LITR 5731 Seminar in American Minority Literature UHCL fall 2007 reseach proposals

LITR 5731: Seminar in American Multicultural Literature: Minority

Student Research Proposals, fall 2007

I selected to do my project as a research journal on non-fiction Mexican-American authors and observe their use of images of the individual, the family, and alternative families. I really enjoy reading Mexican-American literature because I can personally relate with many of their experiences, especially those that deal with the family. Besides my personal interests in the subject matter, I want to begin a list of readings for my oldest daughter to start reading so that she too can see how she can relate closely with many of these stories. It does not matter that the authors are from Chicago or Los Angeles, the experiences are still the same. This project for me will be very much of an exploration of the subject matter of the Mexican-American authors listed below:

Galarza, Ernesto. Barrio Boy (1971); Ernesto Galarza, Merchants of Labor: The Mexican Bracero Story (1964).

Garcia, Mario T. Memories of Chicano History: The Life and Narrative of Bert Corona. Foreword by David Montgomery. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. xviii + 354 pp. ISBN 0-520-08219-2.

Guilbault, Rose Castillo. Farmworker's Daughter: Growing Up Mexican in America (?: Heyday, 2005).

Heyck, Denis Lynn Daly. Barrios and Borderlands: Cultures of Latinos and Latinas in the United States. 1994. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-90394-7.

Hinojosa, María. Raising Raúl: Adventures Raising Myself & My Son (NY: Viking, 1999).

Rodriguez, Luis. Always Running. La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A. 1993. Touchstone. ISBN 0-671-88231-7.

Rodriguez, Richard. Days of Obligation. An Argument with my Mexican Father. A Penguin Book. 1992.

My research proposal is to explore the issue of assimilation from the standpoint that African-Americans and Mexican-Americans are already assimilated into the dominant culture of America. It is my contention, however, that it is the dominant culture that has and takes issue with the expression of that assimilation when African-Americans and Mexican-Americans seek to find their place within mainstream America.

I also believe and want to explore the issue of attitudes from both sides of the issue and, also, how old perceptions and ideas keep African-Americans and Mexican-Americans from acknowledging their assimilation because of identity issues within their respective cultures. I am still not sure whether this topic lends itself more to one option or another. I am leaning towards the essay option. My preliminary research has not turned up any opinions in support of my argument.

So, if I utilize this option, I will need to present a tightly constructed argument and basically utilize other arguments as opposition for my standpoint. I am currently researching the topic via the internet and would appreciate any suggestions that you have with regard to which format would better serve in this situation. The journal option would allow me the opportunity to do interviews and add personal data through the construction of a survey of questions covering my topic. I would poll members of the class and seek others, in both the African-American and Mexican-American communities, to complete the survey.

Provisional research proposal:

Dream Fulfillment Found in Notes from the “Harlem Renaissance/New Negro Era”

I chose a journal research project because I’m on a mission to acquire as much information as I can for my Master’s Project which will also focus on the Harlem Renaissance. By using this class’s research journal model I can get a substantial jump start on the first phase of collecting some of the resources I’ll use all the while becoming more familiar with the authors’ lives as well as their literary contributions. The journal journey will help me to postulate a plan and a means to strategically implement that plan for my M.A. literature project.

The Harlem Renaissance, also sometimes called the Negro Renaissance or the New Negro Movement, refers generally to an important artistic and socio-cultural moment in African American history during which African American writers, musicians, and artists in the 1920s and early-1930s produced a significant body of work that is deemed remarkable for its breadth and complexity of themes. Interdisciplinary in nature, this journal will focus on literary texts considered within the contexts of history, sociology, politics, autobiography, music, and the visual arts. Through the research, I will explore the genesis and meaning of this exciting moment in American cultural history, attempting to come to a deeper understanding of what the Harlem Renaissance was really all about. Ultimately, my aim is to marry the themes that take place throughout the movement with several of our class objectives including:

4. To register the minority dilemma of assimilation or resistance – fight or join the culture that oppressed you. Discuss the balance minorities strike between economic benefits and personal or cultural sacrifices.

