From Mismeasure of Man to Invisible Man: An examination of scientific racism in the U. S. 1 Anelli Carol and Richard 1 Department of Entomology & Honors College, 2 General Education Program ABSTRACT Our section of Western Civilization (UH 330) explores the impact of science on society in historical and current contexts. The course aligns with WSU’s Six learning Goals of the Baccalaureate. We focus here on the arts & humanities portion of the unit that examines scientific attempts to quantify human intellectual worth. To begin the unit, students read S. J. Gould’s Mismeasure of Man, which scrutinizes scientific data from the 18 th-20 th centuries. These grossly flawed data had appalling consequences, including imprisonment and extermination of Jews under Nazi Germany, and enslavement and segregation of African Americans. As a companion text to the scientifically oriented Mismeasure of Man, students read Ralph Ellison’s modern classic novel, Invisible Man. 2 Law, Invisible Man contains more than 50 explicit references to music, and the novel’s structure is musically based. Classroom Activities American Masters DVD: Ralph Ellison Students view a DVD on Ellison that features interviews with literary and social critics. Double-Entry Journals Students write doubleentry journals on the novel that facilitate classroom discussion. Student Group Presentations Student presentations place Invisible Man in historical context. Yasinitsky on Louis Armstrong and Jazz Dr. Greg Yasinitsky, Meyer Distinguished Professor of Music, provides guest lecture. Our poster emphasizes the novel’s use of music. We provide teaching resources, pedagogy, and student responses to the pedagogy. RESULTS Summary data for student responses to questionnaire prompts are graphed below (2005 & 2007 data). Each prompt featured a Likert scale and free-form response space. Prompt Questionnaire Prompts # Lecture on Music in Invisible Man (Note: Student responses were anonymous. ) 1 2 I suggest you retain the double-entry journal exercise. 3 Discussions of Invisible Man enhanced my comprehension of the novel. 4 Working on my group project deepened my comprehension of the novel. 5 The lecture on Music in Invisible Man enhanced my appreciation of the novel. 6 I suggest you again ask Prof. Yasinitsky to do a guest lecture for Invisible Man. 7 I found the categorizing grid to be helpful for my group project. (2005 only) 8 Ellison used the 12 -bar blues form to structure the novel. I suggest you retain Invisible Man as part of the course reading books. I suggest that student groups lead class discussions of chapters in Invisible Man. (2007 only) Likert scoring scale: 5=strongly agree, 4=agree, 3=neutral, 2=disagree, 1=strongly disagree Characters are associated with spirituals or blues; the protagonist is associated with jazz. Ellison’s Invisible Man Ellison on Jazz & Blues Ellison wrote many essays on jazz and the blues. He stated that he used the improvisational elements of jazz to develop his prose for Invisible Man. Ellison termed the blues “an assertion of the irrepressibly human over all circumstances. ” __________________________________ CONCLUSIONS Selected Resources Bellow, S. 1952. Man underground. Commentary. June issue. XIII: 608 -610. Bloom, H. , ed. 1986. Ralph Ellison. New York: Chelsea House Publishers. Bone, R. 1970. Ralph Ellison and the uses of imagination. In: Twentieth century interpretations of Invisible Man, ed. J. M. Reilly, 22 -31. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Burke, K. 2004. Ralph Ellison’s Trueblooded Bildungsroman. In: Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man: A casebook, ed. J. F. Callahan, 65 -79. New York: Oxford University Press. Busby, M. 1991. Ralph Ellison. Boston: Twayne Publishers. Butler, R. J. , ed. 2000. The Critical Response to Ralph Ellison. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Callahan, J. F. , ed. 2004. Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man: A casebook. New York: Oxford University Press. Cooper, M. E. 1974. “The jazz motif in Invisible Man. ” M. A. thesis, Department of English, NCSU, Raleigh. Corry, J. 1970. Profiles of an American novelist. Black World XX: 116 -125. Graham, M. , and A. Singh, eds. 1995. Conversations with Ralph Ellison. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. Hersey, J. 1974. Ralph Ellison: A collection of critical essays, ed. J. Hersey. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Howe, I. 1952. Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. The Nation. 10 May issue. Jackson, L. P. 2002. Ralph Ellison, Emergence of Genius. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Moreland, R. C. 1999. Learning from difference: Teaching Morrison, Twain, Ellison, and Eliot. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. O’Meally, R. G. 1980. The craft of Ralph Ellison. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. O’Meally, R. , ed. 1988. New essays on Invisible Man. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press Parr, S. R. and P. Savery, eds. 1989. Approaches to teaching Ellison’s Invisible Man. New York, NY: Modern Language Association of Americ Porter, H. A. 2001. Jazz country: Ralph Ellison in America. Iowa City, Iowa: University of Iowa Press. Reilly, J. M. , ed. 1970. Twentieth century interpretations of Invisible Man, , 48 -55. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice. Hall, Inc. Romanet, J. de. 1984. Musical elements in Invisible Man with special reference to the blues. Delta 18: 105 -118. Image Frank Driggs Collection Invisible Man recapitulates the African American experience from the era of Booker T. Washington to World War II. It is capacious in scope and operates on several levels. The novel’s themes, allusions, cultural references, etc. , provide a depth and breadth seldom achieved in a single literary work. Bessie Smith, “Empress of the Blues, ” whose best known recording was of Backwater Blues, a song associated with Ellison’s character named Mary Rambo Students responded favorably (Likert value=4 or 5) to prompts #1, 2, 3, 5, 6. This suggests that students value interdisciplinary approaches to teaching. Free-form responses to prompts #4, 7, and 8, which received less favorable responses, were informative: • Prompt #4: Some students felt that group projects were extra work; some indicated their dislike for group work of any sort. • Prompt #7: Some students stated that they never used the categorizing grid, or it didn’t fit well with their topic. We eliminated this activity in 2007. • Prompt #8: Some students questioned their qualifications for leading class discussions, or thought it more beneficial to hear the opinions of many rather than a few students.
Скачать презентацию From Mismeasure of Man to Invisible Man An
cc0f8180311d664bd7b8f18945f98129.ppt