Monday, October 23, 2017

Due Tuesday, October 23rd - Concept and First Research

In this blog space, please share your topic and 1-2 pieces of research you have gathered so far.  I posted the TED Talk from today's discussion below.  Feel free to use it as a source:




20 comments:

  1. I’m thinking of looking into Jane Austen’s fandom across the globe. I found a blog post on https://austenprose.com/ which led to an article that talked on 10 aspects of Jane’s writing that appeal to readers 200 years after her death. I also looked into JASNA’s list of websites and digital resources and found a list of “Jane Austen Societies Around the World” which I am hoping will give me more insight on the unifying aspect of Austen’s work.

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  2. I'm wondering about what is globally appealing about Jane Austen's works. I've read the article about Janeites that was provided in the previous blog post (http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21036818). The article mostly talked about what made people join the Janeites , and other similar groups. One of the primary causes that the article talked about was escapism. Jane Austen's novels provided a escape from real life for the readers, and provided an idealized version of 18th century Britain filled with romance to lose themselves in. Another major appeal is the timelessness of the novel. While, the book is obviously set in the past the characters feel modern and fresh. One source that really supported this was (https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2013/01/27/pride-and-prejudice-200th-anniversary-jane-austen/1859183/). The article really goes into how popular the book really was and how it was popular. I hope that I can use my own experiences to explain how Pride and Prejudice has a lasting impact on its readers.

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  3. For my essay I’m thinking about addressing the topic of marriage. I definitely want to, as the prompt suggests, research two different cultures and explore how marriage is viewed and approached in each. Currently I’m thinking of choosing two contrasting cultures, somewhere with more modern, contemporary views on marriage and somewhere that would be categorized as more third world and with old fashion views on marriage. I could then explore the two and compare and contrast them with how the idea of marriage was portrayed in Pride and Prejudice. Maybe then I could also try to find some theme that stays the same through all marriages, despite differences in culture, and tie that in somehow.
    For my research so far I’ve found an article about the ongoing tradition of buying and selling brides in Bulgaria. I’ve also found an article from Psychology Today relating to the psychological reason we want to get married that may be an interesting thread to have throughout my paper.
    Ellie Yates

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  4. I'm very interested in looking at the roots of feminism, starting with the regency era (or before) and moving forward. The beginning of inequality is often seen to be in the foundation of humanity, but I would like to look at how gender and marriage may have affected the development of a gender based society. Essentially I want to look at feminism throughout the ages and compare my research to Austen's work as a societal commentary. I have the main eras of time I would like to research in mind and have looked at a few sources concerning whether Austen is truly a feminist or not, but I want to look at her work more as a commentary on her society and not on ours. I think I got a good foundation-- now to do the work.

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  5. I am thinking about using the topic of marriage for my essay. I would like to compare how marriage before is different from marriage in our current world. I found this interesting article supporting this (https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/23/opinion/three-views-of-marriage.html). I also found this article about why Jane Austen never got married, so maybe this will have some insight about Jane's opinions on marriage (http://www.historyextra.com/article/bbc-history-magazine/real-reason-why-jane-austen-never-married).

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  6. I think I will be doing my paper on a combination of both marriage and socio economic status that explains socio economic status and the effect that marriage and family life has on it but I’m not too sure.

    http://www.hup.harvard.edu/features/austen/austen-resources.html

    -Alex Wessel

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  7. I have decided to write my piece on the comparison of Bridget Jones' Diary and Pride and Prejudice, as it is one of my favorite movies. I find that Lizzy and Bridget are different, but extremely similar in some aspects, as Lizzy is elegant and shares her thoughts confidently, however, Bridget, on the rare occasion that she does express her opinions, does so in an awkward manner, per usual. (http://www.bbc.com/news/av/entertainment-arts-21204956/bridget-jones-vs-pride-and-prejudice)

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  8. I'm considering writing about Jane Austen's view on feminism and women's rights that she incorporates into her novels. Clearly, Austen believed very firmly in this topic and accomplished things that were considered "men's jobs" at that time. Writing several best-selling novels is just one of them. Like many of her characters, she also took ill interest in marrying for materialistic purposes and did not even think much about love. http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/blog/reading/2013/11/was-jane-austen-a-feminist-writer

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  9. I would like to research the Japaneses view on Jane Austin and the Cultural significance of her books. I don't have many sources yet but I have the email of someone in the Japan Jane Auston society and some Japanese friends I can ask.
    this is the email harai@g.matsuyama-u.ac.jp

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  10. I think I am going to choose Marriage as my topic.

    I’m thinking about using the following sources as starting points:
    https://www.college.columbia.edu/core/node/1765

    http://www.history.org/history/teaching/enewsletter/volume7/mar09/courtship.cfm

    -Matthew Hebert

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  11. Like Eileen, I'm going to be looking at feminism and women's rights. I'm also going to look at the parallels of then and now, in the US and in other parts of the world. It may also intersect with marriage. This is a book called Jane Austen: Women, Politics, and the Novel, https://books.google.com/books?id=V8aOEz9mJogC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
    and this is website tells of her impact https://www.janeausten.co.uk/jane-austens-life-and-impact-on-society/

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  12. For my research paper on Jane Austen’s famous novel the Pride and Prejudice I am think of writing my paper about marriage from the time period in the Pride and Prejudice and how marriage is different in the 20th century. I would research how back then man were the leaders in the household and women did not have a lot power under the house. Meanwhile, in the 20th century there are new ways and there is more freedom of how you can marry whoever you want. It could be a homosexual or heterosexual. However I was also thinking about adding into a paragraph or two about the women's rights and how women have more rights in the 20th century than back then.

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  13. i plan to address the concept of marriage and how certain practices we partake in today are more similar to the conditions of pre Victorian Britain than we would like to admit.

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  14. I think that I am going to write about marriage and create a contrast of how marriage was set up in Jane's time vs. what it is this today and age. I am also going to tie in women's rights and what little roles that they had in their marriage. Along with how they had to try and marry into a rich family.

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  15. I am going to look at Jane Austen's portrayal of a caste system created by wealth and birth in 18th century England, and compare to other caste systems we have in the world today (America, India).

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  16. In the 19th century Britain women were expected to marry and have children. If a woman worked after marriage, her earnings also belonged to her husband. As the 19th century progressed men increasingly commuted to their place of work, the factory, shop or office. Wives, daughters and sisters were left at home all day to over the domestic duties that were usually done by servants.
    (Didn't Post when i tried to post on time)
    -Zachary Mola

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  18. I plan to write about marriage in the 19th and how it affected working women, and also the roles of women in the Household and compare that to the marriages of today and women's roles in the household.

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  19. I'm going to write about the evolution of the idea of marriage from the time of Pride and Prejudice to now and show how Elizabeth Bennet relates to the modern idea of marriage. (Isaac Mezher)

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  20. I've decided to write about how and why Jane Austen's fandom is unique, and what has allowed it to withstand the test of time. I've learned so far about how the fandom's reputation changed throughout it's history, but today, there are distinctly different types of Jane Austen fans: scholarly ones, and ones who are probably more of what you'd think of when you think of a traditional fan.

    - Jenna Shorey

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