On three
scholars who have found unique historical approaches to the role that images of
childhood and identity play in our national narratives.
The third and
final ASA panel I’ll be highlighting here was organized by one of my Twitter-colleagues, Adam Golub, and
featured three very complex takes on historical images and uses of childhood in
American culture:
1)
Allison
Curseen, a graduate student in English and African
and African American Studies at Duke, presented a focus literary analysis
of the opening chapter of Stephen
Crane’s novella The Monster (1898),
and specifically its portrayal of play, parenting, and the contrast between the
pastoral and progress. She convincingly linked that chapter and text to many
other turn of the 20th century contexts, including images of “boyville”
and the progressive
moment’s emphasis on reconstructing the nation through “play.”
2)
Nicholas
Syrett, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Northern
Colorado, used the prominent and controversial
1937 case of a 9 year old Tennesse “child bride” (and her 22 year old
husband) to think about American narratives of childhood and adulthood,
sexuality, gender, and contrasts to foreign, less “civilized” cultures through
contemporary works such as Katherine Mayo’s Mother India (1927). While we can
all understand the distaste with a 9 year old’s nuptials, it’s important to
understand all of the contexts that inform any single controversy, and he did a
great job framing many for this one.
3)
Rebecca
Onion, another Twitter colleague and a graduate student in American Studies at the
University of Texas, read 1970s stories and pieces in the environmental children’s
magazine Ranger Rick, including
some by science
fiction author George Zebrowski, to discuss the relationships between
animality and childhood, apocalyptic environmental messaging, and the Endangered Species Act
(1973), among many other compelling connections to this fun but complex pop
culture text.
Each of these
projects should produce rich and important AmericanStudies scholarship, and I’m
excited to see where they go from here!
Next scholars
tomorrow,
Ben
PS.
Responses to these projects and scholars? Other AmericanStudiers you’d
highlight?
PPS. Adam writes to clarify that Rebecca was the panel's organizer, and that Adam was the chair. Just to get the story straight!
ReplyDeleteThe second scholar you mentioned reminded me of a book I've been meaning to read. The book is called "I am Nujood. Age 10 and Divorced.". It is a biography of a young girl in Yemen. I'm sure you've heard of it.
ReplyDeleteAfter working with kids, it's hard to read or hear about the things that some kids go through, but it is important to become aware of these things so that change can happen (as it did for Nujood).