LITR 5731 Seminar In American Minority Literature UHCL 2003 Research Proposals

LITR 5731: Seminar in American Minority Literature
University of Houston-Clear Lake, spring 2003
Student Research Proposals

Mr. White,

As I was reviewing the model research proposals, I found Melissa Morris had an interesting topic and something I can strongly relate to. I wanted to do a journal over a topic similar to hers. Instead of focusing on the learning styles of Hispanic students, I want to focus on gaining reading interest with minority students. I have worked predominantly with Hispanic and African American students and find it difficult for them to have interest in reading novels or any other literary pieces selected. What I want to do is focus on my district’s current English curriculum and see what modifications I can make that could possibly propel their interest in reading in the English class. Most of the literature used in our English curriculum are classics or have little relational value to my students. I also feel that if I have a curriculum setup similar to what is in place in our seminar class (taking each minority and going from classic to contemporary, also including related poetry), the students could probably see the relationship between authors and various minority groups. The way the curriculum is set up now is more or less scattered, and the students have no sense of connection from literature to literature. Please let me know what you think ?

Tomasina Alford

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Hi Dr. White,

I have been considering a couple of different topics for the final paper. I am leaning towards the topic of chicana literature, with Sandra Cisneros representing the voice of chicana literature. I have done some research, and I have noticed that there is quite a bit of criticism on her novel, House on Mango Street. I have read that novel, so would it be possible to use that novel along with selections from the text "Woman Hollering Creek?" I have also read other short stories by Cisneros, so I may need to include brief references to some of those also.

The crux with chicana literature is that the author seems to be representing two cultures simultaneously. The problems of both cultures are represented in Cisneros' literature, so her topics include identity struggle, feminism, and the patriarchal hegemony of Mexican culture. As the chicana characters struggle to break free from the Mexican past, they encounter difficulties when trying to assimilate into the new, or American culture. Thus, the chicana characters are caught in an endless cycle between two cultures.

Please see below for the list of books that I have consulted:
Madsen, Deborah Understanding Contemporary Chicana Literature
Augenbraum and Olmos, U.S. Latino Literature A Critical Guide for Students and Teachers
Gillan, Maria and Jennifer Growing Up in Ethnic America Contemporary Fiction about Learning to be American
Jehenson, Myriam Yvonne, Latin-American Women Writers Class, Race, and Gender.
Ilie, Paul. Literature and Inner Exile Authoritarian Spain, 1939-1975
Valdes, Maria Elena de. The Shattered Mirror: Representations of Women in Mexican Literature.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. This topic is of great interest to me as I am fluent in Spanish, and took some Spanish literature classes at U of H main campus. I am particularly interested in the use of language in chicana literature as well, as most stories and poems contain some spanish words.

Thanks,
Jane

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Hi, Dr. White:

I will most likely write a journal for my research paper. I am interested in the Civil Rights Movement and desegregation since I personally experienced some of the racial tension in my own junior high and high school years. I want to research how the African American voice is heard and their assimilation into society (a difficult one especially since the dominant culture fought them all the way every step of the way). I'd like to have a section on the Civil RIghts leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Bayard Rustin, and Stokely Carmichael. I'd like to research poetry and literature of the times as well as organized voices such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), National Urban League, and the NAACP. In addition, the laws need to be researched such as the 1954 Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, Civil RIghts Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the 1971 Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 1988 CIvil RIghts Restoration Act, 1991 Civil Rights Act of 1991 which strengthened existing civil rights laws and provided for damages in cases of intentional employment discrimination. So, the scope of the research would include individual voices, organized voices, unspoken/written (literature) voices, unspoken/silent (sit-ins) voices, and legal voices including laws and marches.

I already have a few books at home on the subject: They & We: Racial and Ethnic Relations in the United States by Peter Rose and Black Americans by Alphonso Pinkney.

My question is: Should I focus on more than one individual, or should I broaden it out a little further and focus perhaps on male voices and female voices - what are their similarities? How are they different? Do they share the same message?

