This special edition of Interdisciplinary Humanities will investigate how performance shapes our experience of the humanities. In the four decades since NYU offered the first degree in “Performance Studies,” the advent of the internet and social media has changed the way we study, create, teach, learn, and identify ourselves. Performance forms and platforms have multiplied and facilitated one of the most contentious political cycles in American history, public upheavals demanding social justice, and new thresholds of mis and disinformation. How are these performance platforms shaping our experience and understanding of the world?

Infobase, a publisher of databases for schools, universities, and public libraries, is seeking to hire a scholar for a project on contemporary African-American literature. Responsibilities will include writing an overview of the state of African-American literature in the 21st century; writing brief critical biographies of a selection of the most important African-American writers working today; and updating existing biographies of great living African-American writers. The work be prominently featured in a new topic center within Bloom’s Literature, Infobase’s premier literary database. This is a paid assignment. Interested scholars should contact executive editor Jeff Soloway at jsoloway@infobase.com.