Bridging Cultures: Implementation Grants for Public Programs on "Civility and Democracy" or "The Muslim World and the Humanities"

Bridging Cultures grant opportunity

As part of its Bridging Cultures initiative, which encourages projects that explore the ways in which cultures from around the globe, as well as the myriad subcultures within America's borders, have influenced American society, NEH welcomes proposals to implement a national or regional program for broad and diverse public audiences on one of two humanities themes: “Civility and Democracy” or “The Muslim World and the Humanities.”

• Civility and Democracy
  
  Civility has always served as a keystone in the American experiment, from George Washington’s “110 Rules of Civility,” to Abraham Lincoln’s appeal for “malice toward none” and “charity for all,” to Martin Luther King’s dream of the sons of former slaves and slave-owners being able “to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.” Civility involves our responsibilities to each other as citizens and as members of civil society. Drawing on diverse humanities disciplines such as political and cultural history, ethics, and jurisprudence, civility might be examined in a variety of frameworks, including but not limited to the following:
  • the relationship of civility to the common good;
  • the relationship between civility and democracy, at various points in time and across cultures;
  • the sociological and cultural foundations of civility, as well as the significance of dissent; and
  • the ways in which civility has served, historically, to bridge cultural divides, both domestic and international.

• The Muslim World and the Humanities
  
  

  The history of the Muslim world is as complex and varied as the diverse nations and regions in which Islam is practiced around the globe. Scholarly research and public interest have recently focused on cultural and political dynamics within Muslim countries. At the same time, many people are unfamiliar with the multifaceted history of centuries of Islamic intellectual, political, and cultural traditions that have influenced civilizations throughout the world. A variety of humanities disciplines can bring new perspectives to the understanding of Islam and contribute to a broader public understanding of the Muslim world. Approaches to the subject might include, by way of example only, an examination of

  In exploring these or other themes, programs should expand public knowledge of the Muslim world, while fostering avenues for cross-cultural understanding.
  • the influence exerted by cultural developments originating in the Muslim world on the arts, the sciences, and literature elsewhere in the world;
  • the commonalities uniting and the differences dividing Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, and the grounds for advancing mutual respect; and
  • the immigrant experiences of Muslims in the United States, spanning over two centuries of our nation’s history.

Program Statistics

N/A

Questions?

Program questions should be directed to Bridging Cultures at 202-606-8337 or bridgingcultures@neh.gov. Hearing-impaired applicants can contact NEH via TDD at 1-866-372-2930.