DATE POSTED: May 29, 2023.
On Thursday, May 11th, members of the Rituals in the Making team gathered at Richard Grinker’s home for the project’s end-of-the-semester retreat. The retreat was planned as a way for the team to come together to reflect on the work that was accomplished in the past semester, look forward to our summer and fall goals, as well as continue to develop our working group relationship. We arrived at Dr. Grinker’s house at around 10 am on a beautiful sunny day and shared coffee and donuts outside on the patio before jumping into the schedule for the day.
Left: Team members take notes during the morning portion of the meeting after sharing coffee and donuts. Photo by Daria Dzen. Right: We also had a small contingent of virtual attendees who joined us via Zoom, including Devin Proctor, Martha Greenwald, and Paige Gavin.
As an icebreaker, we began the meeting by sharing one personal fun fact with the group, all learning new things about our colleagues that we did not know before. We then turned to reflect on some of the major themes we have encountered in our work the past few months, as well as share what we hoped to continue researching. The conversation included a reflection on the transformation of the project since its inception, placing themes we encountered within broader sociocultural shifts, and, specifically, exploring the different ways claim-making is done across the scope of our research. We then shifted to brainstorming a virtual seminar series for the fall, identifying themes, potential speakers, and attendees to invite and discussing the scheduling logistics.
Left: Old-school retreat technology: notes from our brainstorming session for a 2023-2024 virtual seminar series. Right: Sarah Wagner shares with the team the logistics for finishing transcriptions for the In America Remember database. Photo by Richard Grinker
After breaking for lunch, we reconvened to discuss some research that RAs were working on, as well as make a plan to finish our work transcribing flags for the In America: Remember database. Finally, we finished the day with breakout sessions to plan specific publications different individuals and subteams were working on. Overall, the day was extremely collaborative and reflective. And great to spend time together in such a beautiful and relaxing setting. (Thank you again, Richard Grinker, for hosting us!)
Research assistants take notes before finishing up for the day. Photo by Richard Grinker