“Dr. Buzzard’s Voodoo Cure” – Short article from the Washington Post about the rising fame a man calling himself Dr. Buzzard who was promoting his voodoo cures on TV and with tapes.
[Resource]: Dr. Buzzard (Encyclopedia entry)
“Dr. Buzzard” – Brief account of the historical Dr. Buzzard (c. 1900-1960) in the South Carolina Encyclopedia.
Essay II ideas (due 4/4)
Look through at least two of the resources I’ve posted. Also do a search for reliable information about the Mexican Revolution online (only scholarly sources will be allowed for the essay).
Next in a reply to this post (or to someone else with a similar idea) gather your thoughts around one or two possible arguments. Be specific and practical. What are you arguing and what kind of evidence would you need to write it well? Include a discussion about why your topic(a) interest you.
Resource: Photos from the Mexican Revolution
In the late 19th century photography became a popular medium and so 20th century wars are well documented. This collection is from the Yale University Library. You can see 300+ images with the link below, but I’ve also highlighted a few images that are especially resonant with the novel Like Water for Chocolate. Some of these images are particularly resonant with current debates about immigration, proving these debates are older than they are often assumed to be.
Continue reading “Resource: Photos from the Mexican Revolution”Resource: “At Dinner with Laura Esquivel” (Interview)
“At Dinner with Laura Esquivel” – An interview with Laura Esquivel in the New York Times a few years after she published Like Water for Chocolate. It offers an intriguing glimpse at the persona Esquivel crafts for herself.
[Resource]: Gullah Culture (clip)
“PBS Now – Gullah Culture” – Short clip from PBS summarizing the history and unique aspects of Gullah culture.
Resource: When Women Took Up Arms to Fight in Mexico’s Revolution (site)
Good article from the History channel about the different roles women played in the Revolution including details on how some woman traded domestic roles for traditionally masculine ones.
https://www.history.com/news/women-mexican-revolution-soldaderas
Resource: Searching for Soldaderas-The Women of the Mexican Revolution in Photographs (site)
Short article comparing photographs of women who participated in the Mexican Revolution and men: https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/searching-for-soldaderas-the-women-of-the-mexican-revolution-in-photographs
Resource: Revolutionary Women (movie)
Brief clip detailing how women were affected by the revolution and also took part on the front lines.
https://www.pbs.org/video/the-storm-that-swept-mexico-revolutionary-women/
CFP: Intimate History and Like Water for Chocolate (Essay II, draft due 4/11)
“Human beings participate in history both as actors and as narrators. The inherent ambivalence of the word ‘history’ in many modern languages, including English, suggests this dual participation.”
— Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (1995)
“Liars tell half-truths and he told everyone that during the battle the captain had suddenly gone crazy and deserted the army. That is the way history gets written, distorted by eyewitness accounts that don’t really match the reality.”
— Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate (1992)
. . . [Shakespeare‘s sister] died young—alas, she never wrote a word. She lies buried where the omnibuses now stop, opposite the Elephant and Castle. Now my belief is that this poet who never wrote a word and was buried at the cross-roads still lives. She lives in you and in me, and in many other women who are not here tonight, for they are washing up the dishes and putting the children to bed. But she lives; for great poets do not die; they are continuing presences; they need only the opportunity to walk among us in the flesh. This opportunity, as I think, it is now coming within your power to give her.
— Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own (1929)
