LITR 5731 Seminar in American Minority Literature UHCL spring 2006 reseach proposals

LITR 5731: Seminar in American Minority Literature

Student Research Proposals, spring 2006

Because I am exploring the possibility of doing my Master's Thesis on passing and/or color line issues, I have decided to do my journal on this topic to explore the topic further and perhaps find a more specific avenue of future research.

The two main topics I plan to explore are the benefits and/or detriments arising from the perception that lighter skin is preferable to darker skin, and the benefits and/or risks of the actual act of passing for a person of another race.

Rather than focus solely on African American color as I did in my midterm, I want to explore the topic from a more multi-cultural angle, and, at the very least, I want to include Spanish-American color issues in my research journal. It is my hope that in the process of researching this issue from the perspective of more than one race I will get a more specific idea of a direction in which to take my idea for a thesis paper.

Q1: Do you think there is an adequate amount of information outside of the area of African American issues to address this concerning other races?

Q3: Do Native Americans face the same issues? As a matter of face, is the whole issue of passing even more common and profound for them as they tend to be more physically similar to both Euro-Americans and Hispanics and can “pass” more easily for either race?

I will be using the journal option to take a deeper look at Objective 2c and the relationship between minorities and "dominant institutions" such as law enforcement. I want to begin with a brief history of the relationship established between minorities and those in positions of authority. Next I want to view the similarities and differences of this relationship within the minority narratives of African Americans, Native Americans, and Mexican Americans.

Throughout the fiction, non-fiction texts, and poetry researched thus far I have found several recurring themes: a comparison of the minority experience to prison, a severed trust factor with authority figures, a comparison of one's current situation to ancestor's relationship with authority, feeling of helplessness, feeling of always being blamed for crime or being used as a scapegoat, view that crime or violence is the only way to escape being treated as a minority, view that standing up to authority is a "rite of passage", and the feeling that strength is gained through the minority/majority role reversal in prison. These are just a few of the ideas I have been bouncing around for now.

I haven't decided if I will include narratives from alternative minorities such as women and homosexuals. Do you have any opinions on this?

Being a security officer for Space Center Houston, I am curious about responses co-workers have or have had regarding security as a department of authority. I am in the process of creating a survey to be given to co-workers in order to obtain information on both their initial and current response to security, and to see if there is a difference in responses between those in the dominant and minority groups. What do you think of this idea? Do you have any suggestions?

An ex-coworker of mine is a police officer and identifies as a "triple minority" (Mexican American lesbian). I am very interested in the difficulties and issues she has encountered while being on both sides of the relationship and I am contemplating doing an interview with her. I feel her perspective might help broaden the research. Do you think it would add depth to the research as well? Do you have any suggestions?

As usual I have many different ideas, but I am unsure if it meshes to others as much as it does in my mind. Does this research topic flow for you?

“The true test of the progress of a people is to be found in their literature”

Rationale: Through class readings and discussions, we have established the fact that minorities in America are often voiceless. Consequently, their needs may go unnoticed and unmet. For those who belong to minority groups, everything is a little harder, or, to quote from Sapphire’s novel “sometimes you gotta push…” I am intrigued by the processes and the people who were instrumental in helping the voiceless be heard. Topics of my research would include:

1) Phyllis Wheatley was forced to appear before a group of learned men, to prove that she had the mental capacity to write the poetry she claimed to author; surely, they thought, no black woman could write such eloquent poetry. The story of her fight to get her work published is interesting, and deserves attention.

2) Slaves had no social or political power, yet we have seen that many of them did learn to read and write despite seemingly insurmountable odds, and many did get their work published. I would like to research the people and processes responsible for bringing this important literature to the forefront.

3) Until the Harlem Renaissance, African American writers in general had a difficult time being published. I would like to know how they were able to break this barrier; how did the Harlem Renaissance start, and how does the situation today stand in comparison to history?

4) Daniel A. P. Murray was the second African-American elected to the Library of Congress. As an authority on African-American concerns, he testified before congress on many issues, and was instrumental in the preservation of slave narratives. He was undoubtedly a major player in bringing the black voice to American literature, yet few of us know his name. I would like to tell his story.

5) What struggles have other minority writers faced (Native American, Hispanic, Gay/Lesbian), and how did they overcome them?

6) Are there instances where the minority voice has been altered by those who have helped to bring the voice forth? (Thinking here about Jacobs’ story and Black Elk’s, too)

1) Do you feel this is a ‘meaty’ enough topic for a project such as this? (Conversely, can I do justice to the topic in 12-20 pages!?)

2) Do you feel this topic would best be presented in essay form, or journal form?

3) Although this topic fascinates me, I am not 100% sure it meets the criteria you have established for our projects – can you comment on that, please?

For my research project, I would like to work with Mexican-American Literature and its relation to Catholicsm, other religions (including witchcraft and the hybridity/syncretism that exists within it.) We saw lots of examples of this in Alexie's book, but I'd really like to stick with Mexican-American Lit.

I'd like to discuss how important is it for Catholicism to survive with the Mexican-American culture. In doing so, the possibility to talk about mestizo/indian religions and santeria are available.

I think I am going to work on a journal, simply because it seems to give you a little bit more wiggle room when it comes to your thesis. I have searched the old papers and it seems a big more informal and a little more flexible in terms of interpreting and spitting the information back out. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I plan on using Bless Me Ultima, Woman Hollering Creek and bring in things from other books/sources including Cisneros' Caremelo, Raymund A. Parades’ article, “The Origins of Anti-Mexican Sentiment in the United States,” ... maybe even bringing in a piece or two of Ronald Takaki's "A Different Mirror." Of course, there will probably be some others yet to come. If you have any other suggestions, please let me know.

