Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2025
Published In
Public Humanities
Abstract
How might we learn from history in ways that help us imagine a better future? And what role might academic institutions play in making those futures imaginable? These questions informed Rosine Association 2.0, a socially engaged art project out of Swarthmore College active from 2021 to 2023. Inspired by a nineteenth-century social project in Philadelphia, Rosine 2.0 formed an interdisciplinary collective of artists, harm reduction organizers, archivists, and activists to co-imagine how harm reduction and mutual aid reduce stigma and increase community care in Philadelphia. We believe that Rosine 2.0 exemplifies the possibilities of public humanities projects that are truly collaborative and transformative. The project went beyond interdisciplinarity by bringing together the fields of archiving, history, and community engagement with communities outside of the College, including curators, artists, and individuals with lived experience. While Swarthmore was the organizing institution, the project existed outside of traditional academic frameworks, creating alternative modes of relationality between and among campus and community members. Each contributed a vital set of skills and perspectives in a networked series of collaborations. The project allowed for rethinking relationships between past and present; between the college and community partners; as well as between faculty, staff, and students in the building of social structures of community care.
Keywords
community engagement, exhibitions, Philadelphia, public humanities, socially engaged art
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Jordan Landes, Katie L. Price, and Vivian Truong.
(2025).
"Beyond Interdisciplinarity: How Rosine 2.0 Created Social Structures Of Community Care".
Public Humanities.
Volume 1,
DOI: 10.1017/pub.2025.10028
https://works.swarthmore.edu/sta-libraries/131
Comments
This work is freely available under a Creative Commons license.