{"id":242733,"date":"2025-05-15T07:01:39","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T07:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/american-history\/americanstudies-may-15-2025-spring-semester-reflections-graduate-research-methods\/"},"modified":"2025-05-15T07:01:39","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T07:01:39","slug":"americanstudies-may-15-2025-spring-semester-reflections-graduate-research-methods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=242733","title":{"rendered":"AmericanStudies: May 15, 2025: Spring Semester Reflections: Graduate Research Methods"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

[About halfway
\nthrough the Spring 2025 semester, I
\nlost my Dad<\/a>. While that was of course the semester\u2019s most defining moment,
\nit also allowed me to reflect for the remaining weeks on my own teaching in
\nrelationship to one of the most dedicated and talented teachers I\u2019ve ever
\nknown. So for this semester reflections series, I want to highlight one moment
\nfrom each class where I\u2019d say I particularly felt my Dad\u2019s presence.]<\/p>\n

This
\nsemester featured my
\nfirst-ever section<\/a> of our Graduate Research Methods course, but I did model
\nthat new syllabus on two courses I\u2019ve taught a number of times: Intro
\nto Literary Theory<\/a> (another Grad class) and Approaches
\nto English Studies<\/a> (an undergrad one). Which meant we talked here and there
\nabout the approach\/theory known as psychoanalytical, an approach that defined
\nmy Dad\u2019s early career (his dissertation\/first
\nbook<\/a> was a psychoanalytical reading of James Fenimore Cooper) and that
\ncontinued to inform his later interests in topics
\nlike authorship<\/a>. I\u2019ll admit to being far less of a devotee of this approach
\nthan my Dad, but I\u2019ll also admit that when we returned fully to this class\u2019s
\nconversations after his passing, I made sure to think through when and how
\npsychoanalytical analysis could help, beyond what I would have been likely to
\ndo in another semester. For example, I think Dad\u2019s ideas about the anxieties of
\nauthorship and audience have a lot to tell us about Langston Hughes, the poet
\non whom our middle unit in this course focused. I promise to keep an open mind
\nabout this theoretical approach going forward, Dad. <\/span><\/p>\n

Last reflection
\ntomorrow,<\/span><\/p>\n

Ben<\/span><\/p>\n

PS. Spring
\nsemester reflections you\u2019d share?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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So for this semester reflections series, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12032],"tags":[13299,21124,7005,14721,10113,15931,1448],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-242733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-history","tag-americanstudies","tag-graduate","tag-methods","tag-reflections","tag-research","tag-semester","tag-spring"],"yoast_head":"\nAmericanStudies: May 15, 2025: Spring Semester Reflections: Graduate Research Methods - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=242733\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AmericanStudies: May 15, 2025: Spring Semester Reflections: Graduate Research Methods - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[About halfway through the Spring 2025 semester, I lost my Dad. 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