Public Humanities

We all deserve to have a story we can tell about who we are, how we fit into the places where we have lived, and how our own families’ experiences fit into the greater whole. We all deserve for that story to be recognized not just by ourselves, but by society at large. Julie has collaborated with scholars, community leaders, and youth both domestically and internationally to help diffuse historical narratives to those who too seldom see themselves reflected in them. In the process, she has developed expertise in utilizing social media to share historical content with young people. She has shared this expertise via webinars for the Organization of American Historians and the National Humanities Alliance, and as a guest expert for the Whiting Foundation, and is available to consult for cultural organizations seeking to co-create social media content as a public humanities strategy.

Julie co-founded the Nuestro South project, which uses podcasting, social media, and YouTube as platforms for youth raised in the South who identify as Latinx to explore their identities and make a claim on the region via engagement with its histories of Mexican and other Latin American migration. The project’s motto, which hosts use to sign off of every episode, is, “We control our narrative. This is for us, y’all!” The project was supported by the Whiting Foundation and the North Carolina Humanities Council. Key collaborators include the organization LatinxEd, co-founder Erik Valera, Daisy Almonte, Dorian Gómez, Perla Guerrero, Axel Herrera, Bryan Mejia, Yuridia Ramírez, and Yami Rodríguez.

Julie co-founded Matchona.org, the first online repository of oral history interviews with Malawians who went to work in Zimbabwe and South Africa during the twentieth century. This project was supported by the Gerda Henkel Stiftung and the University of Oregon’s Digital Scholarship Center. Key collaborators include Anusa Daimon, Zoe Groves, Elias P.K. Mandala, and Henry Mitchell.

Out and About

Youth as Interpreters of History: Lessons from the Nuestro South Project,” Organization of American Historians/National Council on Public History virtual conference series (2024).

Webinar presenter, Scaling Up: Growing Public Humanities Projects Beyond Higher Ed,” National Humanities Alliance (2021).

Julie is available to consult on social media strategies for public history projects at universities and cultural institutions.