English

i've been exploring different adaptions of the color purple and am trying to dig into what about this narrative has made it a commercial success & a work that has been canonized as "serious literature" 

so far i have:

• read the book
• familiarized myself with the musical adaptation
• begun compiling critical responses to the book/film/musical & other additional texts

going forward i need to:

I have started reading Their Eyes Were Watching God and I think that there will be a lot to explore in this book. I’m only 60 pages in but very excited to keep reading. I would like to read more of what Anne recommended to me to pursue, like Mules and Men, “How It Feels to be a Colored Me,” and “Looking for Zora.” I will read these as well and what I find in these essays and book I hope will guide my journey into Hurston’s novel.

For me, creating a rough timeline will be useful:

12/6 - finish Their Eyes Were Watching God

12/8 - read supplementary readings

by 12/9 - meet with Anne to discuss possible paths for writing

12/12 - turn in final essay

Hello!

Here's what I'm thinking about doing:

Topic: "From Crazy to Conscious" Seeing Black Women and the Highlighting their societal contributions

In my last paper, I talked about intersectionality and how black women worked to bring the concept to light. Throughout this project, I want to look delve deeper into the "feelings of crazy" or "inconcievable" actions (i.e. Sethe killing her child) to unpack the consciousness and humanity present within those actions. 

By midnight tomorrow (Tues, Nov. 29), please post another short report, describing the progress you are making on your independent study: what texts you’ve settled on, what questions you’re asking of them, how you might go about exploring them, what deadlines you’re setting yourself for reading-and-writing. If you haven't already met with me once to set up such guidelines, please make an appointment to do so within the week. Please also be in touch if you'd like to make a second appointment with me to explore some of these questions further.

"your body becomes more like mine... mine marks me, announces my weakness, displays it as yellow skin. it flagrantly tells my story, or a compacted, distorted version of it, to passersby curious enough to cast their eyes my way. it stunts their creativity, dictates to them the limited list of what i could be... generalized and indiscriminate, easily spotted and readily identifiable all the same."  -- Binh, The Book of Salt (152)

I finished Americanah yesterday, and I'm very interested in Ifemelu's migrant identity and her journey to and from America. She and Obinze share some idealized vision of the country before leaving, but when they do, they are disappointed by their experiences in America and England. In America, Ifemelu becomes depressed as she adjusts to life where she faces dramatic exclusion. She cannot get a job because of her immigrant status and her race, she has to cope with the stress of being racialized as "black for the first time," and the politics of being non-American and black in the United States. The journey changes Ifemelu profoundly, she is marked by her time spent abroad, and she is called an "Americanah" when she returns to Nigeria.

I started reading A Country Called Prison: Mass incarceration and the Making of a New Nation by Mary D. Looman, John D. Carl. I plan on reading 90 pages for each Tuesday and 90 pages for each Thursday. At this rate, I plan on finishing the book by December 6^th.  I plan on writing a posting every Tuesday and Thursday about what I’ve read. This posting will describe a part of the reading I found interesting as well as connect it to other readings, discussions, or ideas we’ve had in these three classes or others that I find relevant. I am also going to write a paper analyzing how hair is used, described, and its many significations in Americanah, which I will turn in on December 16^th.

so im focusing on David Marriott's On Black Men, and it is such a difficult book to read. I don't know if this is the class/time to focus on this work specifically, but i'm trying to read things im immediately drawn to. i thought i might bring back a book of poetry, Brutal Imagination by Cornelius Eady too. I read the book over the summer and included it in the archive. it's a crushing 128 pgs. really deeply connected to the theory of Marriott. i have to get my hands on brutal imagination and look again so more to come. but in the meantime, a bit from marriott on richard wright, photography and lynching:

I am working with Americanah, which I am about halfway through reading. I am focusing on the characters' (especially Ifemelu's) experiences as immigrants, struggling to belong in a new country, but also not fitting in if they return home. For instance, I might think about different characters' use of language. Ifemelu at first looks down on American English, but picks up some expressions unconsciously and spends several years intentionally cultivating an American accent, which she then abandons because she realizes that she doesn't want to sound American. Her speech is still different, though: When she runs into Kayode, she says that they "[lapse] into their Nigerian voices" (p. 276).

Moving forward for our English class, I would like to read Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. It is a book that has been on my mind for a long time, even though I don't know anything about it really. I've also been thinking about Zora Neale Hurston from our conversations with Monique about anthropology since Hurston herself was an anthropologist. As I was talking about my choice with some classmates today, Creighton offered to lend me her copy and told me about how much this book meant to her.