Fox Center 2026-27 Theme: "Habitat"
The concept of habitat connotes both a physical place for living and the necessary conditions for thriving. Heidegger famously argued that to be human is to dwell. But what does it mean to dwell amidst environmental precarity, political displacement, and technological transformation? How have human relationships with the places we inhabit been experienced, negotiated, and imagined across different periods and geographies? How have we made sense of our surroundings and, in turn, formed our notions of home?
Human activity has long left its marks on our world—from the deforestation of medieval Europe to the sweeping planetary impacts of industrialization. At the same time, floods, wildfires, and earthquakes remind us that we are subject to forces beyond our control. As dwellers on Earth, we live not only among built structures and political borders, but also within multispecies and geological systems whose scales of time and complexity often exceed our comprehension. Poet Joy Harjo implores us to “Remember the earth whose skin you are.” Yet while we are imbricated in these systems, we are also storytellers and meaning-makers, describing, contesting, and reimagining the conditions of our existence.
We anticipate that our Fellows will approach the concept of habitat through diverse lenses on the human experience, including, but not limited to, environmental humanities, science and technology studies, Indigenous and postcolonial studies, and urban studies. Projects may examine moments of rupture and reconfiguration, ecological interdependence, forced migration, multispecies coexistence, or the politics of shelter and space in industrial and post-industrial environments. This year’s theme invites inquiry into how we dwell—and what it might mean to dwell well—in a shared and uncertain world.
Applications are now open for our Faculty Fellowship, Visiting Faculty Fellowship, Postdoctoral Fellowship, Dissertation Completion Fellowship, and Pathways Fellowship. Click each link to apply via Interfolio.
