The Gift of History and a New Film
Investing in fellowships is the key to attracting top graduate students to Michigan State
The Gift of History and a New Film
Investing in fellowships is the key to attracting top graduate students to Michigan State
October 19, 2016Updated: August 2020
Sometimes examining the past can unlock answers for the future.
New York native and former Michigan State University Enrichment Fellow Joyce-Zoe Farley believes this.
The recipient of multiple fellowships and a Columbia University alumna, Farley could have chosen to pursue her graduate education around the digital humanities anywhere in the country—but chose Michigan State for the freedom she would have to pursue her passions.
“MSU is like, a gateway to opportunity,” Farley admitted. “There are so many things to explore because the university is hooked up to so many different avenues of opportunity, fellowships and study abroad.”
Farley, is a graduating doctoral candidate in African American and African Studies, who examined race, riots and the rebellion in 1967 Detroit. Since 2009, she has gathered oral histories of those who lived through the uprisings. This work ultimately became source material for a non-traditional dissertation on urban insurrection of the 20th century.
On August 13, 2020, she defended her thesis by presenting a documentary film dissertation, “In Absentia: The Lost Ones of America's/Motown's Revolution(s).” Watch her film below:
Farley’s career continues to follow a non-traditional, unorthodox path. She returned to the private sector as a communications and marketing consultant for Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM), a global non-profit in Washington, D.C., focused on issues of availability, affordability, and sustainability of vital medicines.
