From Mismeasure of Man to Invisible Man An
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. Summ ary dat a for st promp udent r ts are g espons raphed promp es to qu below ( t featur estion 2005 & ed a Li space. kert sc 2 007 da ale and t a ). f r e e form re Promp t Qu sp Classroom Activities American Masters DVD: Ralph Ellison Double-Entry Journals Student Group Presentations Yasinitsky on Louis Armstrong and Jazz RESULTS Lecture on Music in Invisible Man # 1 2 Students view a DVD on Ellison that features interviews with literary and social critics. Students write doubleentry journals on the novel that facilitate classroom discussion. Student presentations place Invisible Man in historical context. 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. estion naire P I sugg rompts I sugg est yo u retai n Invis (Note: ible Ma Studen t respo nses w ere ano nymou Ellison used the 12 -bar blues form to structure the novel. Characters are associated with spirituals or blues; the protagonist is associated with jazz. agree, 4 ikert s c , 3=neu oring scale : tral, 2= disagre e, 1=s =agree trongly 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. s . ) n a s part 3 n the d Discus of the o uble-e sions course ntry jo of Invi readin 4 urnal e sible M Workin g book xercis an enh g on m s. e. anced y grou 5 my co p proje The le mpreh cture o ct dee ension p n e M n 6 e u d s of the i m c I sugg in Invi y com novel. est yo s p i r b e l h e e u M n sion o an enh again 7 f the n ask Pr I found a n c ed my ovel. of. Yas the ca apprec initsky tegoriz 8 iation to do a ing gri I sugg of the est tha d to be guest novel. t stude lecture helpfu Man. nt grou l for m for Inv (2007 o y grou isible M ps lead nly) p proje an class d ct. (2 iscuss 005 on ions o ly) f chap t e r s in In 5=stro visible ngly L u retai Bessie Smith, “Empress of the Blues, ” whose best known recording was of Backwater Blues, a song associated with Ellison’s character named Mary Rambo Studen ts resp onded promp favorab ts #1, 2 ly (Like , 3, 5, 6 value rt value. This interd =4 or 5 sugge iscipli Free-fo ) to sts tha nary a rm resp t stud pproa onses t receive ents ches t o prom d less f o teachi p a v t s orable # • Prom 4 , 7, and ng. respon pt #4: 8, whic ses, we Some s were ex h r e t i u n tra wor dents f format elt that ive: k; som group w e indic group p ork of a a ted the rojects • Prom ny sort i r dislik pt #7: . e for Some s used th tudent e categ s stated orizing their to that th grid, or pic. W ey neve it didn e elimi • Prom r ’t fit we nated t pt #8: his acti ll with Some s qualific vity in tudent ations 2007. s quest for lead though ioned t ing clas t it mo heir re be s disc ma disagre e
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