Talk:Caucasia (novel)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 22 January 2019 and 17 May 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Ksembly2. Peer reviewers: Tiaratillis99, Kmckenn3, Ariddic1.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 18:44, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Request for Reassessment--October 27, 2015

In August 2015 after major research and revisions, I submitted this page for Good Article recognition. Perhaps I was a little too impressed at the amount of verifiable content I uncovered for this topic. This is my first Wiki page project and I apparently did not cite the references appropriately. I have recently reviewed and edited every citation and included the date that the information was accessed, along with references of the data base source used.

I have reviewed the comments by the person reviewing this page as a Good Article nominee and am continuing to address these concerns, though some of them I disagree with. A list of characters and places is key to understanding the book. The recommendation was to add this to the Plot Summary. I am considering this, but want to keep the plot summary crisp and clean.

There was also a comment that the parts of the book should not be divided up in bolded sub sections. These Parts (1, 2, and 3) are the structure of the novel and have important connections to the plot since there are name changes for the major characters. Location also is integral to the plot of the novel.

Considering this was a Start class article when I first tackled it in the Summer of 2015, and it referenced only 1 source (the book), was clearly written with bias and included personal conclusions and research--I was highly discouraged to find all of my work plunked back at that same level.

I will continue to work on and improve this page. Pshanks6 (talk) 22:24, 27 October 2015 (UTC)

Plans for work on this page July/August 2015

I am a student at Michigan State University, working on this page as part of a class project. My plans to work on this page include the following:

• Rewrite Main section to provide more of an overview of the book. Caucasia (1998) is an American novel written by Danzy Senna. Set in Boston, Massachusetts in the turbulent mid-1970s, it is the coming-of-age story of multi-racial sisters Birdie and Cole, daughters of a white mother and black father. Much of the novel centers around the theme of racial passing. Senna upends the traditional “tragic mullatta” storyline by exploring Birdie's desire to be accepted as black, although she appears to be white. Varieties of whiteness are explored: Puerto Rican, French, Italian, Pakistani, Greek, Cape Verdean and Jewish. Senna also explores themes of invisibility and disappearing. Birdie is multi-racial; she feels invisible to her father, who seems to prefer her older and darker sister. She disappears with her mother, whose paranoia about being followed by the FBI leads her to construct new Jewish identities and names for them. Throughout the novel Birdie seeks to understand who she is and how she fits into the world. Growing up on the run and fearful that her true identity could endanger her mother’s life, Birdie struggles to know her true self. She longs for her sister Cole and their father, ultimately running away from home to find them. (7/22/2015) I will review this again after the rest of this content has been created to make sure it is in alignment with the rest of the article.
• Create New Section: Background and Historical Context
• Reorganize Plot Summary into Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 and check sources and links that are up in the current article.
• Create New Section: Characters
• Work on Major Themes section organizing and adding to what is currently posted. Check sources and links that are in the current article.
• Add content to Literary Significance and Reception with citations
• Create New Section: About the Author (or short biography with links to her author page)
• Create New Section: Other works by Danzy Senna
• Create New Section: External Links

Pshanks6 (talk) 22:08, 23 July 2015 (UTC)

Bibliography Research stage July/August 2015

Author's Website http://Danzysenna.com

An interview with Danzy Senna, A Mixed Race Take On What It Means To Be 'Free' JUNE 24, 201112:00 PM ET http://www.npr.org/2011/06/24/137395343/biracial-author-offers-lighthearted-disturbing-stories

Milian Arias, Claudia,M. "An Interview with Danzy Senna." Callaloo 25.2 (2002): 447-52.

Gomez, Jewelle. "Caucasia." Callaloo 24.1 (2001): 363-4.

Nelson, Sara. "New Authors we'Re Dying to Hear More from." Glamour 12 1998: 88.

Harrison-Kahan, Lori. "Passing for White, Passing for Jewish: Mixed Race Identity in Danzy Senna and Rebecca Walker."MELUS 30.1 (2005): 19,48,264-265.

Dagbovie, Sika Alaine. "Fading to White, Fading Away: Biracial Bodies in Michelle Cliff's Abeng and Danzy Senna's Caucasia." African American Review 40.1 (2006): 93-109.

Heyman, Kathryn. "Novel of the Week: From Caucasia with Love." New Statesman Dec 18 2000: 55.