4. Am I going to run into trouble with my gray-area thesis? (That is, not really having one right now and sort of seeing where the project will lead me.)

For my research project I am choosing to do the journal option. I am thinking of doing something about African American literature for children, highlighting stories about the Africans’ journey from slavery to freedom.

I hope to gain information about books that tell of the African story because I will be a fourth grade reading teacher next year. I want to find books with inspiring stories that I can share with my classes.

Some of the books I am thinking about using are The Patchwork Path A Quilt Map to Freedom by Bettye Stroud, Grandma’s Pride by Becky Birtha, Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson, and Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin.

Is this topic okay? I was thinking of modeling my journal similar to the way Kristi Pawlak did hers in 2004. I think this will really help me next year with my reading classes.

I think I would like to continue the theme of the breakdown of the traditional community and its alternative replacement. However, since I feel like I barely skimmed the surface of Song of Solomon in my midterm, I'd like to pursue that avenue exclusively.

First, I think I'll try to find some information on African Americans and community in general...just as some background information leading into the thesis.

Then, I want to take each of the "communities" in the novel, analyze them individually by showing how they do and don't work for the respective characters.

As a follow up, of course, I want to show how the "traditional" community breaks down and is replaced by an alternative one...and how this works for the novel and for the particular character and/or situation.

Perhaps these would work....or it may be too many...I'm not sure until I start researching.

2. The Dead Family....as a unit and individually (Ruth, Macon, Milkman, the two sisters)

4. Circe's community (in the broken down house surrounded by dogs...this is actually

There are a lot of small communities that spring up...such as Circe's, the Barber Shop guys, and Guitar's Seven Days group...and I could lump those together as one part of the paper instead of addressing them individually.

So...... what do you think about this topic? Is it too broad/narrow for a 20 page paper?

Do you have any suggestions as to where to look for the information on African Americans and their relationship to/with their community? (maybe in sociology, cultural anthropology type journals?????)

Originally I had wanted to do my research paper on curanderas (natural healers) and their role in current Mexican literature. This idea came to me after reading Bless Me, Ultima and from two Mexican novellas I have currently been watching that both have curanderas and brujas (witches) prominently displayed as main characters in modern day programs. Particularly in Ultima there is a strong connection between a native tradition (maintaining the old ways) and encouragement for education. I searched and searched for more literature like this written by Latin authors and only found one other book. I thought my research goal was a failure, but then inspiration hit me. It occurred to me how entirely racist I am. In all of the literature I reviewed, the characters were involved in what white Americans would consider as non-traditional jobs for Latinos - scientists, detectives, caterers for fancy hotels (not traditional cooks in a home or taqueria). To look or expect this type of literature never occurred to me. After Kim’s web highlighter about Kim Pawlak’s journal project concerning minority literature for children, I started thinking about such a project for myself.

My goal upon graduation from college is to teach students from environments where extended education is typically not a goal. Last summer I taught classes in a program known as Upward Bound that is specifically for high school students with college potential who may need extra support to fulfill such a goal. Recently, I have talked with a primary grade teacher from Mexico who is teaching in American schools and she was telling me of the total absence of literature for children that show Latino/as in jobs other than as maids and gardeners.

I have reviewed Kim P.’s site. She reviewed books that deal with very real problems for children and young adults in non-mainstream families. However, I believe that literature for high school students should go farther. I think that if students read about people from cultures like themselves who are working in jobs that require education and are non-blue collar or domestic, positive job goals can be envisioned beyond high school.

This is the project/journal I would like to do: review books usable in high school classrooms that depict minorities in well paid, successful careers. The objectives I plan to expand on are:

1b. Voiceless and choiceless - how have characters in the books chosen to make their voices heard and establish their right to make choices?

2b. “Class” as a repressed subject of American discourse - are race and gender repression evident in the literature and how do the characters over come or deal with such obstacles?

3. Compare and contrast the dominant “American Dream” narrative - to fulfill the places within mainstream America, how much of their cultural identity had to be given up?

3c. Mexican American narrative: The Ambivalent Minority” - my research will go beyond Mexican-American as many Latino/a writers are from South/Central America and Cuba.

4. Minority dilemma of assimilation or resistance - economic benefits vs. personal and cultural sacrifices.

5. Influence of minority writers and speakers. Also 5a. Power of poetry and fiction, 5b. Minority writers in the “canon:, 5c. Literacy/empowerment,

5d. development and variations of standard English, and 5e. Common devices of human language.

I propose to research a journal topic pertaining to African-American & Native American religious syncretism and cultural secrecy. My concept is that a subordinate culture will try in many ways – through direct conflict, deception, coercion and integration – to have their native traditions and culture “survive” the onslaught of the dominant culture’s powerful & forced adaptation.

But, as we’ve see in some of the pieces of literature, like in Black Elk and Song of Solomon, the people in the subordinate culture will adopt many secretive ways and styles (unknown to the dominant culture) of addressing these forced adaptations. But they can also choose to (outwardly) adopt the dominant culture’s religion, while (inwardly) serving their native religious traditions and gods. Also, they can choose to have their religious traditions “survive” by syncretism – merging their traditional beliefs with those of the dominant society.

I did do a bit of research to be sure that I could find enough material to support these views, and I think there seems to be enough out there, especially concerning African-American syncretism. This sounds like a really interesting area to research. Let me know if you have any reservations or concerns regarding this topic. ~RR