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Bard Graduate Center is an advanced graduate research institute in New York City dedicated to the cultural histories of the material world. Our MA and PhD degree programs, Gallery exhibitions, research initiatives, scholarly publications and public programs explore new ways of thinking about decorative arts, design history, and material culture.

MA/PhD
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Applications for our MA program may be submitted until March 1, 2025





Research

Bard Graduate Center is a research institute for advanced, interdisciplinary study of diverse material worlds. We support the innovative scholarship of our faculty and students as well as resident fellows, guest curators and artists, and visiting speakers.

Photo by Fresco Arts Team.

Our Public Humanities + Research department focuses on making scholarly work widely available and accessible through the coordination of the fellowship program and public programming that combines academic research with exhibition-related events. Across the institution—from the classroom to the gallery, from publications to this website—we utilize digital media to facilitate and share original research. This section outlines current programming and provides a repository for past scholarly content.
“Objects become so important in the way I think about a person’s lived experiences of disability.”


In This Episode
Elizabeth Guffey speaks to historian Jaipreet Virdi about disability studies, her “path-breaking” approach to research, and the inclusive and collaborative opportunities social media allows scholars. Virdi’s work centers the people who used and adapted disability objects throughout history. Through rich and detailed examples Virdi illuminates the hidden stories behind these objects.

Download a transcript of episode 7.

Listen on Spotify.


Jaipreet Virdi is an historian and Assistant Professor at the University of Delaware. She is author of Hearing Happiness: Deafness Cures in History (University of Chicago Press, 2020) and co-editor of Disability and the Victorians: Attitudes, Legacies, Interventions (Manchester University Press, 2020).
References
The Fields of the Future podcast amplifies the voices and highlights the work of scholars, artists, and writers who are injecting new narratives into object-centered thinking. Join us for engaging conversations between BGC faculty and fellows and their guests.