Every year Recovering Voices in the National Museum of Natural History’s Department of Anthropology supports community scholars in their efforts towards language and knowledge reclamation and revitalization. Recovering Voices will accept Community Research Program proposals for 2020 starting on June 15, 2019. We are thrilled to continue supporting community efforts through the Community Research Program in 2020 for our eighth year! This year, the open call for proposals is longer than before and will be held June 15, 2019 to September 1, 2019.
The Community Research Program aims to support indigenous communities in their efforts to save, document, and revitalize their languages, cultures, and knowledge systems. Supported research projects bring groups of community scholars from around the world to the Smithsonian to examine specific objects, specimens, and archival materials related to their heritage and to engage in a dialogue with Smithsonian collections and archives staff in order to recover and revitalize their language and knowledge. These research visits have a significant impact on both the visiting community and the Smithsonian Institution giving us an opportunity to collaborate and share information.
Several supplemental documents are available to assist you in preparing proposal materials. This call for proposals happens on annually so if you are not ready to apply by the deadline, you have plenty of time to prepare a proposal for the following year. The Community Research Manager is available year-round to provide assistance and support in all stages of the project. Projects selected for support in 2019 will take place during the 2020 calendar year.
The 2020 Community Research Program call for proposals will close on September 1, 2019. Each proposal can request up to $10,000 in funding support. Logistics support for funded projects is provided by the Recovering Voices office. We encourage interdisciplinary, intergenerational, and collaborative projects to apply. The guidelines and materials required for the application package are available on our website. To learn about past supported projects visit our Community Research page. You will also find information about many recent projects on our blog.