Instructions: Create an art historical research paper based upon any topic of
direct relevance to the study of the black subject in visual popular culture. The object must be western in origin (ie. Europe and its current and former European colonies in the Americas). Your paper must have a clear thesis and arguments. Your artists and/or popular culture objects may be historical or contemporary. Potential types of objects for analysis are: dress, advertising, postcards, historical photography, print culture, popular sculpture, currency, postage stamps, television shows, films, ceramics, product packaging, internet content, TV news or media representations etc.
All sources must be academic/scholarly
Format: The body of the paper should be between 8 to 10 pages maximum, with a separate title page and an original title. The 8 to 10 pages includes your footnotes (not endnotes); double-spaced, font 12, single or double sided. A title page (with original title), bibliography, plates (images) and a plate list are in addition to the 8 to 10 pages. Follow the style and plate list guides.
Ways of developing your topic:
Your interest in a particular artist or producer: John Rogers, William Blake, Norman Lear, Spike Lee, Shonda Rhimes, Tyler Perry
Your interest in a certain person, character or specific production or type of production: Frederick Douglass, �Uncle Tom�s Cabin,� �Gone with the Wind,� Halle Berry vs. Lena Horne, Stepin Fetchit, clothing, hair styling
Your interest in a certain practice: blackface, abolitionism, tourism
Your interest in a certain population or group: black children, black fathers, black wives, gay black men
Your interest in a certain facet of black life and how it has been represented: black families, black children and education, black women as police, representations of slavery in film
Your interest in non-black artists and producers of popular representations of blacks: white female minstrelsy performers; white families as patrons of photography of white children and black caregivers; white cartoon and comic strip artists
Your interest in the representations of blacks in specific political contexts: Civil War, abolitionism, Civil Rights era, anti-colonization movements, age of Obama
Your interest in black-produced images: black minstrel performers, black abolitionist images, black television actors, directors and producers
Your interest in theories of race: WEB DuBois, Frantz Fanon, Paul Gilroy etc. and popular representation of blacks
Your interest in race as a concept and definitions of blackness: representations of miscegenation, representations of types or degrees of blackness, interracial contact or dating
Your interest in sex, gender and sexuality: representation of white female access to black male slaves; representation of blackness and homosexuality; the racialization of sexuality; blackness and pornographic desire
Things to Keep in Mind: A 10 page paper is not long, so your thesis must be narrowly focused and well defined. Your research will be both art historical and outside of art history (History, Sociology, Archaeology, Anthropology, Childhood Studies, Black Diaspora Studies, Slavery Studies, Canadian Studies, American Studies, Caribbean Studies etc.). You must work in an interdisciplinary manner to find the data that will allow you to thoroughly analyze your objects. Of course you should also draw from any applicable class readings. But also ensure that you search for relevant secondary and primary sources. Remember also that recently published journal articles or lectures/conferences (that you can attend now), will always be the cutting edge of research.
with all of this in mind the topic of the paper should be about black subjects in Disney Princess films, with “the princess and the frog” as the main concentration.
the essay will be argumentative as well as expository
topic:
disney princess films have often been known to perpetuate gender role dichotomies and racial stereotypes “the princess and the frog” is one of these films; disney films perpetuate these stereotypes through catchy tunes with subliminal messaging and attractive imagery. In the princess and the frog black stereotypes of lower class and working girl status are strongly emphasize whereas films like cinderella begin with a white female character that is already in apposition of power within society despite her maltreatment by her stepmother.
compare the princess and the frog to other disney princess films with a specific concentration on the way black roles have been constructed and a comparison of white princesses to tiana.
choose an argument like: black subjects in disney films have been constructed on historically and realistically inaccurate stereotypes. give examples of this and discuss at least three ways black representation in disney princess films are negative with also one paragraph on why princess tiana is a good character for young children to look up to.
example: disney films negatively represent black characters based on class and occupation, (give examples and scholarly evidence) values and behaviours, and through the use of subliminal messaging in lyrics. however the representation of black characters in disney films at all is a step in the right direction.
explain how this misrepresentation occurs: who are the producers, directors and studio executives involved in the films? what media context are these films being released in? what about these films is historically innacurate? what about these films make race seem ambiguous? how does this intersect with gender stereotypes? why is tiana�s race made clear as a black woman but Prince Naveen�s race is unimportant and ambiguous? how is tiana�s rise to success different from previous white princesses rising to success?
feel free to take some creative license with the thesis as long as the argument is well thought out, organized and effectively proves that black subjects in disney movies are racial caricatures and negatively impact society through their dissemination into the collective psyche of western children.
