Week 18 - Identities II: Nation and Race
As background for this week, I would like you all to have a look at:
- Henrietta Harrison, 'The republican citizen'
in The Making of the Republican Citizen: Political Symbols and Ceremonies in China (2000), ch. 2 (49-92). - C. Waters, ‘”Dark Strangers” in Our Midst: Discourses of Race and Nation in Britain 1947-1963’, Journal of British Studies 36 (1997), 207-38.*
The real reading, however, are these four short pieces from the American Historical Review Forum: Histories and Historical Fictions,* American Historical Review 103, 5 (December 1998):
- Margaret Atwood, ‘In search of Alias Grace: on writing Canadian historical fiction’, 1503-16.
- Lynn Hunt, `"No longer an evenly flowing river": Time, history, and the novel', 1517-21.
- Jonathan D. Spence, `Margaret Atwood and the Edges of History', 1522-5.
- John Demos, `In search of the reasons for historians to read novels...', 1526-9.
These will give us a good cross section of readings based on the themes discussed in this week's lectures and will hopefully provide interesting counterpoint from what we were doing the last few weeks.
*You will need to be on a University computer or logged in through your University account to get access to these articles.
Music By Which To Read
Okay, I'll admit it: getting this week's playlist set up was difficult. It's hard to know exactly where to go about regarding music about identity. After all, most forms of music are generally considered to be created out of a need to express identity. Certainly music is seen as a key component in the creation of our identities and how we continually re-define ourselves. So, beyond the first two songs, I've moved into a more general selection of contemporary music that looks at identity creation. I'd be very interested to hear what tracks you think could be added to this. The text version is here.