The Famous Ape [Research Assistantship]

Professor: Holly Dugan
 
Department: English
 
Title: The Famous Ape
 
Description: My book tells the story of the long history of aping, from the Renaissance to the modern era. Each chapter details the history of a famous ape from the past. My aim is to elevate these creatures to the status of biographical subject and to return to them some of their former fame, while still critiquing the mechanisms that defined and harmed them through their relationship to humans. It is my hope that doing so will inspire us to ask questions about our own relationship to simians—as performers, as test subjects, as pets, and as wild creatures. Why is it that there is very little change in taming strategies from the Renaissance to modernity? What do records of monkey-baiting in the Renaissance have to do with contemporary instances in the NFL? Who are our famous apes and what do they have to do with famous apes of the past?
 
I am seeking a research assistant to help me with the public-facing, digital-historical aspect of this project. I hope to build a crowd-sourced database of 20th and 21st-century simian animal actors, while also publishing short synopses of their histories on a blog.
 
Duties: I am seeking a student who has a background in literary studies, biology, or history, who is interested in learning more about critical animal studies, digital humanities, or public history. Skills include: researching in online databases (including 20th-century newspaper collections); synthesizing data into short biographies; copyediting; tagging data; database management; social media management and strategy.
 
Time commitment: 1-3 hours per week (average)
 
Credit hour option*: 1
 
Submit Cover Letter/Resume to: hdugan@gwu.edu
*If credit is sought, all registration deadlines and requirements must be met. Students selected to be research assistants should contact Ben Faulkner at benfaulkner@gwu.edu whether they intend to pursue credit or not.