5 To study the influence of minority writers and speakers on literature, literacy, and language.

Finally, I hope to illustrate how they all subsequently work together provide a framework for “The Dream” and the acquisition of…as we have studied in objective 3.

1. Dr. White do you feel my scope for the journal is too broad? If so, what changes to the plan do you recommend without changing the plan entirely?

2. Based on your comments on my midterm paper is there anyway to put together an academic research journal with a stand-up presentation in an attempt to resolve or unify the dream-American dream theme? I’m open to give it a try if you are. Or perhaps we can revisit the idea for the M.A. Project.

Dear Dr. White:

I have thought about the three options, and I've decided to go with the essay.

The essay will center on two primary texts: Song of Solomon and some of The Classic Slave Narratives.

I will develop the idea "Representations of Fear in Minority Literature." I came across this idea from the University of Oregon's call for papers. (http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~readfear/cfp.htm)

I will cover obj1:“minority concept" 1a. Involuntary participation as a—the American Nightmare. 1b. “Voiceless and choiceless”; “Voice = Choice” 1c. To observe alternative identities and literary strategies...

"Although fear is an instinctual emotion caused by a perceived threat, fear may also serve as a motivating impetus for social change." (I'm thinking of Paulo Freire's work Pedagogy of the Oppressed where he attacks on the "banking" concept of education, in which students are viewed as an empty account to be filled by the teacher).

"The various uses and abuses of fear can lead to a variety of responses including resignation and nihilism or an energized call for solidarity or action."

Essential question: “How can the analysis of fear help us to more fully understand our families, our communities, and our country?" (http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~readfear/cfp.htm)

Leah

I have decided to move forward with the conference paper in order to challenge myself as a writer. I will take my midterm, “As the Pendulum Swings: The Victimization of African American Women,” and re-work it into something presentable. While polishing the midterm, I would like to show that the abusive behavior of African Americans toward themselves and each other is a learned behavior picked up from white slaveholders.

I plan to use Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs as a foundation for this assertion. Their works will help me show where the behavior possibly started. Then, I would like to move on to Alice Walker and Toni Morrison, both of whom seem to capture the plight of an entire community with perfect clarity. Some common motifs I have seen with these writers involve the color code, double minority issues, and nature vs. nurture.

One of the requirements of the conference paper is to have a writing consultation with someone other than the instructor. I have already begun my conversation with someone, and she is interested in helping me. She led me to speak with someone else who is also interested in the topic. She is African American and may lend some personal insight into the topic as well as lead me to relevant literature. In our conversation, she mentioned The Bluest Eye by Morrison. In researching this title, I found a couple of related essays. The articles I have found so far: “Specifying: Black Women Writing the American Experience” by Susan Willis and “'The Bluest Eye': notes on history, community, and black female subjectivity” by Jane Kuenz.

This paper would be ready in time for the Research and Creative Arts Conference in April.

For the research project, I will be choosing the traditional research essay option. For this paper, I would like to propose the use of two outside texts which are Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself,” and the American novel Nella Larsen’s Passing. The focus of the paper will relate to Objective 1 “The American Nightmare” with special emphasis on “The Color Code,” and objective 3 “The American Dream.” I will be illuminating how these two authors clash on the notion of equality for all regardless of race, class, and social status. Specifically in Nella Larsen’s Passing, I will exhibit how “black and white” is symbolic of “bad and good.” I will also exhibit the powerful effects of “good hair” and “fair skin” that is possessed by many African Americans of bi-racial ethnicity, and how these two features tend to be a deceptive mask allowing many African Americans access to many worldly privileges that they would otherwise be denied if their true African ethnicity were known.

In “Song of Myself,” Whitman strongly disagrees with all worldly suppressive entities such as racial discrimination, and barriers that separate people in terms of social and financial status. He firmly feels that these barriers ultimately prevent the individual from being free to indulge in an equal opportunity to experience all aspects of life great and small. In Passing, Larsen presents her audience with the many hardships that arise from one’s racial identity. She critiques the obstacles that many African Americans face such as racial discrimination. Skin color is the issue that bars them from experiencing equality with Caucasian Americans.

