<em>The Jungle</em>: Personalizing the Historical Struggle of Workers
Sinclair famously quipped that he “aimed for the public’s heart” but accidentally “hit it in the stomach.” His novel hit Shedd in both places. <em>The Jungle</em> personalized the hopes and struggles of those living in the era that she would eventually study as a modern U.S. historian. Sinclair’s story prompted her to seek answers to questions: How did this novel prompt policy change? How did it capture the struggles of historical actors and immigrants in the early 20th century? What other novels did Sinclair write? What institutional structures need reform in order to be more just?
<span><span>An early encounter with muckraking American novelist Upton Sinclair’s </span><em>The Jungle </em><span>exposed Kristen Shedd to issues surrounding human rights and animal rights in the early 20</span><span>th</span><span> century. For Shedd, the 1906 novel exposed the intersections of fiction, policy, history, and social justice. Sinclair’s story prompted her to seek answers to questions: How did this novel prompt policy change? How did it capture the struggles of historical actors and immigrants in the early 20th century? What other novels did Sinclair write? What institutional structures need reform in order to be more just?</span></span>
<em>The Jungle</em> by Upton Sinclair
Kristen Shedd, Fullerton College & The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress
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History, (Re)imagined
This encounter with Anderson’s scholarship inspired Knirim to reevaluate the meaning of truth, “proof,” and imagination in the study of history. In the absence of time machines, imagination—combined with rigorous scholarship, of course—can enable us to travel to certain moments in the past. Or at least come closer to the past than we were before.
Benedict Anderson’s <em>Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism</em> compelled Alexander Knirim, then a young historian, to re-think the role of imagination in history. Knirim recounts how his original misunderstanding, that we can reconstruct historic truth, was challenged by Anderson’s book and evolved into an appreciation of Anderson’s exegesis.
<em>Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism</em> by Benedict Anderson
Alexander Knirim, Bayreuth University & The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress
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Literature and Its Worlds of Possibility
Coccia enlists the words of feminist theorist and poet Adrienne Rich to articulate the power of the humanities: “I came to believe a child’s belief, but also a poet’s … that language, writing, those pages of print could teach me how to live, could tell me what was possible.” Literature can open up worlds of possibility, encapsulating what the humanities can offer us.
In middle school, Harper Lee’s <em>To Kill a Mockingbird</em> inspired Emily Coccia to imagine the possibilities of the law to bring communities closer to justice. In college, it was the world of critical theory—such as feminist and queer theory—however, that helped her understand the other paths available to those wishing to enact social change.
<em>To Kill a Mockingbird</em> by Harper Lee; queer and critical theory by Adrienne Rich and others
Emily Coccia, the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress
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The Transformative Power of Dialogue
Growing up in a very small town that once had the most churches per capita in the country, Catherine Newell was around many people who were believers. Moving away from her hometown, she encountered a more religiously diverse environment, opening her mind to other possibilities. During her final term in college, she stumbled into a Rabbinic Judaism class. While the texts ignited her intellect, it was the class dialogue that moved her in a profound way. Now a professor of religious studies herself, Newell reflects on how the class offered an ideal model of collective academic inquiry: respectful and passionate dialogue.
Catherine Newell, assistant professor of religious studies, University of Miami & The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress
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