Most written art historical assignments include plates and a plate list. A plate is just another word for an image. Since most art historical texts include the analysis of art objects, it is essential that images or plates of the art works be included so that the reader can understand the nature of your analysis.
How do I create a plate for inclusion in my paper?:
You should create a photocopy or digital copy of the art objects which you discuss in your paper and then mount or insert them appropriately at the end of your paper.
Where do I get the plates for my assignments?:
If you are only using images for personal use (like a student paper), you are not under obligation to secure a copy of the image or copyright permission from the owner as you would do in the case of a professional publication. Therefore, you may use images from books, exhibition catalogues, magazines, journal articles, the internet, or museum websites etc.
Quality of Plates:
In most cases a clear black and white plate will suffice. However, if your argument hinges largely upon a reading and description of the colour of an art object, colour reproductions will be expected.
What is a Plate List?:
A plate list is a text which provides all of the relevant information about each art object or plate. Every plate should be given a unique number (for example: fig. 1, fig. 2, fig. 3 etc.) which corresponds to the discussion of the plate within the body of the essay. The first time you name/discuss an art object in your essay, the plate number should be provided.
What should be included in the plate list?:
The nature of the plate list depends upon the nature of the art objects. For each plate you should list, where known: artist�s/producer�s/director�s name, title, date, media, length (TV or film) or dimensions (metric), collection (institution) and location (city and country).
Sample plate list:
Fig. 1 Fran�ois Mal�part de Beaucourt, Portrait of a Negro Slave, or The Negress (1786), Oil on Canvas, 72.7 x 58.5 cm, McCord Museum, Montreal, Canada
Fig. 2 Caroline Bucknall Estcourt, The Good �Woman of Colour� (1838-39), Watercolour and pencil on wove paper, 27.0 x 21.9 cm, Portrait Gallery of Canada, Library and Archives of Canada, Ottawa, Canada.
Fig. 3 Michael Bay, Bad Boys (1995), film still, scene: Mike Lowery (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) prepare for raid at Club Hell, Columbia Pictures, Culver City, CA, USA, 1 hour 54 minutes.
Footnotes
Notes are used when you cite an existing publication or source of any kind. You must cite any source from which you paraphrase or take a direct quote. You must also cite sources from which you take information that is not considered to be common knowledge. For instance, to state that slavery lasted 400 years is common knowledge, but to state that the Union Army won a specific battle during the Civil War is not.
In an essay, you also use notes to expand on important issues and to offer additional information, which is tangential to your topic, but still relevant enough to be included. If using notes in this way, the text should be written in full sentence format. Pay attention to how scholars use their notes in publications to learn what is appropriate.
Upon initial citation:
Single-Authored Book:
Ellen Ross, Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, 1870-1918 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 17.
Book Chapter in Single-Authored Book:
Charmaine Nelson, �Racing Childhood: Representations of Black Girls in Canadian Art,�
Representing the Black Female Subject in Western Art (New York: Routledge, 2010), p. 55.
Book Chapter in Edited Book:
Lucille Mathurin Mair, �Women Field Workers in Jamaica During Slavery,� Caribbean Slavery in the Atlantic World: A Student Reader, eds. Verene Shepherd and Hilary McD. Beckles (Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle, 2000), p. 390.
Book with Multiple Editions:
Robin W. Winks, The Blacks in Canada: A History, 2nd ed. (Montreal: McGill-Queen�s University Press, 1997), pp. 127-28.
Book with Multiple Volumes:
William Beckford Esq., A Descriptive Account of the Island of Jamaica: with Remarks upon the Cultivation of the Sugar-Cane, through the different Seasons of the Year, and Chiefly considered in a Picturesque Point of View; Also observations and Reflections upon what would probably be the Consequences of an Abolition of the Slave-Trade, and of the Emancipation of the Slaves, vol. 1 (London: Printed for T. and J. Egerton Whitehall, 1790), p. 17.
Journal Article with One Author:
Jessica Harland-Jacobs, � �Hands across the Sea�: The Masonic Network, British Imperialism, and the North Atlantic World,� Geographical Review, vol. 89, no. 2 (April 1999), p. 238.
Journal Article with Multiple Authors:
James Trussell and Richard Steckel, �The Age of Slaves at Menarche and First Birth,� Journal of Interdisciplinary History, vol. 8, no. 3 (Winter 1978), p. 492.
Journal Article with Multiple Authors and Series:
Herbert S. Klein and Stanley L. Engerman, �Fertility Differentials between Slaves in the United States and the British West Indies: A Note on Lactation Practices and Their Possible Implications,� The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, vol. 35, no. 2 (April 1978), p. 357.