My thesis for this paper is the following: The theme of equality exists in “Song of Myself” and Passing on a contrasting level. In “Song of Myself,” Whitman celebrates all of humanity, freedom, and equality for everyone on all levels. His claim is that no one is separated by race, social or financial status, power, or outer appearance which represents the “American Dream.” In Passing, Larsen represents the “American Nightmare.” She presents us with a more realistic view of equality. She exhibits equality as a dirty word and as a goal that is clearly unwelcome by the Caucasian community. Humanity is divided by ideas of racial superiority, social and financial status, and power. Larsen speaks back to Whitman in an effort to expose his unrealistic, and fantasy like views on equality.

I chose the journal option because my primary interest is expanding my knowledge base for use in the high school courses I teach and for the community college courses I plan to teach in the future. In a previous course, I worked on a paper on Harlem Renaissance authors and I hope to further expand my knowledge base with this assignment. My goal is to strengthen my knowledge of a couple of important authors and, in addition, examine and become acquainted with a survey list of titles of particular interest to adolescents.

3. I plan to seek recommendations from several sources and then examine specific recommended titles for Young adults. Among the sources I am considering are:

a. American Library Association Award List Books, particularly the selections for Young Adults such as Best Books for Young Adults

c. Numerous public libraries have created book lists of recommended titles and these lists are available on the internet

d. There are several publications that devote themselves to reading interests of young adults. I assume that some of these may have recommended titles lists for this topic

Are there any particular titles or resources that you would recommend that I consult in my search?

It has been a difficult task trying to pick a topic that I wanted to do a project on. The difficulty wasn’t in just picking a topic, but in finding a topic that I would enjoy researching. I knew I wanted to do something on Mexican American Literature because that is my one, true passion. I considered writing an essay, but then I realized that I wanted to do more than that. I wanted to do something that would be a benefit to me in the future or something I may use in the future. So I have chosen to create a journal for my Research Project.

My next step was to try to find something that stands out in Mexican and Mexican American Literature. I realized that many novels written by these authors seem to focus a lot on the family. Although many cultures do hold the family to be the center of their survival, I have noticed that Mexicans and Mexican Americans have passed on this tradition from generation to generation. Being Mexican American, I understand the pressure an individual gets from having to put the family above everything else, so I really wanted to research the importance of it. Whether it is the extended or nuclear, many of the characters in these books hold strong ties to their families or vice versa. As I ponder on this idea, I came across Objective 6 in the syllabus: To observe images of the individual, the family and alternative families in the writings and experience of minority groups. Then I decided to not just concentrate on the family, but the women’s roles in these families in novels and short stories. In many cases, the women are the ones with the strength to manage to keep the family and traditions alive.

Some of the novels and books I have chosen to use for my project are as follows:

Augenbraum, Harold and Ilan Stavans, eds. – Growing Up Latino: Memoirs and Stories

Echevarría, Roberto González, ed. – The Oxford Book of Latin American Short Stories

Gonzalez, Ray, ed. – Currents From the Dancing River: Contemporary Latino Fiction, Nonfiction and Poetry

I do believe the above chosen books will assist me in my research, if this is the topic I chose to stick with for this project. I would appreciate any comments or feedback you have on my topic. Would this be a good topic to do research on or should I narrow it down further?

I want to write an essay for presentation at the conference next spring, further developing my thoughts on those words—words spoken by persons formerly held in slavery--at the moment of their freedom. I want to further explore those exact words spoken by Equiano, Douglass and Jacobs at these mountaintop moments because I believe those are some of the most exciting and inspiring moments of their stories. Such words may come from the heart, reflect pure feeling, and even ecstasy--this sounds like Romanticism defined. Yet, as with every human being, was there not some doubt, some sense of sublimity mixed within their joy?

Such examination combined with or found through biographical information and the exemplary cultural assimilation in their words will lead directly into two class objectives.

However, my approach will be narrow and clear, in terms of the following two objectives.

Objective 1b. “Voiceless and choiceless”; “Voice = Choice”

Objective 4 - To register the minority dilemma of assimilation or resistance— i. e., do you fight or join the culture that oppressed you?

Explaining this in the form of a speech could be very exciting, and somewhat different in form than an essay.

