Read the instructions for the cross-cultural research paper and work out a topic. Your proposal will include:
1. 1-2 paragraph synopsis of research topic.
2. Works Cited page with at least one scholarly source listed.
3. The actual article for my review.
You can combine all of the above into a single PDF to submit, or submit the article PDF as a second upload. Remember research topic must relate the impact or influence of a non-European culture on Europe (or vice-versa) and be within certain the period of the class (nothing after 1850). Sometimes it takes time to research and this is what is required to finish the proposal. Look forward to it being done because it is half the work of the paper essentially!
Finding a Topic
Since there are so many European with non-European interactions, whether colonial or based on trade, it may seem rather daunting at first to choose a single topic and while there are many possibilities, because of time, I will narrow the possibilities for you. Please choose from the following possibilities:
1. Chinoiserie. This is art made in Europe influenced by Chinese art and design. It is primarily an 18th century phenomenon, but there could be slightly earlier or later examples.
2. Orientalism. This is fascination with the middle/near east, specifically Islamic culture. This happens very early as we’ve already seen examples of pseudo-kufic writing in Italian Renaissance [painting (Gentile da Fabriano’s altarpiece), but could also be seen in exotic costuming during the Baroque period (like in some of Rembrandt’s work), or in early Romantic painting reflecting Napoleon’s involvement in North Africa.
3. Art of Africa that shows European influence. This is slightly different from the above two choices because it is NOT looking at European art, so it is examining the idea of cross-influence from a non-European perspective. An example of this would be the artwork of the Benin in response to the Portuguese, but there are others.
4. Art of colonial Latin America like shown in the examples above. These examples are more likely to represent the idea of hybridity mentioned in the reading.
You can choose any medium. Painting, architecture, sculpture, landscape design, ceramics, silverware, furniture, tapestries. Anything. If you’re really interested in a particular medium, make that one of your search terms when looking for sources of information.
This paper could be on a single work or a few that are very similar (1-3 artworks). The more focused the better. Remember it is not a paper that just covers colonial interaction, but does so through close analysis of an art object. Use your description and analysis of an object to prove your point.
Time period: Make sure you choose something before 1850. It can be anything from late medieval to the early romantic period which is essentially 1200-1850, however it’ll be hard to find too much before 1400.
Remember that the European to Non-European connection could come in many forms — subject matter of the other group, subject matter influenced by the other culture, style influenced from another culture, materials (think pigments or silver or dyes) brought and learned about from another culture, use of costuming on figures that is influenced by another culture, etc…
Research
Going through the book could help you focus, although there is very little on it specifically. The few pages that could help are pages 362, 367-69, 392. Once you have a general sense and have a few keywords like “chinoiserie 18th century decorative arts,” you can plug those search terms into a few sources.
Google – You may need to do a few searches to get a good sense of what to research. Using the above example, you could look more into chinoiserie. You can start with Wikipedia, but always check where they are getting their info. .org and .edu we know are better sources. Stay away from the photo abyss that is Pinterest, Flickr, and Tumblr. That’s a black hole of nothingness research-wise.
Google Scholar – This will limit your google search to scholarly sources which is what we want in the end. I want your paper to be very narrow and specific, not just a broad review of a movement in general.
JSTOR- This is our ultimate destination (or maybe an Ebscohost search) and you can start here if you think you know what your topic will be or even just to look around. It is a database, not a search engine, so you must spell things correctly. It won’t google guess what you mean. You also have to try different combination of search terms. This database specifically stores scholarly publications called periodicals (because they are published every now and then, or periodically) or journals.
Unlike previous research papers you’ve done before where you have a minimum of so many sources, I am only requiring ONE SCHOLARLY source. Sorry to yell. Often times, research has us looking at many different sources (which is good and reasonable), but the end result is usually still a bit superficial. Instead of many light, what I call ‘surface’, sources, I want us to dig deep and read something that has more depth to it. You can always add to that scholarly source, but you must find the scholarly source first. In fact, your finding of a good source is what can finalize the topic for you.
What is scholarly? Something that has been peer-reviewed by experts that have validated it and declared “hey, this person has a valid point and has researched it well and generally knows what they’re talking about.” National Geographic and Smithsonian are both good sources, but not scholarly. They don’t make stuff up, but they are written by general journalists, not experts in the field.