Another question: I think it would be interesting to have a section of the journal written in the form of a time line where I could show in a chart-type layout the commonalities and differences between leaders of the time. I could show how the dominant culture fights against the minority culture's assimilation into society.

Please let me know if you can think of any other area I might pursue or if you think I should narrow my journal topic.

Thanks,

Ginger Hilton

       The issue I am exploring that the text explores is one of representations and narratives of ethnicity and gender as it relates to women of color, the status of women, lesbians, and homosexuals. I will will explore the issue of the status of women, lesbians, and homosexuals paralelling the status of ethnic minorities in relation to voice and choice. Also, the issue of women of color labeled as double minorities will be researched as well.
       The issues are expressed , according to text, within the ramifications of political and socioeconomic domains. The political undercurrent that exists with regards to homosexuality and society's treatment of these minority groups socially as well as economically are addressed within the texts.
       The texts attempt to resolve these issues with considerable success. Where choice, voice, oppurtunity, introspection, proactivity, and reactivity reveals itself within the text, owning and choosing one's sexuality, assimilation in reaction to a different culture, and introspection are evident assertions on the part of the charachter to resolve their issues with society.
       The texts develops the reflection of American society's different facets, such as "coming out" for homosexuals, minorities assimilating, and women being treated as second class citizens.

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I have decided to do a journal on the current trend of minority-centered ("multi-cultred) books and film for children. Since I am applying for acceptance in a teaching program this field interests me.

Also I can remember when only 5 or 6 years ago it was difficult to find children's books or movies that featured children of different racial backgrounds. Today I notice that there are films and books covering nearly every race and/or gender in the United States. There are even books now that cover children who have same sex parents.

I find this new trend of incorporating more of the minority experience at the childhood level very encouraging.

I would appreciate any assistance or direction you could provide.

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I hope to write a research journal on creation myths found in minority literature. I want to uncover different cultural ideas of creation and how it has effected their literature. I also want to go into if their origin stories have any bearing on the way they treat the earth. I want to explore ideas like some cultures think the earth was put here for people to use and others think we are guests of the earth. I guess this is still rough, but I checked out a few books and found it interesting. Every culture seems to have a different idea.

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I’m working on research for a journal that would look at some aspects of religion among America’s ethnic minorities, particularly how beliefs/practices of the minority groups come into conflict with the dominant culture. And, of course, where this is evident in minority literature. From the works we’ve read (or will read), I think The Slave Narratives, Black Elk Speaks, and Bless Me Ultima are definitely relevant to this topic, and I’m not ruling out our other readings, including poetry. (Also, depending on what I find when we read The Best Little Boy in the World, I can easily see adding a section to my journal).

In looking at some of the model assignments, I noticed that a common approach to the journal is to have an entry for a web site, and entry for a book, etc. This is not at all what I have in mind, so I’ll spell out the structure I envision. I would of course include an introduction and conclusion that talk about the theme I’ve chosen and connects ideas and offer a broader perspective, but the heart of the journal will be three or four short essays looking at a distinct topic and a different minority group.

Mexican American – the curandera, the character of Ultima; I haven’t read this in about 5 years, but I think I remember some conflict between Ultima’s magic and Catholicism. As soon as I start rereading, I expect this to be a little clearer on this.

African American – I think there are lots of possibilities here considering ways that African American slaves adopted the Christianity of slaveholders and went on to shape a Christianity unique to them. One book I found while researching deals with the black roots of Pentecostalism and how the dominant culture disapproved.

Native American – Possibly something about sacred ecology, or Native Americans relationship with the land and how this is radically different from the dominant culture’s view.

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I have been interested in the plight of Native Americans for quite some time. I am particularly interested in the atrocities they suffered at the hands of the dominant culture during the final movement to reservations. I would like to research the Trail of Tears, the forced assimilation of Native American children, and the continual efforts by the dominant culture to take control of what little land Native Americans were finally allotted.

