Wired Research Interests on Beloved and the Golden Triangle

from http://www.kentucky.com/2013/01/28/2493949/merlene-davis-dont-look-to-hollywood.html

Greetings, Class. 

You have been assigned to build a research portfolio in the form of webpage for your final project. The research based webpage will be comprised of 1000 word academic reflection (essay) about one aspect from the novel Beloved and how it connects to any historical/cultural information about The Golden Triangle region in the Nineteenth Century.  

The website must make a significant claim about an aspect of Nineteenth Century life in TheGolden Triangle and how the novel introduced these aspects of society to you. 

Different perspectives of your research should be presented on different pages of the website, accompanying work should be indicated as pages, posts, or hyperlinks in the webpage.

In the comments box below, please post your a 2 to 3 sentence statement about your research intentions and any pertinent information  about your research project. 

The Impact of Gender and Intersectional Identity in Slave Communities - Beloved

Study the Masters by Lucille Clifton

like my aunt timmie.

it was her iron,

or one like hers,

that smoothed the sheets

the master poet slept on.

home or hotel, what matters is

he lay himself down on her handiwork

and dreamed. she dreamed too, words;

some cherokee, some masai and some

huge and particular as hope.

if you had heard her

chanting as she ironed

you would understand form and line

and discipline and order and

america.   

-  Callaloo 22.1 (1999) 54

Greetings, Class. 

In Beloved, we are exploring the ways gender and intersectional identity may have impacted the experiences of the characters, former enslaved people.  This poem by Lucille Clifton may help us to unpack some of the complexities associated with gender in slave communities.  

Consider how gender (male or female) and intersectional identity (black/African American and female) impacted the individual experiences of the characters because they were people that once lived in  enslaved communities.  

How are Paul D's memories of slavery different from Sethe's or Ella's?  How might the traumas associated with slavery impact the ways certain communities or individuals remember America and negotiate 'freedoms'?    

You may include examples from Beloved.  Feel free to include links and additional resources as examples. 

Dr. Hill

Naming in Beloved

“definitions belonged to the definers—not the defined.” – Schoolteacher  (Beloved)

from http://www.marketingtechnews.net/news/2013/may/17/11-tips-for-creating-great-brand-names/

Greetings, Students. 

Think about the names in the novel Beloved and what is named and unnamed in the novel.  You may have your own ideas about names in the novel or you may want to think about Beloved’s name and origin.  The unnamed ‘she’ that Beloved is always seeking is another instance of naming worth considering.

Draw connections between Schoolteacher’s quote and instances of naming  in the novel.  You may want to also consider drawing connections between the quote and other instances of naming  American culture.

Dr. Hill

Sethe says…

from http://collider.com/oprah-winfrey-the-butler-color-purple-interview/

Greetings, Students. 

In Beloved, Sethe thinks ‘nothing ever dies’  and ‘anything dead coming back to life hurts’.  How do these ideas relate to some of the reading of the novel or concepts we have been studying. Consider how the intersections of memory and history impact the reading and our understanding of the novel. 

Dr. Hill  

The American Dream as a Lens for Interpreting Beloved

from http://www.citylab.com/housing/2012/04/evolution-american-dream-colonial-times-today/1862/

Greetings, Students.

In class we discussed how prevalent ideas associated with the "American Dream" are present in American literature, film, and popular culture.

We discussed that  "[t]he American Dream is a national ethos of the United States, a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility achieved through hard work."


We also discussed that the idea of the American Dream is rooted in the UnitedStates Declaration of Independence which proclaims that "all men are created equal" and that they are "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights" including "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dream

Please post a comment below that expresses how ideas pertaining to the American Dream intersect with some of the circumstances and characters we encounter in the novel, Beloved.

Clips from Our First Class

Greetings Students,

I apologize that the speaker equipment did not work very well in class.The short videos from our class discussion introduce Beloved. I am going to post the videos on your blog.Please view them.

Toni Morrison discusses Beloved.




Below is a short reading of the novel by Sandra Cisneros.

Please Introduce Yourself

from http://beyblade.wikia.com/wiki/File:Hello_my_name_is_sticker_by_trexweb1.jpg

My Name by Sandra Cisneros

In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting. It is like the number nine. A muddy color. It is the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings when he is shaving, songs like sobbing.

It was my great-grandmother's name and now it is mine. She was a horse woman too, born like me in the Chinese year of the horse--which is supposed to be bad luck if you're born female-but I think this is a Chinese lie because the Chinese, like the Mexicans, don't like their women strong.

My great-grandmother. I would've liked to have known her, a wild, horse of a woman, so wild she wouldn't marry. Until my great-grandfather threw a sack over her head and carried her off. Just like that, as if she were a fancy chandelier. That's the way he did it.

And the story goes she never forgave him. She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow. I wonder if she made the best with what she got or was she sorry because she couldn't be all the things she wanted to be. Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don't want to inherit her place by the window.

At school they say my name funny as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth. But in Spanish my name is made out of a softer something, like silver, not quite as thick as sister's name Magdalena--which is uglier than mine. Magdalena who at least- -can come home and become Nenny. But I am always Esperanza. I would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees. Esperanza as Lisandra or Maritza or Zeze the X. Yes. Something like Zeze the X will do.

Apps for Class

from http://www.menshealth.co.uk/living/gear/upgrade-your-life-with-apps

Greetings, Students.

We will be using mobile and computer apps (applications)  in our physical and digital classroom environment to help us organize research and original ideas.  We will also be using apps to present information. 

Apps are extremely convenient.  They allow you to access information when one wants to from a phone, ipad, and other digital devices.  Apps are also convenient because one can access an app without being tied to a computer. 

Over the course of the semester, we will be using a number of apps.   They are:

Diigo – www.diigo.com 

Ever Note – www.evernote.com

Aurasma - http://www.aurasma.com

Popplet – www.popplet.com

Please take a moment to explore the apps.  Brainstorm about how you may use them in your academic endeavors.

Sincerely, 
Dr. Hill

An Introduction to A&S 100-010: Toni Morrison's Tale of the Golden Triangle and Beloved

photo credit: Marshall University Libraries 

Greetings, A&S 100-010.  

Welcome to Toni Morrison's Tale of the Golden Triangle and Beloved! This blog is an extension of our classroom; we can consider it an online version of our Wired class community.

This course, Toni Morrison’s Tale of the Golden Triangle and Beloved, is designed to be a literary seminar course that explores Beloved by Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison. This course will challenge students to use digital tools in order to read and critically analyze Toni Morrison’s Beloved using methods familiar with historical research and literary criticism. 


Students will be asked to research how the GoldenTriangle may have been in the 19th century. The research will be done using digital tools to access primary and secondary research materials.  This research will allow the students to view the content of the novel in a ‘real life’ practical context and create digital environments that reflect the content and themes of the novel.  The final project will ask students to develop a webpage to complement Beloved, and to explain how the Golden Triangle setting is a critical aspect of the story. 
DaMaris B. Hill
Blog Log

If you would like to contact me, I can be reached using the information on the syllabus or via email damaris.hill@uky.edu.  I am excited to learn with you!

Sincerely,
Dr. Hill 

Blog Log 

Spring 2015 

http://ukcorejazz.blogspot.com

http://ukjazzlit.blogspot.com

Fall 2014

http://www.belovedwired.blogspot.com

http://www.ukyaas200.blogspot.com

Spring 2014

http://www.eng207uky.blogspot.com

http://www.afrofuturelit.blogspot.com

http://www.prettypoliticspopculture.blogspot.com

Fall 2013

http://www.creativewritingremix.blogspot.com

http://www.ukaas200.blogspot.com