Two faculty members have received funding from the Upstate Institute to continue research projects that will have a positive impact on the central New York community.
Margaretha Haughwout, assistant professor in the Department of Art and Art History, was awarded funding for her Grafters X Change 2022 project. Grafters X Change is an annual, bioregional eco-art project, through which fruit tree enthusiasts across central New York converge to share scion wood and seeds, skills, fruit foods, and art projects in a collaborative and interdisciplinary setting. The event will happen in March of 2022, just before prime tree-grafting season.
Teo Ballvé, assistant professor in peace and conflict studies and geography, was awarded funding for his development of a new ethnographic research project on “doomsday” preppers and right-wing rural politics in upstate New York. Ballvé’s research will consider what the conflation of preppers and militias within a 100-mile radius of Hamilton tell us about the state of contemporary rural politics in the United States and why upstate New York — a region with such a deep history of progressive political struggles — become such a hotbed of armed right-wing extremism.
Upstate Institute faculty research grants are awarded annually to faculty who propose research on topics related to the broad region of upstate New York. A faculty member receiving an award for research is expected to share either the final or preliminary results of the study in a future Upstate Institute event. More information about the grants is available on our Faculty Resources page.