I have discovered that the literature available on this subject can be difficult to come by and is often written from the perspective of the dominant culture. There is, however, information being written today by tribes, particularly in the Oklahoma area, about not only the efforts made to destroy their culture, but their efforts to maintain it. My research would include both types of literature because I believe there have been honest efforts made by the dominant culture to describe the injustice to Native Americans and by Native Americans to describe what happened and continues to happen to their people. Since there are so many tribes scattered throughout the United States, I will probably concentrate my efforts on the Oklahoma area.

Some of the incidents that trouble me most are those that involve Native American children. They were taken from their families and placed in dominant culture schools. They were forced to speak only English and not allowed to speak their native languages in an effort to assimilate them into the dominant culture. They were forced to give up their Native American clothing for the clothing of the dominant culture.

Based on the literature I have read in your classes, I am also interested in the status of Native Americans now. I know that most, if not all, tribes have a tribal government. I would like to research the effectiveness of those governments on national policy and tribal policy. In other words, are Native Americans able to effect positive change for their people through government?

At this point, I am thinking that a research journal might be the most effective venue for this study. Your input would be appreciated. I do not know if the study is too wide or too narrow for the length the journal should be. Thank you.

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I am interested in doing a research journal on African-American Slave Narratives. I want to look into other slave narratives and find what is common among them, and what differentiates them. I would like to see how the slave narratives are similar to the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, in the sense of the American success story (Franklin is a self-made man, and the slaves achieve success and define themselves by gaining freedom).

I am also interested in the symbolism found in the slave narratives and the connection that can be made between the Biblical Garden of Eden and being cast out (Africa as an Eden, and cast out as in becoming a slave). Also the parallels between African-American slavery, captivity, escape, and freedom, compared to the Biblical story of slavery of the Israelites under Egypt and the exodus-the wandering in the wilderness-and eventually the Promised Land. Since the slaves existed in the Christian culture and adopted the Christian religion- what influence did the Christian stories have on how they saw themselves or expressed their condition in their narratives? In what ways do the slave narratives express the culture, especially religious, that the slaves find themselves in?

I found some incredible websites dealing with Slave Narratives, also found some intriguing books and some journal articles that discuss patterns and motifs found in slave narratives. My bibliography is very preliminary, and I need to narrow it down. I am not absolutely sure that a journal is the best way to approach this topic. If I choose the journal option, am I too broad with this topic, or should I try to confine it to some aspect of the slave narrative? Are there some other areas of slave narratives I should pay attention to?

1. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Documenting the American South (North American Slave Narratives). URL: http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/ They have an extensive collection of slave narratives as electronic texts.

2. The Origins & Nature of New World Slavery/Excerpts from Slave Narratives (Steven Mintz, University of Houston). URL: http://vi.uh.edu/pages/mintz/primary

1. Brent, Linda. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. The Classic Slave Narratives. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New York: Penguin Putnam, 1987.

2. Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. The Classic Slave Narratives. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New York: Penguin Putnam, 1987.

3. Equiano, Olaudah. The Life of Olaudah Equiano. The Classic Slave Narratives. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New York: Penguin Putnam, 1987.

1. Andrews, William L. African American Autobiography: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. William L. Andrews.

2. Andrews, William L. Critical Essays on Frederick Douglass. Boston: GK Hall, 1991.

3. Andrews, William L. To Tell a Free Story: The First Century of Afro-American Autobiography, 1760-1865. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986.

4. Bakhtin, Mikhail M. “The Bildungsroman” Speech Genres and Other Late Essays. Trans. Vern W. McGee. Austin: U of Texas Press, 1987.

6. Costanzo, Angelo. Surprising Narrative: Olaudah Equiano and the Beginnings of Black Autobiography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1987

7. Foster, Frances Smith. Witnessing Slavery: The Development of Ante-bellum Slave Narratives. 2^nd Ed. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1994.

8. Fleischner, Jennifer. Mastering Slavery: Memory, Family, and Identity in Woman’s Slave Narratives. New York: New York University Press, 1996.

9. Gates, Henry, Jr. Figures in Black: Words, Signs, and the “Racial” Self. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.

10. Gates, Henry, Jr. The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Criticism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.

