Hey Everyone,
I definitely have nothing concrete that I want to start working with but I wrote a paper for a 20th c. American Politics class that I feel like I never really executed like I should have. So my paper topics stem are a breakdown of different ways I wanted to write that paper:
1. A look at how urban ethnic identities changed during the Great Depression.
2. The evolution of the American frontier and how the idea of a "pioneer" has changed over time.
3. A comparison of presidents perceived to be from the frontier (Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan...others?).
Any thoughts?
-Tom
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Hey Tom,
ReplyDeleteAll of these seem like really interesting, if broad, topics in American history. They seem like good starting points, so the challenge is to focus in. My question for your first two topics is how you might narrow it down - for instance, in terms of ethnic identities during the Great Depression, would you discuss mostly European immigrants and the lessening of ethnic strife between different groups - Irish, German, Jewish, etc? What about African Americans? The third topic seems particularly interesting, and I feel like the second and third could combine into one where you analyze how various presidents have in themselves embodied the frontier in various senses (in addition to the ones you've mentioned, I'm thinking of Lincoln and the log cabin, which was and is an important image and symbol of frontier life in America). These are great areas of interest and I look forward to seeing more of what you focus on!
Hey Tom,
ReplyDeleteI like Sylvie's idea of looking at how Americans embodied the frontier, and agree with her that narrowing your topic would be a good next step. As a note, the first Stanford class starting in 1891, right at the end of a century of expansion westward, was the "pioneer" class in the sense that they were the first class to go through the four years at university here—but calling them that also evokes the 19th century idea of pioneers in the west not only as perseverant but also the "first" to accomplish a difficult task. It may be this quality that you chose to pursue in your research—certainly the idea of presidential "firsts" and their merit is something that America faced in the election last year, and I think it'd be cool to learn more about how the idea of "first achievement" played out a century or more ago.
Hi, Tom,
ReplyDeleteIn terms of your first topic, I'm interested to see what urban centers you would choose to focus on: location seems like it would play a huge part, and you might even be able to tie in your interest in frontiers here--Seattle, for instance, was still a one-horse-town when people moved there looking for work on dams. Also, your third topic seems really interesting: how did presidents, for instance, use the image of an "outsider" or a "rustic frontiersman" to their advantage?
T-Grey,
ReplyDeleteAll of these topics seem attractive, especially because they question what it meant to be an "American" at what time. I really like the idea of comparing different Presidents with "frontier" personalities, especially because the President's attitude is so often a reflection of the people's at that time. You could talk to Prof Richard White in the History Dept - he has done a lot of study on Jackson as a rugged President and the implications that had for the era leading up to the Civil War.
Hey Tom,
ReplyDeleteSorry for such a late response, and maybe you've already changed around your ideas or decided on one of the above, but for what it's worth:
To echo Alice a bit, when looking at how ethnic identities changed during the Great Depression, would you be focusing on one particular area/city (Chicago? NYC? San Francisco?) or comparing and contrasting two different cities? Or perhaps choosing one ethnic group to focus on and looking at changes during the Gr. Depression in location X and location Y?
As for your second topic idea, on pioneers, it might be fun/potentially helpful to make a list of a bunch of different people you consider to be American 'pioneers' (in the sciences, in technology, in politics, etc.). You can then maybe get something of a list of qualities that are considered 'pioneering' and how these are embodied in the Everyman going West.
-Sylvie