As many of the readers of this blog and Historically Speaking know, the Historical Society has launched the Religion and Innovation in Human Affairs (RIHA) Program. "It will provide up to $2 million in
research support for empirical, conceptual, and interpretive work exploring interconnections between religion and innovation in history and human affairs."Program leader Donald Yerxa says:
I have been working on the proposal for RIHA for a year. And now that it is beginning to be announced, I am gratified by the positive responses I’ve received from prominent scholars in several fields. One can get a sense of the intellectual seriousness and expansiveness of the project by looking at RIHA’s distinguished board of advisors. They include intellectual historian Wilfred McClay (UTenn-Chattanooga), historian of science William Shea (Padua), economic historian Patrick O’Brien (London School of Economics), archaeologist Ian Hodder (Stanford), geographer David Livingstone (Queen’s Belfast), and physician/medical ethicist William Hurlbut (Stanford Medical Center). RIHA is a terrific opportunity for the Historical Society. It puts the Society in the forefront of an exciting intellectual project, one that promises to shed light on how religion and innovation have interconnected.
The website, which I've been building for the last few weeks, is now nearly filled out. (We will add material on a "2013 Workshop" and "Funded Projects" later.)
Go to the site to download the Request for Proposals (deadline for pre-proposals is November 1, 2011), and view Application Information, members of the Distinguished Advisory Board, and the Program Staff and Contact Information.
