Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Global Victorians, The Beetle
the beetle
A novel that follows a…
Global Victorians
-
Influence of Empire
Slavery & Blackness
The History of Mary Prince
An "autobiography" that details the journey of a freed slave named Mary Prince. Her story was recorded by a White woman and was altered in order to fit the abolitionist movement in England.
-
"Britain's Legacy of Slavery" by Catherine Hall
A video on the history of slavery in Britain. There tends to be a focus on abolition and the "goodness" of Britain for abolishing slavery first even though it's basic human decency. "History is written by the winners." says Hall and that's true.
-
Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands
A novel detailing the, well, adventures of Mrs. Seacole, a nurse of African descent that was active during the Crimean war. She particularly utilizes a sense of comedy and satire.
Maps of Englishness by Simon Gikandi
The essay details the intricacies of Mary Seacole and how she writes herself in and out of Englishness. She's a Creole women and the normal concept of Englishness (White) is typically out of her reach. However, to combat this, she includes herself in it.
"Comic Acts of (Be)Longing" by Angelia Poon
An article that details the use of comedy in Mrs. Seacole in order to make herself feel like she belongs in the space of Englishness.
The Crimean War
A video that talks about the events leading up to the Crimean War. Used for historical context.
New Woman Feminism
The Story of an African Farm
A novel that follows four individuals on their story centering an African Farm. The primary characters are Waldo and Lyndall. Waldo struggles with his growing atheism while Lyndall represents the New Woman.
-
"The Stories Outside the African Farm: Indigeneity, Orality, and Unsettling the Victorian" by Ryan Fong
An article that talks about the indigenous people of The Story of an African Farm, the Khoisan, who are barely acknowledged in the book. Fong essentially decenters a colonialist lens on the story and on folktales. This article can also apply to Kwaidan.
Modern Day Effects
-
"Casual Racism in Victorian Literature" by Carolyn Betensky
An essay talking about the casualties of Victorian racism and how the reader, in a modern context, should talk and think about these subjects. Some of these novels cannot exist without their casual racism (e.g Jane Eyre)
"The Victorian Age"
An introduction to the time period all of this literature is written in and takes place in.
"Empire" by Nathan Hensley
An essay by Hensley that asks about the Empire. What is the struggle of defining Empire? How do we define Empire? Is an Empire justified and what are these justifications?
The Beetle
A novel that follows a racialized, gender ambiguous creature known as the Beetle and its quest for revenge against politician Paul Lessingham.
The monstrosity in The Beetle is viewed through the lens of Orientalism. The Beetle is racialized and also queer coded in both gender and sexuality. The novel proves the point that for BIPOC, gender and sexuality will always be intertwined with race.
-
Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things
A collection of Japanese ghost stories taken from local Japanese people and mostly recorded by Hearn's Japanese wife.
"Autoexotic Literary Encounters between Meiji Japan and the West" by Naomi Charlotte Fukuzawa
An essay that deconstructs Kwaidan and "The Tower of London." Fukuzawa in particular notices the Orientalism present in Kwaidan and cites how Natsume's short story reverses the Orientalist lens.
-
EUGENICS
"Post Darwin: Social Darwinism, Degeneration, Eugenics" by Carolyn Burdett
An article that details New Woman feminism's connection and support of eugenics. Naturally, this also translates into New Woman feminist figures in literature like Lyndall.
-
"The Tower of London" by Soseki Natsume
A short story that flips the Orientalist lens present in Kwaidan onto the British.
-
"Sultana's Dream" by Rokeya Sakhawet Hossain
A short story that completely reverses the gender roles much like how New Woman feminism questioned and also wanted to reverse the gender roles. Women are present in the public sphere (a place where men typically occupy) while men are never seen but talked about participating in the domestic sphere (a space for women).
"The Politics of Recovery: Historicizing Imperial Feminism" by Antoinette Burton
Burton talks about how New Woman feminism was used to justify imperialism. Often times, this detail is left out of history.
-
Rosanna Moyo
A video referenced in the Fong article. Refers to the oral tradition of the Khoisan.
-