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Editors: Katharine G. Trostel and Valentino L. Zullo (The Rust Belt Humanities Lab at Ursuline College)

Contact: katharine.trostel@ursuline.edu and valentino.zullo@ursuline.edu

Description: Teaching the Rust Belt offers a pedagogical approaches and methods to teaching emplaced and regional humanities. The work specifically aims to create a model for teaching in and about the Rust Belt. We are seeking 6,000-word essays on the following:

The Rust Belt Humanities Lab at Ursuline College works to tell the story of this region through the voices of its people. The Rust Belt is often overlooked as “flyover” country and part of a dead, industrial past. Through the act of storytelling, educators can pull the Rust Belt into the dynamic present.

This teaching volume will focus on:

• The importance of regional storytelling in fostering a sense of place
• Tools / methods to equip students to shape the future of the Rust Belt, identify and contribute to social solutions, and reimagine the role of the humanities within this sphere.

Because so much of the United States’ problems and promise converge on the Rust Belt, our work can be a model for ways to use the humanities to find new solutions, tell better stories, and empower our students to imagine themselves as productive citizens within their rooted context.