My questions, of course, have to do with the presentation. Can I use power point? Film clips?

Can we develop that as we get into this new arena of expression? I am still considering how exciting it would be to work Dr. Martin Luther King into this essay, but whether that is possible remains to be seen.

as far as the research project, if it's alright with you, i'm fairly certain the text i'd like to tackle Colson Whitehead's The Intuitionist. what i'm undecided on is the method in which i would do so. i really enjoyed the research journal in am. romanticism and i believe the journal would dovetail nicely with a paper i'm certain i'll later write on the paper; however, i'm intrigued by the third option--i've never been to a conference, and consequently, never delivered/presented a paper. maybe you've some insight for me?

Dr. White,

After reviewing previous research projects I have decided to do a Journal. I have chosen a journal because I can use my research for my Master's Project If I decide to do so. What interest me most is African American and Mexican American Novels that were chosen for this class.

As you know, I work at San Jacinto College. I recently added the job of Retention Specialist to my previous duties as Tutor Coordinator. One of my jobs is to find out why students are not staying at the college and try to implement programs that will help them be successful so they want to stay at San Jacinto College. A huge part of my job is to talk to students who are on the verge of being suspended for too many absences and also students who are in danger of failing their classes. This past month we have been contacting students to ask them what can we do to help turn their semester around. Most of them said that they don't like composition. When I ask them why they tell me because they have to read and write about people they never heard of before or they want to read books from authors who come from the same background as them. I should note that San Jacinto College has a huge population of Mexican and African Americans. While I do tell them that it is important to read books from authors from various backgrounds, I also think teachers should incorporate minority literature in their lesson plans.

Jennifer Rieck

Provisional research proposal

(possible topics/titles - "Running Down a Dream" - The Simulacra of the American Dream in Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath or "Please Hope Him to Death and Keep Him Running" - The Simulacra of the American Dream in Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath" or The American Nightmare in...)

For my research project, I have chosen to do the conference paper option. My tentative focus for my master's thesis is John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, The Pearl, Of Mice and Men, and Cannery Row (or some variation of this) and the plight of the working class in its search for the American Dream. So, I'd like to lay down a portion of this for our class in hopes that presenting at our UHCL conference will give me the experience and confidence I need to present at future conferences, such as the one I plan to submit to in January on

Indigenous, Immigrant, Migrant Labour & Globalization found at this website http://www3.telus.net/robbgibbs/PNLHA/attachments/2008_call.pdf.

I want to focus on the following objectives:

1b. “Voiceless and choiceless”; “Voice = Choice” Contrast the dominant culture’s self-determination or choice through self-expression or voice, as in "The Declaration of Independence."

2b. To detect "class" as a repressed subject of American discourse.

· “You can tell you’re an American if you can’t talk about class.”

· American culture officially regards itself as "classless"; race and gender

often replace class divisions of power, labor, ownership, or "place."

· Class may remain identifiable in signs or “markers” of power and prestige

· High-class status in the USA is often marked by plainness, simplicity, or lack

of visibility.

3. To compare and contrast the dominant “American Dream” narrative—which involves voluntary participation, forgetting the past, and individuals or nuclear families—with alternative narratives of American minorities, which involve involuntary participation, connecting to the past, and traditional, extended, or alternative families.

Questions:

Are there any resources that you would recommend that I consult in my search or possibly delete?

Can you offer any other advice?

Bibliography so far:

Baudrillard, Jean. "The Precession of Simulacra" (excerpt). from The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Vincent Leitch, ed. (New York: W.W. Norton, 2001).

Fussel, Paul. Class: A Guide Through the American Class System.

Newitz, Annalee. White Trash: Race and Class in America.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath.

"Steinbeck: Poet of the Dust Bowl." http://www.socialistworker.org/20021/397/397_08_Steinbeck.shtml

"White Trash: The Construction of an American Scapegoat." (from your links page) www.http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA97/price/open.htm

"Weedpatch Camp." http://www.weedpatchcamp.com/

In my research essay, I hope to investigate the relationship between assimilation and economics as it pertains to minorities and immigrants living in America. In the few texts I’ve read concerning the plight of minorities and immigrants who live in America, there seems to be a persisting notion by the characters that attaining some measurements of wealth and success can help them seamlessly assimilate into the dominant culture. Certainly, it’s never really seamlessly but possessing material things such as a nice car, a nice home, the right clothes can make matters easier.

