Hey fellow bloggers! I know this is a bit backwards, but I realized I never posted my preliminary bib or rhetorical analysis. So here is my preliminary bib and the analysis is soon to come!
Jeannina Perez
LIT 6009
Dr. Lisa Logan
26 February 2009
Preliminary Bibliography
The bulk of my research has been done via the online databases and the library catalog. The main database that I used was MLA international, but most of what I found is from library books. I would find one book in the catalog, but when I got to that section I would start to look around and end up finding more possible books. The keyword that worked the best was Deborah Sampson and Deborah Gannet (Deborah’s married name). I would like to find more on the representations of women, including images of lady liberty.
Database Keywords and Search Terms
- Sampson, Deborah
- The Female Review
- Mann, Herman
- Gannet, Deborah
- Female warrior
- Female soldier
- Cross-dressing and Early America
- Representations of Women and Columbia
- Representations of Women and Liberty
- Lady Liberty
- Women and Revolutionary Era
List of Databases
- MLA International
- UCF Catalogue
- GenderWatch
- American Periodicals
- Evans
- JSTOR
- History Research Center
- Wolrdcat
Bibliography
Eldridge, Larry D., ed. Women and Freedom. New York: New York UP, 1997.
Ellet, E. F. Revolutionary women in the War for American Independence a one-volume revised edition of Elizabeth Ellet's 1848 landmark series. Westport, Conn: Praeger, 1998
Greenhill, Pauline. ""Neither a Man nor a Maid": Sexualities and Gendered Meanings in Cross-Dressing Ballads." The Journal of American Folklore 108 (1995): 156-77.
Hiltner, Judith R. "Like Bewildered Star: Deborah Sampson, Herman Mann, and Address with Applause." Rhetoric Society Quaterly 29 (1999): 5-24.
Hiltner, Judith R. "She Bled in Secret: Deborah Sampson, Herman Mann and The Female Review." Early American Literature 34 (1999): 190-220.
Logan, Lisa M. "Columbia's Daughter in Drag: or, Cross-Dressing, Collaboration, and Authorship in Early American Novels." Feminist Interventions in Early American Studies. Ed. Mary C. Carruth. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama P, 2006. 240-52.
Norton, Mary Beth. Liberty's daughters the revolutionary experience of American women, 1750-1800 : with a new preface. Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell UP, 1996.
Opdycke, Sandra. The Routledge Historical Atlas of Women in America. New York: Routledge, 2000.
Purcell, Sarah J. Sealed with blood war, sacrifice, and memory in Revolutionary America. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania P, 2002.
Weyler, Karen A. "An Actor in the Dram of Revolution: Deborah Sampson, Print, and Performance in the Creation of Celebrity." Feminist Interventions in Early American Studies. Ed. Mary C. Carruth. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama P, 2006. 181-93.
Wiesner-Hanks, Merry, and Merry E. Wiesner. Gender in History (New Perspectives on the Past). New York: Blackwell, 2001.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Paper Proposal
Hey Everyone! When visiting the Coral Castle today I realized really randomly that I never posted my proposal here last week. So here it is!
Jeannina Perez
Literary Genres
Dr. Logan
3 March 2009
Nature’s Daughter: Gendered Nature to Identify Femininity in
Herman Mann’s The Female Review
Ecofeminist literary criticism seeks to expose symbolic connections “between gender, race, class, and representations of nature in literature” (Legler 228) in order to develop a discourse free of the simultaneous oppression of both women and nature. The use of nature in Herman Mann’s The Female Review operates to sustain Deborah Sampson’s femininity to justify her masquerade as a man in the military. However, Mann’s descriptions of nature are contradictory when nature is given an active role, showing the realms of freedom available through Sampson’s cross-dressing that are otherwise veiled.
Mann points confidently to Sampson’s apparent innate relationship with nature: “It is with peculiar pleasure, I here find occasion to speak of Miss Sampson’s taste for the study of Nature, or Natural Philosophy” (Mann 39). Throughout the text “idealised descriptions” (Gifford 1) of nature exist in relation to feminine roles of domesticity. While Sampson is acting the “masculine” role fighting in the army the text is primarily devoid of nature. Nature makes appearances in the text to sustain and idealize femininity, forcing nature into a passive role of “mirror” (Legler 229) for the women in the text. The mirroring descriptions of femininity function to support the overall focus on Sampson’s femaleness; femininity the narrative must focus on in order to eliminate Sampson’s actions as a threat to masculine social orders of behavior. As a result, Mann uses the amalgamation of nature and femaleness to justify Sampson’s actions.
However, despite Mann’s continual attempts to dissuade blurred gender roles, by displaying nature as an active bodied self amidst the disruption of gender, the narrative redefines femininity. While most of the text represents nature as the passive romanticized pastoral, nature becomes an active bodied self when Sampson does not. By placing nature in an active role, the narrative shows female freedom from blurring gender roles that cannot be shown when describing Sampson. In revealing the supporting and disruption of gendered constructions in nature, this exposes the process of “embodying nature” in the narrative. The contradictory descriptions in Mann’s narrative write nature out of passivity and into activity. By focusing on Sampson’s cross-dressing, scholars have overlooked the use of pastoral to simultaneously sustain and disrupt constructions of femininity.
Works Cited:
Gifford, Terry. Pastoral. New York: Routledge, 1999.
Legler, Karen, ed. Ecofeminism: Women, Culture, Nature. New York: Indiana University, Folklore Institute, 1997.
