Original Post Below
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Did you need to narrow or broaden the scope of your topic to make sure it is a substantial, original and possibly fun contribution to our knowledge?
I did not necessarily have to broaden the scope of my topic, but rather shift the focus of my topic. Originally, I wanted to focus on the lost identities of women within Chinese history. My thought process was to do research on those who might not have been documented, or whose names never made it to ancestral shrines. However, I realized that there were a few things wrong with this idea. For one, how was I going to research something that was never put in the archive? We know that female identities have been erased, that’s the whole point. I will not be able to research what has never been documented. Also, Dr. D recommended that I focus more on the women who have persevered history, those who have stood the test of time and still remain within the archive. This way, I can acknowledge the identities of women who have been lost, but focus on those who have persevered and why they have stood the test of time.
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What additional sources have led you to your revised topic?
- Ko, Dorothy, and Romeyn Taylor. “Teachers of the inner chambers: Women and culture in seventeenth-century China.” History: Reviews of New Books 24.1 (1995): 41-42.
- This source was shared to me by Dr. D and shows the ways in which women’s lives are documented in history. The author focuses on gender and how it plays a role in the documentation of women in history.
- Li, Xiaolin. “Chinese Women Soldiers: A History of 5,000 Years.” Social Education 58.2 (1994): 67-71.
- This source shows a history of Chinese soldiers who are women, who have lasted 5,000 years in the archive, standing the test of time. This will be useful for my project because it shows how these strong women persevered against traditions where a woman’s name might be lost or forgotten.
- Watson, Rubie S. “The named and the nameless: gender and person in Chinese society.” American ethnologist 13.4 (1986): 619-631.
- This source is one we used in the other class connected to this one, Chinese Culture and Society. It will be very beneficial to my project because it shows the ways in which women might be forgotten due to their names being erased. They might not be given a real name, and might only be referred to in terms of their relationship to others. For instance, “Old Grandmother.” It also talks about the ways women’s names are not written down in lineage because lineage follows the men. This definitely lead to some identities being erased.
- Moeller, Karilyn. “Chinese Women Unbound: An Analysis of Women’s Emancipation in China.” Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal 4.1 (2003): 13.
- This source talks about important documented events which pertain to women’s rights. It shows how events were documented that pertained to women, something that might not have been documented in the past. It overall talks about women’s emancipation in China.
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SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timed.
SMART Goals
Specific: My project will be a three part painting, representing women who’s identities have been lost, how women were oppressed, and how their identities live on.
Part 1 : painting of remnants of identities: discarded clothing, a drawing of a lineage where women’s names are not written, a girl standing in the center with no family around her (signifying how women were born into families knowing they had to leave)
Part 2 : painting of objects of oppression: a woman with bound feet, a drawing of the small shoes, women working, a woman tending to shrines, etc
Part 3: Painting of warrior women in China, with outfits that are fitting to their time periods
Measurable: My project will have museum-like descriptions under each drawing, telling of the significance and meaning behind each drawing. This is where I will demonstrate my knowledge learned through the sources that I have read to prepare for this project
Achievable: I believe that this project is achievable, though if I find that the drawings are taking to long to make into three parts, I will combine it into one painting rather than make three separate ones
Timed: I will space out the time between each part of the painting, making sure I do not save the drawing for the last minute.
Signing Off! ~<3
~Clare <3