"CAUCASIA." Kirkus Reviews.23 (1997)

Leverette, Tru. "Re-Visions of Difference in Danzy Senna's Caucasia." Obsidian 12.1 (2011): 110,127,149.

Grassian, Daniel. "Passing into Post-Ethnicity: A Study of Danzy Senna's Caucasia." The Midwest Quarterly 47.4 (2006): 317,335,311.

Gillespie, Marcia Ann. "Caucasia." Ms May 1998: 86.

Steinberg, Sybil. "Caucasia." Publishers Weekly 244.50 (1997): 54

Watson, Reginald. "The Changing Face of Biraciality: The white/Jewish Mother as Tragic Mulato Figure in James McBride's the Color of Water and Danzy Senna's Caucasia." Obsidian III 4.1 (2002): 101.

Cimino, Valerie J. "Caucasia." Boston 01 1998: 90.

"Caucasia." Harper's Bazaar 02 1998: 116

Wartik, Nancy. "Caucasia." Mademoiselle 03 1998: 140.

Pearl, Nancy. "CAUCASIA." Library Journal 128.20 (2003): 192.

Zvirin, Stephanie. "Caucasia." The Booklist 95.15 (1999): 1401.

Flexman, Ellen. "Caucasia." Library Journal 123.1 (1998): 145.

Harlan, Megan. "The Week: Caucasia." Entertainment Weekly Apr 03 1998: 89

Schwarz, Frederic D. "Busing Comes to Boston." American Heritage 09 1999: 93-5.

Christner, Terry. "The Other Boston Busing Story." Library Journal 126.6 (2001): 112.

Nardini, Robert F. "History -- Boston Against Busing: Race, Class, and Ethnicity in the 1960s and 1970s by Ronald P. Formisano." Library Journal 116.5 (1991): 98.

Thorsson, Courtney. "Why Now?: Recent Writings on Black Power and the Black Panther Party." Callaloo 32.2 (2009): 670,675,709.

"Books and Arts: Prince of the Absurd; Albert Camus, 50 Years on." The Economist Jan 09 2010: 83-4.

Colette. "TWO BY COLETTE." The Yale Review 102.4 (2014): 1-8.

Freadman, Anne. "BREASTS ARE BACK! COLETTE'S CRITIQUE OF FLAPPER FASHION." French Studies 60.3 (2006): 335-46. Pshanks6 (talk) 10:55, 25 July 2015 (UTC)

Updated Article--major revisions and additions August 5, 2015

I posted major revisions to this page on August 5, 2015. Citations were added to the Main Section; the Plot Summary was rewritten, reformatted and new citations added. New sections for List of Characters; Places and Literary Reception were added and citations added. Awards were updated and sourced. A short biography section was added with a link to the Danzy Senna author's page. That page is also undergoing revision and updating by a fellow student at Michigan State University as part of our course assignments.

I did a lot of research for sources and content before updating this article. Through MSU's library I utilized ProQuest; Gale; Lexis-Nexis and other non-public source searches.

In the next two weeks I will continue to polish the article. I may add a "Themes" section after dissecting more source material. I recognize that this is not the place for original work and am only working with verifiable sourced material. Pshanks6 (talk) 16:32, 5 August 2015 (UTC)

Peer Edits -- Spring 2019 -- Black Culture in a Post Soul Era -- Swarthmore College course assignment

Edit suggestions copied in from work done in groups on Google Drive:

Your plot summaries are good. They're concise, easy to follow, and full of useful information. A section giving basic info abt each character before the summary might make it easier to read for people who haven't read the book. Other ideas for possible themes to discuss: passing racial identity coming of age desegregation sisterhood friendship beauty theory vs. reality

Maybe link in some info about the busing strategy for desegregation in Boston. I'm sure there's a wiki page on it. Link in other easy things to increase the rating of your article, like Boston, or Black Power, for example.

I would proofread one more time before going live to make sure knitpicky things like punctuation and sentence structure are all exactly how you want them to be.

Add a section on reception/awards if you have time/if there's info?

Links look good, nice work making neutral tone.

Make sure your lead sentence is strong when you write your intro as well, and that you link in Danzy Senna's wiki page

• • I also made minor grammatical and spelling edits throughout — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kmckenn3 (talk • contribs) 06:32, 27 April 2019 (UTC)