A situation however can arise when minority and immigrant groups strive for material things, adopt or embrace a lifestyle or values previously non-existent to their being, the consequent, of which, can result in the failure to observe the values and traditions of their own culture and heritage.

An example of this can be found in the novel American Pastoral by Philip Roth. The novel chronicles the identity crisis of the son of Jewish immigrants as he amasses the status symbols (car, wife, business, home) that American society puts a premium on at the expense of not embracing his Jewish heritage. Ultimately, his daughter suffers from an identity crisis that leads her to act out, resulting in a man’s death and the deterioration of the whole family.

I hope to take a closer look at the difficulties minorities and immigrants face while trying to assimilate into American culture, perhaps more specifically the arduous transition periods individuals and groups must encounter when dealing with economic factors; factors that ultimately force individuals or groups to compromise their identities by shifting their values and norms in order to attain lives more conducive to fostering the American ideals of prosperity and happiness.

For my essay, I will likely use Song of Solomon since economics factors directly molded that attitudes and deficiencies of Macon Dead Jr. and Milkman. I will likely reference Frederick Douglass’s narratives as it seemed to me that a lot of Douglass’s identity and self-worth is directly influenced by the importance he placed on making his own money. I’m sure to use other texts from class though I need to read more in order to gather the necessary materials. I also plan to reference American Pastoral and Middlesex, a novel by Jeffery Eugenides, which follows the three generations of Greek Americans and their attempts to assimilate into American culture.

After coming to the realization that the romanticized portrait of the ‘Indian’ was the picture that had been painted in my mind, I decided to take a closer look at Native American/American Indian literature in search of a different view of American Indian identity. I have decided on the research journal option as knowledge gathering seems best suited for my topic. By using Black Elk Speaks and Love Medicine as bases for comparison, I want to look at a variety of Native American authors. At first, I was going to limit my research to Cherokee authors and history, but that by itself is so immense that I gave up on limitations to tribes. I realize that American Indian ‘identity’ is not going to be a straightforward topic with easy conclusions, but that will also make it interesting.

The purpose in using the journal option is to gather research for my creative thesis. One of the short stories I will be writing depends heavily on American Indian characters as the stories are loosely based on my own family history. Before finding genealogy research, the oral story of my great-grandmother’s heritage was that she was an Apache Indian. I found out that she was actually of Cherokee descent, but the trail ends there so to speak. Four generations back, Nathaniel Wofford married “a cherokee woman” as stated in genealogy research. There is no further information given, I am assuming because records were not kept among tribes; oral tradition was the source of such information and the destruction of tribal culture was the destruction of the past.

I am attempting to recreate the life of this “Cherokee woman” in my writing, so in an attempt to find her identity, I must first have an idea what it means to be an American Indian in a general sense. I want this research journal to help me develop a better understanding of what it means to be Indian by reading the accounts of American Indian authors.

2c. "Quick check" on minority status: What is the individual’s or group’s relation to the law or other dominant institutions? Does "the law" (e. g., the police) make things better or worse?

3b. Native American Indian alternative narrative: "Loss and Survival" (Whereas immigrants define themselves by leaving the past behind in order to become American, the Indians were once “the Americans” but lost most of their land along with many of their people. Yet Native Americans defy the myth of "the vanishing Indian," choosing to "survive," sometimes in faith that the dominant culture will eventually destroy itself, and the forests and buffalo will return.)

4. To register the minority dilemma of assimilation or resistance—i. e., do you fight or join the culture that oppressed you? What balance do minorities strike between economic benefits and personal or cultural sacrifices? In general, immigrants assimilate, while minorities (esp. African Americans) remain distinct.

Is taking a broad view, as opposed to focusing on Cherokee authors, a product of what it means to be an American Indian? I guess what I’m asking is taking into account the history, is it now impossible to have a tribal identity?