Innovative Assignments

Re-mapping & Re-Telling Assignment

**Exploring Ethnic Minority Representation in Jane Eyre Adaptations**

The purpose of the digital assignment is to create your own storyboard, storymap, or timeline, to highlight the significance of ethnic/racial minorities that were not represented in past Victorian novels.

Prompt

As a part of your final project, you will delve into the portrayal of ethnic minority groups in adaptations of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, particularly through the lens of novels like Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea or Patricia Park's Re Jane. Your task is to analyze the historical context and representation of a specific ethnic minority group referenced in the novel, highlighting their visibility and experiences through a digital story map or timeline.

Instructions:

Select a Minority Group: Choose an ethnic minority group that is misrepresented or underrepresented in the adaptation you are analyzing. Consider groups referenced in the novel or those historically present in the setting.
Research Historical Context: Conduct thorough research to understand the historical context of the chosen minority group during the time period of the novel. Explore their social, cultural, and demographic realities, paying attention to factors such as migration patterns, educational opportunities, and socio-economic status.
Create a Historical Timeline: Construct a detailed timeline that outlines significant events and developments related to the chosen minority group during the period covered in the novel. Include key milestones such as immigration waves, cultural movements, legislative changes, and societal shifts.
Map Demographic Distribution: Utilize digital mapping tools to visually represent the demographic distribution of the minority group across relevant locations. Incorporate data from your historical timeline to illustrate how their presence evolved over time and how it intersected with broader social and geographical dynamics.
Analyze Representation in Adaptations: Reflect on how the chosen minority group is portrayed in adaptations of Jane Eyre, drawing comparisons between literary depictions and historical realities. Consider the accuracy, depth, and sensitivity of their representation, and examine the implications for broader discussions of diversity and inclusion.
Compose a Reflective Narrative: Write a reflective narrative that synthesizes your findings, discussing the significance of ethnic minority representation in literary adaptations and its broader implications for understanding cultural identity, power dynamics, and social justice.

Submission Guidelines:

Your final submission should include a digital story map or timeline accompanied by a written analysis.
Ensure that your narrative is well-organized, supported by evidence from your research, and engages critically with relevant themes and concepts.

Additional Resources:

Consult scholarly sources, historical archives, and literary criticism to deepen your understanding of the chosen minority group and its representation.

Sample

Rationale/Reflective Narrative

This project began with a question in mind, whilst reading the modern retelling of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, Patricia Park's Re Jane. The question was: "What is the significance of Asian Americans that are riding the New York Subway in Re Jane?"

My digital project, "Recreating the Rhythm of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre within Patricia Park’s Re Jane," looks at how the modern retelling of Jane Eyre, Patricia Park's Re Jane, highlights the visibility of ethnic minorities within transportations that did not get attention in the nineteenth century.

My digital timeline builds explores the New York Subway scene in Re Jane that is filled with ethnic minorities and people of the working class. The subway hints back to the Transcontinental Railroad that erased the Chinese American Laborers from the famous picture that depicted all the laborers. Even though the Chinese Americans were the primary laborers, they are never depicted in the picture.

Re Jane reflects how people do not acknowledge the presence of Asian Americans in transportations or in the public sphere, even though it is the twentieth century. Park highlights this factor through the transportation, and I serve to use this digitized platform to emphasize how the novel amplifies the voices of Asian Americans, even in the midst of continual Asian American Hate crimes, particularly in the New York Subway.

My digitized historical timeline serves to highlight how the ethnic minorities of the New York Subway also need to be equally represented, as they were under-represented much like the Chinese American Laborers. History must not repeat itself -- and this digitized timeline serves to amplify the voices of ethnic minorities, particularly laborers.