Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 188-202). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 188-202). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 144-155).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisor: Marilyn J. Young, Florida State University, College of Arts & Sciences, Interdisciplinary Program in the Humanities. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Jan. 24, 2006). Document formatted into pages; contains v, 115 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Villanova University, 2007. / English Dept. Includes bibliographical references.

This research explores Louis Armstrong’s artistic choices and their impact directly and indirectly on the African-American literary, visual and performing arts between 1923 and 1930 during the period known as the Harlem Renaissance. This research uses analyses of musical transcriptions and examples of the period’s literary and visual arts to verify the significance of Armstrong’s influence(s). This research also analyzes the early nineteenth century West-African musical practices evident in Congo Square that were present in the traditional jazz and cultural behaviors that Armstrong heard and experienced growing up in New Orleans. Additionally, through a discourse analysis approach, this research examines the impact of Armstrong’s art on the philosophical debate regarding the purpose of the period’s art. Specifically, W.E.B. Du Bois’s desire for the period’s art to be used as propaganda and Alain Locke’s admonitions that period African-American artists not produce works with the plight of blacks in America as the sole theme.

The aim of the study is to investigate how double-consciousness operates through contrastive color imagery in Nella Larsen’s novel Quicksand. A focal point of the analysis is to show how Larsen thematizes the ability to benefit from bright colors and how color choice determines the quality and level of freedom in life. Together with W. E. B. Du Bois’s theory of double-consciousness, a few other literary works by writers of the Harlem Renaissance have been considered in order to further support my arguments. I link these other writers’ perspectives to Quicksand and to the novel’s theme of color as a path to freedom. In Quicksand, a broader path of colors, more bright than dull, leads to freedom, as is made evident through the novel’s connection of bright colors with Harlem’s freedom of expression. Furthermore, a narrow path of colors is contrastively figured as the course towards tragedy, which is clearly seen in the novel through the example of the protagonist Helga’s “sinking” due to an absence of color.

Notre thèse intitulée L'altérité et la vulnérabilité dans les romans de Nella Larsen est consacrée aux concepts d'altérité, de vulnérabilité et d'appartenance dans Quicksand and Passing. Ce travail s'articule autour de la question de l'identité des femmes noires et métisses. Puisque nous nous sommes proposé de considérer la place de Nella Larsen en tant que femme et auteur dans le contexte de l’émancipation des femmes Afro-Américaines en partant de sa place dans la Harlem Renaissance, une partie de notre étude examinera les tenants et les aboutissants de ce mouvement identitaire et culturel. Nous tenterons de cerner la spécificité de la voix de Larsen dans ce mouvement ainsi que son apport à la fois au niveau de l’imaginaire littéraire et des stratégies narratives que l’auteure utilise dans ces œuvres pour définir ce qui les caractérise. Nous nous sommes par ailleurs proposé de dégager ce qui fait la voix distinctive des réalisations de Nella Larsen en examinant son traitement du concept de passing, à la fois « passer » et « passer pour ». Cela a permis de situer les romans de Nella Larsen dans leur contexte et de montrer l'altérité et la marginalisation que les Afro-Américains ont traversées pendant la Renaissance de Harlem. En effet, Larsen démontre que même si les années 1920 étaient censées être une ère d'émancipation pour les personnes de couleur, elles souffraient encore de nombreuses discriminations. Analyser les concepts de race, de dépassement et de vulnérabilité dans les fictions de Nella Larsen a permis de prouver que même si l'altérité des protagonistes est confrontée à de nombreuses difficultés qui semblent l’éradiquer ; elle ne disparaît jamais et reste présente dans chaque personnage. Aussi, La soumission des romans à une approche pluridisciplinaire a permis d'examiner les causes et les conséquences de l'altérité dans les œuvres de fiction et d'analyser le concept sous toutes ses formes, qu'il soit racial ou sexuel. Cette thèse a également montré que les romans de Larsen vont à l'encontre du système totalitaire qui a de très mauvais effets sur « l’autre ». En effet, au lieu d'éliminer l'altérité, ce système l'accentue encore plus et « l’autre » se sent plus rejeté et marginalisé que jamais. / Otherness and Vulnerability in Nella Larsen’s Novels is devoted to the study of the concepts of alterity, vulnerability and belonging in Quicksand and Passing. Revolving around the questions of identity for black and mixed-race women, the study starts with a historical perspective of "otherness" in Nella Larsen’s novels while considering the marginalization that African-Americans went through during the Harlem Renaissance. Indeed, Larsen demonstrates that even if the 1920s were supposed to be an era of emancipation for colored people, they still suffered from many discriminations. Analyzing the concepts of race, passing, and vulnerability in Nella Larsen’s fictions leads us to prove that even if the protagonists’ otherness is confronted to many hardships that seem to eradicate it, it never fades away and remains present in each character. Submitting the novels to a multi-disciplinary approach has enabled us to examine the causes and consequences of otherness in the works of fiction and to analyze the concept under several forms. This thesis eventually shows that Larsen’s novels go counter the principle of totalitarianism as a system, be it social, political or linguistic in which "otherness" stands as the only possible way to establish one's identity.

This thesis enters the developing conversation in the linguistic domain about the culture and struggles of the Black community. It explores the collectivist perspective of the Black community in the 20th and 21st century through the umbrella of Linguistics and its subfields. Collectively, the literary and musical works in this study demonstrates the frustrations of the Black community—including its correlation to antebellum slavery—the lamentations of oppression, which showcases in a collection of poems and their syntactical aspects, and the Black pride emulating from the societies. Despite the clear correlation between Hip-Hop culture and literary works from the early 20th century, a lack of connection between the two remains. This thesis explores the linguistic connections between narratives of art, specifically Harlem Renaissance literary works (i.e., poetry, novels, etc.) and Hip-Hip culture. The bridge between Harlem Renaissance poetry and Hip-Hop music is nuanced in the Linguistics field and it warrants further research.

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