontline communities.
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Create a short documentary trailer about the above issues for audiences in frontline communities and granting agencies in collaboration with community members.
No experience with organizing or digital media production is necessary! Open to undergraduates and graduate students from all disciplines!
Questions? Write to Anthony Diaz, Director, Newark Water Coalition (newarkwatercoalition@gmail.com)
Free School
The HAL Free School is a developing idea to explore different approaches to anti-racist, anti-colonial, and community-centered learning amongst our HAL partners. Through a series of sessions students, community partners, and faculty will collaboratively experiment with exercises, workshops, readings/media, and other forms that challenge what a university classroom can and should be. Some of these ideas may become resources that can be broadly shared amongst our network.
