LITR 5731: Seminar in American Minority Literature
University of Houston-Clear Lake, fall 2001
Student Research Proposal

Becky Nelson

Hi Dr. White,

I would like to do a research journal on apocalyptic movements or apocalyptic imagery in minority literature. I began thinking about this as a result of reading Black Elk Speaks—the ghost dance movement interested me. Then I began thinking about the possible apocalyptic stories or images in the other works we have read this semester and decided this might be a good topic. I’ve done a preliminary search for information on this and have found some articles and books that sound interesting. As you will see the bibliographic information for each entry isn’t yet complete. Also, I would not try to use all of these, but would pick the most appropriate ones—there are hundreds—and these are just some of the ones with apocalypse in the title.

The Apocalyptic Vision in America: Interdisciplinary Essays on Myth and Culture. (No editor listed.) 1982.

Behrendt, Stephen C. "’The Consequence of High Powers’: Blake, Shelley, and Prophecy’s Public Dimension." Papers on Language and Literature: A Journal for Scholars and Critics of Language and Literature. 22(1986), 254-75.

Bowers, Susan. "Beloved and the New Apocalypse." The Journal of Ethnic Studies. 18(1990) 59-77.

Buckton, Oliver S. "Wilde Apocalypse: Tracing Histories of Homosexuality in Current Lesbian/Gay Studies." Review. 19(1997), 253-81.

Day, Lisa B. "‘Our Sufferings Will Come to an End’: Apocalypse and Slavery in Antebellum American Culture." Dissertation Abstracts. 1999.

Delgado, Richard. The Coming Race War?: And Other Apocalyptic Tales of America After Affirmative Action and Welfare. New York: New York UP, 1996.

Dellamora, Richard. Apocalyptic Overtures: Sexual Politics and the Sense of an Ending. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1994.

Dyson, Michael Eric. "Between Apocalypse and Redemption: John Singleton’s Boyz N the Hood." Cultural Critique. 21(1992) 121-41.

The End is Near!: Visions of Apocalypse, Millennium and Utopia: Works from the American Visionary Art Museum. (No editor listed.) Los Angeles: Dilettante, 1998.

Hill, Leslie. "Marguerite Duras: Sexual Difference and Tales of Apocalypse." The Modern Language Review. 84(1989) 601-614.

Keller, Catherine. Apocalypse Now and Then: A Feminist Guide to the End of the World. Boston: Beacon, 1996.

Montgomery, Maxine Lavon. "A Pilgrimage to the Origins: The Apocalypse as Structure and Theme in Toni Morrison’s Sula." Black American Literature Forum. 23(1989) 127-137.

Pickrel, Paul. "Jane Eyre: The Apocalypse of the Body." ELH. 53(1986) 165-182.

Robinson, Douglas. American Apocalypses: The Image of the End of the World. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1985.

Wilkins, Peter Duncan. "Finite Nations, Finite Selves: The Failure of Apocalypse in North American Fiction." Dissertation Abstracts. 1998.

Besides reviewing articles and books on this subject, I might try to find links to websites with apocalyptic art, or websites with histories of apocalyptic movements such as the ghost dance. I might also include some articles or biographical information on leaders of apocalyptic movements. I’ve always defined apocalyptic as intense end-time imagery—a language of the oppressed or threatened—but I’ve never really understood it, and I think it would be really interesting to try. Are you aware of any specific apocalyptic movements that should be included in my journal? Does this sound ok? I would not allow the journal to go over twenty pages—these are just my ideas from which to begin working.

Dear Becky,

This is a good topic for a journal, and it may have special relevance to minorities. PBS had a two hour documentary on the Apocalypse back in 2000 (or maybe late 1999) that mentioned how apocalyptic thinking appeals to those who regard themselves as out of favor in the status quo, in that apocalypse promises an overturning of this status quo and a restoration of justice.

A "standard" text on the general subject is Norman Cohn, _The Pursuit of the Millennium_ (1970), but I think it's mostly about the Old World background.

Boston University has a Millennial Studies Institute you can find on the web. I presented a paper there in 1999, so you may even be able to unearth my pearly thoughts on an American Indian apocalyptic movement associated with the first generation of contact with the Puritans. But scan the lists of papers and you may find more explicitly minority concerns. Also the website may provide a more general bibliography.

There was a major apocalyptic movement in the USA in the 1840s called the Millerites--its descendants went partly to the 7th Day Adventists and partly to the Jehovah's Witnesses, among the most apocalyptic of 20th century religious movements. I'm wondering if the Millerites might have attracted Abolitionists, and how much Abolition may have shared in apocalyptic discourse. An authority on the Millerites is Ronald Numbers.

Millenarianism, Millennialism, Apocalyptic, End-time, Eschatological . . . it's all so multifaceted and multivalent, you'll find scads--appropriate for a journal. The trick will be to stay after the minority angle. It may involve class as much as gender and ethnicity. But it's dangerous to exaggerate. Many of the evangelicals who look forward to the end of the world as we know it are quite well off. I suppose one essential aspect of wanting the end is faith that, at least for oneself, things will only get better, and one's enemies will be smitten; very few people, that is, would look forward to the end if they assumed they'd be among the damned or doomed. In general the most apocalyptic churches are those that are newest, such as those mentioned above and other fundamentalist movements. The older churches, such as the Catholics, Presbyterians, and mainline Lutherans, seem more adjusted to the world?

It's hard not to think big! Of course you might look into the Wovoka movement mentioned in Black Elk. There's something a little apocalyptic about Song of Solomon and the Seven. African Americans may be more inclined to adopt the Exodus narrative than the Apocalypse narrative. Well, I go on, but I should let you do some research. I look forward to seeing your findings.

Craig White