MA Thesis or PhD Dissertation
Mary Anne Poutenan, � �To Indulge Their Carnal Appetites�: Prostitution in Early Nineteenth-Century Montreal, 1810-1842,� (Montreal: PhD D�partement d’histoire, Universit� de Montr�al, 1996)
Newspaper Article:
Fran�ois Beaucourt, �Beaucourt, French Painter,� General Advertiser (Philadelphia, PA), issue 394, Tuesday, 3 January 1792, p. 3.
Newspaper accessed from Microfilm Reel:
Spadille, �Mr. Mesplet,� Montreal Gazette, Thursday, 29 December 1785, no. 19, p. 4, Montreal Gazette (1785-1870), Reel 1 Microfilm 412: 25 August 1785 – 30 June
1791, McLennan Library, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
Letter:
Letter, George Nugent to Robert Hobart, 4 March 1803, CO 137/110, p. 57, National Archives, London, UK.
Letter to Author:
Letter, Jonathan R. Stayer to author, 28 August 2012.
Conversation between author and Source or Expert:
Telephone conversation between author and Christian Vachon, Curator, Paintings, Prints and Drawings, McCord Museum, Montreal, 14 May 2012.
Archival Record or Document:
Inventaire des biens meubles appartenant � Dame Benigne Benoit dit Gaetan, veuve Beaucourt (widow of Malpeart de Beaucourt, Fran�ois), Louis Huguet-Latour, 19 juin 1810, # 542, CN 601, S243, Biblioth�que et Archives nationales du Qu�bec, Centre d�Archives de Montr�al (BANQ), Montreal, Canada.
Website:
�Upper Canada and Loyalists, 1785-1797,� Statistics Canada, HYPERLINK “https://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/98-187-x/4151286-eng.htm” https://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/98-187-x/4151286-eng.htm (date of last access 13 May 2012)
Movie:
Michael Bay, Bad Boys (1995), film, 118 minutes, Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films, USA.
Lecture:
Lecture, Charmaine Nelson, �Slavery, Portraiture, and the Black Female Subject,�
Dawson College, Montreal, Canada, 23 November 2012.
Difference between first and subsequent citations:
upon second and further citations list only author�s last name, a suitable shortened version of the title, and the page number(s) if necessary
never use ibid etc.
First Citation of book chapter:
Lucille Mathurin Mair, �Women Field Workers in Jamaica During Slavery,� Caribbean Slavery in the Atlantic World: A Student Reader eds. Verene Shepherd and Hilary McD. Beckles (Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle, 2000), p. 390.
Subsequent Citations of the same book chapter:
Mair, �Women Field Workers,� p. 390.
First Citation of website:
Geoffrey S. Yates, �Rose Hall – Death of a Legend,� Jamaica Family Search Genealogy Research Library, HYPERLINK “https://jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Samples2/mpalmer.htm” https://jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Samples2/mpalmer.htm (date of last access 2 March 2013)
Subsequent Citation of website:
Yates, �Rose Hall,� (date of last access 2 March 2013).
Page Numbering:
If citation was taken from only one page or if you are directing the reader�s attention to only one page use: p.
If more than one page use: pp.
If more than one individual page, separate by comas: pp. 6, 10, 17.
If a continuum of pages, separate with dash : pp. 25-28.
*this would mean that you are directing the reader to read from page 25 continuously through to page 28
If continuum of higher numbers of three or more digits, do as follows: pp. 340-47.
For unpaginated sources: np.
Bibliography
Use the same style for the bibliographic entries as for footnotes.
The key difference is that the bibliography is organized in alphabetical order by the authors� last name from A to Z.
For example:
Mair, Lucille Mathurin, �Women Field Workers in Jamaica During Slavery,� Caribbean Slavery in the Atlantic World: A Student Reader, eds. Verene Shepherd and Hilary McD. Beckles (Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle, 2000)
Ross, Ellen, Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, 1870-1918 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993)
However, DO NOT list page numbers for bibliographic sources unless the source is a journal or newspaper article. Books and book chapters do not require page numbers.
Examples of bibliographic citations for Journal and Newspaper articles:
Gaffield, Julia, �Haiti and Jamaica in the Remaking of the Early Nineteenth-Century Atlantic World,� The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 69, no. 3 (July 2012), pp. 583-614.
Beaucourt, Fran�ois, �Beaucourt, French Painter,� General Advertiser (Philadelphia, PA), Tuesday, 3 January 1792, issue 394, p. 3.
