User talk:Brian Sweeney

African American literature

Brian, thanks for your great edits to the African American literature article. Still, while you've added in good material, I have concerns about some of the information you deleted from the article and your attempt to change the article to reflect a "broader, transnational African diasporic context." Also, why did you delete the entire characteristics section? That seems like a useful section to me. Finally, the lead now feels too short and not informative enough for someone who merely reads the lead and not the rest of the article (my understanding is that the lead should summarize the entire article).

That said, I like your ideas on fleshing out the relationship between slave narratives and early African American novels and adding a section on major theories of Af Am lit from Gates, Baker and Toni Morrison (although the section should include more theories than simply theirs). I think, though, that as you do this you need to provide references to statements as you go. For example, while it is true that "African American writing has tended to draw on oral forms such as spirituals, sermons, gospel music, blues and rap" we need a reference for statements like this.

As for the "broader, transnational African diasporic context," I'd like to discuss this before changing the article to reflect this view. While I'm not certain this is the approach to take with the article, I'm also not totally opposed to it and definately believe some elements of that should be included. Again, we'd need solid references to back up any of this which we added.

Hope you are enjoying CZ and the pilot project. Also, please note that I'll be traveling to a funeral for a few days and not online. Best, --Jason Sanford 15:07, 1 November 2006 (CST)