In revisiting and revising my area of interest, I have struggled with the clarity of my questions, but I have also been influenced a great deal by Constructing the American Landscape, a history class I am currently taking. How do we ask questions that fall into the four categories – descriptive, explanatory, evaluative, and instrumental? Many of my questions fall under the descriptive category, yet they have explanatory, evaluative, and instrumental elements. However, in order to ask critical, interesting, deep questions, and thus generate critical, interesting, deep analysis and findings, I have learned to move past the descriptive and delve further into the evaluative and instrumental genres.
My concentration, or area of interest, is “Literary Landscapes of the American West.” I am looking at art, at history, at culture, at theory, at the landscapes themselves. This theoretical, artsy approach is what I am interested in, particularly because it reflects the art-like qualities of my second major (English literature). However, this has made it difficult to apply the instrumental framework towards this project proposal. I am not trying to come up with a city plan or a curriculum or a budget. I am trying to read the landscapes of the American West within the literary tradition of American literature and the historical developments that have transformed the American West into the wasteland/desert/promised land/agricultural belt/suburban sprawl that it is today.
Generally, my revision of my area of interest has focused on the questions and whittling them down into specific, interesting, questions that adhere to their frameworks. Additionally, I have incorporated some in-class readings, specifically William Cronon’s treatment on narrative and nature into the body of my proposal.