From the office whiteboard

war causation
regional identity
American versus Southern exceptionalism
nature of regional growth
the westward settlement frontier issue
environment, cultural inheritance, and transnationalism.
The overall development issue

Why the book?
Only comparison of two pivotal states (not S.C. and Mass that are the swing vote)
laboratory of similiarities
community formation, human decisionmaking,
Only place to see the proces from start to finish
multiple levels of analysis: family, community, state systems integration
side by side community studies still rare
Slavery and the "discourse" of human choice.
Implications of "second nature"
Why the midwest is generically "American" and the South is "ethnic"

Isolation from nature as "sickly sentimentality"


posted by Lloyd at 6:21 AM

Thoreau and the nature poets -- any information there about ecological models?

posted by Lloyd at 4:27 AM

This is my notebook for storing ideas about the Indiana and Mississippi book introduction. The project is "due" on 1 June 2003. The main thing to ponder here is what the original contributions of a book like this might be.

From the notebooks:

An ecological and behavioral model, contextualized to recognize the theoretical limitations and hesitations about such a project.

At a minimum, the book should challenge notions of regional distinctiveness. Are we saying they are different? Yes. Are we saying that the similarities are crucial? Yes. What thesis handles that paradox and also provides a dynamic sense of change over time?

The ecological niche imperative?

The importance of geography -- within states, towns, and families, as a variable. (See Chris Morris's work, for ex.)

Is there a larger, sort of Homeric or Shakespearean or Faulknerian meaning to all of this? The big questions: birth, love, marriage, death, home, identity, are all here. How to phrase and analyze it? Are these appreciably different in indiana than in mississippi?

Does a state, per se, impose an identity on its citizens, regardless of their prior affiliations and identifications?

Transnationalism in immigration studies. I must consult the JAH articles.

Also Quist's bibliography, and the Etcheson book.

The concept of an "intellectual economy" -- how is that different from a discourse structure, or a knowledge-production structure?



posted by Lloyd at 3:09 AM