11. Morrison, Toni. Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992.

12. Nelson, Dana D. The Word in Black and White: Reading “Race” in American Literature, 1638-1867. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

13. Stepto, Robert B. From Behind the Veil: A Study of Afro-American Narrative. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1979.

1. Bassard, Katherine Clay. “Gender and Genre: Black Woman’s Autobiography and the Ideology of Literature.” African American Review 26.1 (Spring, 1992): 119-129. She establishes a link between literacy and freedom.

2. Drake, Kimberly. “Rewriting the American Self: Race, Gender, and Identity in the Autobiographies of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs.” Melus 22.4 (1997): 91-108.

3. Ferguson, SallyAnn H. “Christian Violence and the Slave Narrative.” American Literature 68.2 (June, 1996): 297-320.

4. Foreman, Gabrielle P. “The Spoken and the Silenced in Incidents in The Life of a Slave Girl and Our Nig.” Callaloo 13.2 (Spring, 1990): 313-324.

5. Gibson, Donald B. “Reconciling Public and Private in Frederick Douglass’ Narrative.” American Literature 57.4 (Dec. 1985): 549-569.

6. Lehmann, Sophia. “In Search of the Mother Tongue: Locating Home in Diaspora.” Melus 23.4 (Winter, 1998): 101-118. She makes the connection between the story of the Israelites and Slave Narratives.

7. Olney, James. “I Was Born: Slave Narratives, Their Status as Autobiography and as Literature.” Callaloo 0.20 (Winter, 1984): 46-73.

8. Orban, Katalin. “Dominant and Submerged Discourses in the Life of Olaudah Equiano (or Gustavus Vassa?).” African American Review 27.4 (Winter, 1993): 655-664.

9. Potkay, Adam. “Olaudah Equiano and the Art of Spiritual Autobiography.” Eighteenth Century Studies 27.4 (Summer, 1994): 677-692. “Equiano reads and renders his own life – and perhaps, by extension, the life of his race – as mirroring the movement of Biblical history from the Old Testament to the New. That is he reads the pattern of his life as reduplicating the pattern of salvation history in the Christian Bible.”

10. Sabino, Robin and Jennifer Hall. “The Path Not Taken: Cultural Identity in the Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano.” Melus 24.1 (Spring, 1999): 5-19.

11. Samuels, Wilfred D. “Disguised Voice in The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, or, Gustavus Vassa, the African.” Black American Literature Forum 19.2 (Summer, 1985): 64-69.

12. Wardrop, Daneen. “While I Am Writing: Webster’s 1825 Spelling Book, the Ell, and Frederick Douglass’s Positioning of Language.” African American Review 32.4 (Winter, 1998): 649-660. This article talks about Douglass and literacy.

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I’m following your direction and am going to continue my midterm topic about the positives that ensued from African American’s oppression in slavery. I’m going to enjoy the freedom of not having to include all our discussed texts in this paper and see where this journey leads me.

My midterm idea began with thoughts of writing about how the flying African myth would tie in with religion, only to end up writing about the importance of and dependence on music that the African American people had and still have. As I came to a completion of my midterm essay, I began to read research online of other literature students, as well as some experts on the topic. This of course gave me the confidence to pursue the relationship between the history of the Blues and African American music today with the very humble beginnings of the slave spirituals sung in the cotton fields. I plan to choose the essay route but will leave that fairly open, if it’s all the same to you.

I have done some initial research in our library and found numerous books on the topic. Some of my research materials may include:

Brent, Linda. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. The Classic Slave Narratives

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. The Classic Slave Narratives

My question would be whether or not you think it is necessary, or even most interesting, for me to stick to the topic of “flying” in its relation to the history of African American music? Do you think this will help to keep my research focused and do you think this will be the thing that might differentiate my work from previous work on the subject of African American music? Also, would it be ok for me to repeat some of my ideas or even sentence structure from my midterm since I’m continuing the same topic and if so, to what extent? I’m not necessarily trying to be lazy here just hoping to not reinvent the wheel.