We work in partnership with and for local organizations.

Our partnerships include tribal and higher education institutions, such as the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, Sisseton Wahpeton College, Minneapolis College, and the Humanities Action Lab. We are also in partnership with over 16 Twin Cities arts and community organizations.

Through these partnerships, we support Dakota and Ojibwe language revitalization programs, public history and art exhibitions, pedagogical workshops, multimedia storytelling, decolonial digital maps, and internships and experiences for students interested in working in racial justice.

At Minnesota Transform, we focus on the particular possibilities and histories that entangle the University of Minnesota in its communities. Importantly, we use the tools of the humanities — historical, narrative, and artistic work — to craft ethical engagements with these communities. We explore what it would be like if the humanities had a presence in racial justice struggles to the same extent that other parts of the university have a presence in the state’s business and political life.

In so doing we change both the knowledge that universities offer, and also challenge how the university operates. Our collaborations are designed and suggested by our partners, working with, but not under the direction of, university students, scholars, and historians. We do this not simply to make up for the university’s complicity — that is, not simply to right wrongs from the past — but also because we think it’s how knowledge should be created. We demonstrate that engaging with publics is what universities should, and in fact are able to, do.