Incite at Columbia University
Insights thrive in unlikely company.
Insights thrive in unlikely company.
At Incite Institute, scholars, change makers, artists, and others unite to engage the social world in surprising new ways.
A home for unconventional ideas
Together with our collaborators, we ask and pursue ambitious questions, embracing experimentation even at the risk of failure.
Latest news
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go to the Telling Our Own Stories: Inside the Movements Against Mass Incarceration Retreat & Showcase news
Telling Our Own Stories: Inside the Movements Against Mass Incarceration Retreat & ShowcaseTwenty-six partners from across the country gathered in New York this June to celebrate the pre-release of the Movements Against Mass Incarceration oral history archive, with panels on reflection, art, and activation from justice-impacted organizers, artists, and scholars. -
go to the Introducing the 2026 Inaugural Incite Institute Doctoral Dissertation Fellows news
Introducing the 2026 Inaugural Incite Institute Doctoral Dissertation FellowsWe're excited to announce this year's cohort of Incite Dissertation Fellows. In keeping with Incite Institute's commitment to bringing disciplines together across the university, the Fellows Program brings together PhD candidates at the dissertation writing stage for a year of close, sustained engagement with the thinking of colleagues from disciplines other than their own. -
go to the Announcing the 2026 Jeffrey H. Brodsky Oral History Award Winner
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Announcing the 2026 Jeffrey H. Brodsky Oral History Award WinnerTwo OHMA graduates who turned their own families into oral history subjects, Sage Foster-Lasser and Avantika Seth, have won this year's Jeffrey H. Brodsky Oral History Award and honorable mention, respectively, for theses that reckon with intimacy, consent, and care within the family. -
go to the Incite's Investigative Journalism Oral History Lands in Mother Jones 50th Anniversary Retrospective news
Incite's Investigative Journalism Oral History Lands in Mother Jones 50th Anniversary RetrospectiveFor its 50th anniversary issue, Mother Jones turned to Incite's developing oral history archive of investigative journalism, using interviews conducted by project lead Adiel Kaplan as primary sources for its founding history.
Because social issues need social insights
The biggest issues of our time aren't just technical—they're social. We bring together partners from inside and outside the academy who approach these issues with different forms of expertise.
Featured Projects
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go to the The Elders Project project
The Elders Project Capturing the stories of elders who have shaped America—from Civil Rights activists to tribal leaders to survivors of Stonewall—before they’re lost to history. -
go to the Movements Against Mass Incarceration project
Movements Against Mass Incarceration
Building the United States' first archive to center the political ideas and movement-building of incarcerated people.
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go to the Obama Presidency Oral History project
Obama Presidency Oral History
Creating a comprehensive oral history of the Obama years with over 450 officials, activists, organizers, and extraordinary people from all walks of life.
Building new capacities
Through our projects, funding opportunities, training programs, and public events, we strive to build capacity in people and organizations so that they can drive transformation on their own terms.
Upcoming events
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go to the Map the Bronx: Community Memory Workshop news
Map the Bronx: Community Memory Workshop Event #1 of the “History Keepers” programming at the Mott Haven Library (NYPL), focused on empowering our communities in the South Bronx to preserve, document, and share their stories. Workshop
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go to the Will You Remember What I Choose to Forget? news
Will You Remember What I Choose to Forget? Filmmaker Avantika Seth returns to her family's two houses in Shimla to explore how physical space, kinship, and ritual reshape the practices and ethics of oral history. Talk -
go to the Introduction to Oral History for Research news
Oral History Workshops Introduction to Oral History for Research An interactive half-day oral history workshop with Amy Starecheski. Workshop
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go to the Songs in the Key of Life at 50: Symposium news
Songs in the Key of Life at 50: Symposium To mark the 50th anniversary of Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life, CSSD is organizing a full-day symposium and accompanying concert. Symposium