Jeannina Perez
Literary Genres
Dr. Logan
3 March 2009
Nature’s Daughter: Gendered Nature to Identify Femininity in
Herman Mann’s The Female Review
Ecofeminist literary criticism seeks to expose symbolic connections “between gender, race, class, and representations of nature in literature” (Legler 228) in order to develop a discourse free of the simultaneous oppression of both women and nature. The use of nature in Herman Mann’s The Female Review operates to sustain Deborah Sampson’s femininity to justify her masquerade as a man in the military. However, Mann’s descriptions of nature are contradictory when nature is given an active role, showing the realms of freedom available through Sampson’s cross-dressing that are otherwise veiled.
Mann points confidently to Sampson’s apparent innate relationship with nature: “It is with peculiar pleasure, I here find occasion to speak of Miss Sampson’s taste for the study of Nature, or Natural Philosophy” (Mann 39). Throughout the text “idealised descriptions” (Gifford 1) of nature exist in relation to feminine roles of domesticity. While Sampson is acting the “masculine” role fighting in the army the text is primarily devoid of nature. Nature makes appearances in the text to sustain and idealize femininity, forcing nature into a passive role of “mirror” (Legler 229) for the women in the text. The mirroring descriptions of femininity function to support the overall focus on Sampson’s femaleness; femininity the narrative must focus on in order to eliminate Sampson’s actions as a threat to masculine social orders of behavior. As a result, Mann uses the amalgamation of nature and femaleness to justify Sampson’s actions.
However, despite Mann’s continual attempts to dissuade blurred gender roles, by displaying nature as an active bodied self amidst the disruption of gender, the narrative redefines femininity. While most of the text represents nature as the passive romanticized pastoral, nature becomes an active bodied self when Sampson does not. By placing nature in an active role, the narrative shows female freedom from blurring gender roles that cannot be shown when describing Sampson. In revealing the supporting and disruption of gendered constructions in nature, this exposes the process of “embodying nature” in the narrative. The contradictory descriptions in Mann’s narrative write nature out of passivity and into activity. By focusing on Sampson’s cross-dressing, scholars have overlooked the use of pastoral to simultaneously sustain and disrupt constructions of femininity.
Works Cited:
Gifford, Terry. Pastoral. New York: Routledge, 1999.
Legler, Karen, ed. Ecofeminism: Women, Culture, Nature. New York: Indiana University, Folklore Institute, 1997.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Monday Rant
I have a stray pigeon that has been keeping me from focusing, so I am going to use this space to rant about it so I can move on.
After reading Weyler’s article "An Actor in the Drama of Revolution: Deborah Sampson, Print, and Performance in the Creation of Celebrity,” I could not stop thinking about how Sampson’s public persona reminds me of Disney’s manipulation of Mulan. Weyler describes how Sampson’s bending of heteronormative gender roles is only acceptable for the sake of patriotic duty. Once her patriotic is completed, she must return to unambiguous heteronormative behavior. Blurring the lines of gender is acceptable only if present to help a cause.
When reading this, I immediately connected it to Disney’s adaptation of Mulan. Despite being dressed like a man for most of the film, all Mulan merchandise after release of the film represents her as a “feminine” princess. She is rarely again represented cross-dressing, but instead as an eroticized geisha. The film also ends with a feminine heteronormative version of Mulan. After Mulan has saved China, the emperor offers her an honored position as one of his advisers. While a woman has never been given this honor before, Mulan rejects the offer. She instead goes back to her home to re-attain her role as daughter. The film also reinstates the gender norms it initially sought to break. Mulan fulfills her expectations as a woman, and marries instead of continuing as a political androgynous force.
It is amazing to me that this still occurs. Just a Sampson’s performance is only acceptable for a patriotic purpose, so is the case with Disney’s representation of Mulan. She is only empowered by cross-dressing if it serves a patriotic purpose. Even now, cross-dressing has to be justified so a community may feel comfortable about it. I just thought this was really fun to think about and now I can move on. :)
After reading Weyler’s article "An Actor in the Drama of Revolution: Deborah Sampson, Print, and Performance in the Creation of Celebrity,” I could not stop thinking about how Sampson’s public persona reminds me of Disney’s manipulation of Mulan. Weyler describes how Sampson’s bending of heteronormative gender roles is only acceptable for the sake of patriotic duty. Once her patriotic is completed, she must return to unambiguous heteronormative behavior. Blurring the lines of gender is acceptable only if present to help a cause.
When reading this, I immediately connected it to Disney’s adaptation of Mulan. Despite being dressed like a man for most of the film, all Mulan merchandise after release of the film represents her as a “feminine” princess. She is rarely again represented cross-dressing, but instead as an eroticized geisha. The film also ends with a feminine heteronormative version of Mulan. After Mulan has saved China, the emperor offers her an honored position as one of his advisers. While a woman has never been given this honor before, Mulan rejects the offer. She instead goes back to her home to re-attain her role as daughter. The film also reinstates the gender norms it initially sought to break. Mulan fulfills her expectations as a woman, and marries instead of continuing as a political androgynous force.
It is amazing to me that this still occurs. Just a Sampson’s performance is only acceptable for a patriotic purpose, so is the case with Disney’s representation of Mulan. She is only empowered by cross-dressing if it serves a patriotic purpose. Even now, cross-dressing has to be justified so a community may feel comfortable about it. I just thought this was really fun to think about and now I can move on. :)
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