LITR
4232: American Renaissance
UHCL,
spring 2002
Student Research Proposal
Hi
Dr. White,
I've
been thinking about ideas for the upcoming research project and wanted to get
your view on whether I'm heading down the right path or not.
I would like to research the influence and/or effectiveness of using
scripture as an authoritative reference. I
found this very interesting and a definite pattern among the minority groups (Apess,
Boudinot, Truth) trying to plead their case of equality to the white man.
My only concern is that I won't be able to find enough resources to pull
off a long paper. What do you think? Do you have any ideas of what to look for
and how to approach this, or would I be better off choosing a different topic
Thanks,
Diana
Ellis-Smith
Dear
Diana,
It's
a good enough topic that you probably should give it a try as long as you remain
interested, and we can work things out in terms of secondary research. You're
right that there's a disconnect between primary and secondary sources, in that a
number of the primary sources use scripture but that most of the secondary
sources don't make much of this.
One
possible set of sources would be "cultural history," esp. about
religion, during the American Renaissance. One source that may have some
information about the evangelical movement then (rising from what is sometimes
called "the Second Great Awakening" earlier in the 19c) would be David
Reynolds's _Beneath the American Renaissance_, which you may find in our
library, and some similar texts may be on the shelf around it. Otherwise you
could search terms like evangelicalism, scriptural allusions, etc.
Feel
free to continue to email as you work on it or change directions--
Craig
White
Hello
there. I'm not sure if my other message went through so please disregard this
one if it did and thank goodness I tried again if it didn't. Anyhoo...I want to
thank you for assigning the reading by F. Douglass. As I stated this morning I
was so moved by his narrative that I would like to change my proposal. I'm
tossing around the idea of Romanticism and slave narratives, but here again, I
fear I'll not find enough secondary resources for a long paper. This is a
completely new concept to me and any direction, suggestions, pushes, or shoves
you can offer will be greatly appreciated.
Have
a great day! :0)
Diana
Ellis-Smith
LITR
4232
T-Th
10-11:20am
Dear
Diana,
No
problem with the change, but I think you'll find more secondary research in this
case. Do an MLA database search at the library using the keywords "slave
narrative" or "Douglass" or "Harriet Jacobs."
Also
look up "slave narrative" in the Oxford Companion to African American
Literature in the reference section of the library.
After
you've found out some more and get some sense of direction or materials, I'll be
glad to suggest further.
Hi
Dr. White,
I
have finally settled on a topic. I would like to do a journal on slave
narratives. After the intro, I will give a brief history of American slavery,
then give some background history of slave narratives as a genre. From this
point, I have selected at least six (6) authors to review. If it works out, I
would also like to address the issue of romanticism and slave
narratives.....still working on that thought.
I
feel confident that there is enough material and I will remain interested in the
subject throughout my research and writing. Only question I have at this point
is do you object to my using microfiche? I was directed by the reference
librarian to a considerable amount of material on this medium. If using this
medium is ok, it will provide another angle on my paper, in that most of the
articles and speeches, etc. are the views of white men and slavery from this
particular time period.
Thanks
for your patience and guidance.
Diana
Ellis-Smith
LITR
4232