Mixed Race Studies

Scholarly perspectives on the mixed race experience.

In contrast to Blacks and Asians, anti-miscegenation laws were seldom applied to Native Americans and never mentioned Latinos. The reasons for the lenient treatment of Latinos and Native Americans are quite similar. In both cases, these groups first came into contact with Whites when frontiers were being settled. At the outset, Whites had much to gain by forming friendly alliances with Indian tribes or Mexican natives. On occasion, these alliances could be cemented through intermarriage. Consider, for example, the Anglo settlers who arrived in northern Mexico to make their fortunes in the early to mid-1800s. Mexico, newly freed from Spanish rule, hoped to capitalize on the sparsely populated furthermost reaches of its territory by attracting foreign investors. However, Mexican officials did not want Anglos simply to come to their country, exploit the land, and leave with their fortunes. Instead, the government wanted to encourage permanent settlement, and an excellent way to do this was to reward those who put down roots there. As a result, Mexico offered naturalization opportunities and corresponding trade advantages to Anglos who married Mexican women. Indeed, the expectation was that Anglo settlers would be loyal to Mexican wives, not manipulate or abandon them after using them to personal advantage…

Rachel F. Moran, “Love with a Proper Stranger: What Anti-Miscegenation Laws Can Tell Us About the Meaning of Race, Sex, and Marriage,” Hofstra Law Review, Volume 32, Issue 4, (2004): 1663-1679.

Approaches to Teaching the Novels of Nella Larsen

Posted in Anthologies, Books, Gay & Lesbian, Literary/Artistic Criticism, Media Archive, Passing, United States, Women on 2022-09-07 22:37Z by Steven

Approaches to Teaching the Novels of Nella Larsen

Modern Language Association
2016-09-01
2010 pages
6 x 0.7 x 9.1 inches
Hardcover ISBN: 9781603292191
Paperback ISBN: 9781603292207

Edited by:

Jacquelyn Y. McLendon, Professor Emerita of English & Africana Studies; Director Emerita of Black Studies
College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia

Nella Larsen’s novels Quicksand and Passing, published at the height of the Harlem Renaissance, fell out of print and were thus little known for many years. Now widely available and taught, Quicksand and Passing challenge conventional “tragic mulatta” and “passing” narratives. In part 1, “Materials,” of Approaches to Teaching the Novels of Nella Larsen, the editor surveys the canon of Larsen’s writing, evaluates editions of her works, recommends secondary readings, and compiles a list of useful multimedia resources for teaching.

The essays in part 2, “Approaches,” aim to help students better understand attitudes toward women and race during the Harlem Renaissance, the novels’ relations to other artistic movements, and legal debates over racial identities in the early twentieth century. In so doing, contributors demonstrate how new and seasoned instructors alike might use Larsen’s novels to explore a wide range of topics—including Larsen’s short stories and letters, the relation between her writings and her biography, and the novels’ discussion of gender and sexuality.

Contents

Acknowledgments
PART ONE: MATERIALS / Jacquelyn Y. McLendon
PART TWO: APPROACHES
- Introduction / Jacquelyn Y. McLendon
- Historical and Cultural Contexts
  - Nella Larsen’s Passing and the Literary and Legal Context of the Passing Narrative / Martha J. Cutter
  - Nella Larsen’s Modernism / Caresse John
  - Helga Crane in West Egg: Reading Quicksand and The Great Gatsby as a Case Study in Canonicity / Shealeen Meaney
  - “A Whole World of Experience and Struggle”: Teaching Literature as Cultural and Intellectual Women’s History / Lyde Sizer
  - Nightlife and Racial Learning in Quicksand / Clark Barwick
- Fiction and the Arts
  - Sounding and Being: A Resource for Teaching Musical References and Symbolism in Nella Larsen’s Quicksand / Gayle Murchison
  - Nella Larsen and the Racial Mountain: Teaching Black Musical Aesthetics in Passing and Quicksand / Lori Harrison-Kahan
  - Nella Larsen and the Civilization of Images: Teaching Primitivism and Expressionism in Quicksand / Cristina Giorcelli
- Identity
  - “Anything Might Happen”: Freedom and American Identity in Nella Larsen’s Passing / Beryl Satter
  - Teaching Passing as a Lesbian Text / Suzanne Raitt
  - Approaching Gender in Quicksand / Beth Widmaier Capo
  - From “My Old Man” to Race Men in Quicksand / Riché Richardson
- In the Classroom: Methods, Courses, Settings
  - The Matter of Beginnings: Teaching the Opening Paragraphs in Quicksand and Passing / Steven B. Shively
  - Versions of Passing / John K. Young
  - The Uses of Biography / George B. Hutchinson
  - “In Some . . . Determined Way a Little Flaunting”: Teaching with Nella Larsen’s Letters / M. Giulia Fabi and Jacquelyn Y. McLendon
  - Teaching Quicksand in Denmark / Martyn Bone
  - Teaching Nella Larsen’s Passing at an Urban Community College / Zivah Perel Katz
Notes on Contributors
Survey Participants
Works Cited
Index

Tags: Beryl Satter, Beth Widmaier Capo, Caresse John, Clark Barwick, Cristina Giorcelli, Gayle M. Murchison, George B. Hutchinson, Jacquelyn McLendon, Jacquelyn Y. McLendon, John K. Young, Lori Harrison-Kahan, Lyde Sizer, M. Giulia Fabi, Martha J. Cutter, Martyn Bone, Modern Language Association, Nella Larsen, Riché Richardson, Shealeen Meaney, Steven Shively, Suzanne Raitt, Zivah Perel Katz

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