The Middletown Press Reports on the Carceral Connecticut Project

On February 21, 2022, The Middletown Press reported that The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded $1.06 million to the “Carceral Connecticut Project: The History of Race, Capitalism, and Violence in the Connecticut River Valley” at Wesleyan University. Wesleyan was one of 12 liberal arts colleges across the country to receive a grant as part of the foundation’s Humanities for All Times initiative.

The Carceral Connecticut project combines the scholarly interests of four Wesleyan faculty members, who will collaborate in offering new courses and carrying out research projects on the topics engaged in the project. The project will also include conferences, public exhibitions and performances, and the production of a documentary film.

“Each one of us really engages deeply with these questions and issues in our scholarship and our teaching,” Jesse Nasta, assistant professor of African American studies and director of the Middlesex County Historical Society, told the Press. “We’ve all been thinking about race and capitalism and violence in some way or another for years.”

“We hope to learn more about the people, ideas, and machines that connect the histories of industry, manufacture, trade, and money with the stories of enslavement, migration, Native America, family, and social networks in our city and region,” added Jennifer Tucker, associate professor of history.

Read more in The Middletown Press.