"It's this day not me that's bound to go away!"

November 9th has come and gone, and I have survived. It took lots of hard work and the past weekend was spent nearly entirely alone with my books, but I accomplished everything necessary. Since the beginning of the semester I've been rather dreading November 9th. Between first day of classes and November 9th in my Golden Age of Spain class I had three book reviews and a prospectus and annotated bibliography due, in addition to appended readings. In Hoffman's class I had two papers due (the third is due November 23rd) and tons of reading. Tons. Really, someone once asked me what the class was called and my friend replied "Topics in How to Kill A Grad Student." And in my thesis class I've had due a prospectus and annotated bibliography, and now I have a 20-minute presentation due on Monday. No rest for the weary, but I survived November 9th. I have successfully turned in all three book reviews, managed two decent prospectuses and bibliographies, and kept up with the reading for all of my classes. This has not been easy, and there's a month left to go, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. December 4th is not that far off. :)

In case anyone is interested, I will tell you a little bit about what exactly I'm researching, because I'm not sure if I ever have. First of all, my thesis: I'm in a Comparative History Masters program, so my thesis has to compare something, or be transnational in some sense. Comparative History is pretty awesome in how open it is, and how creative you can be with topics. For my thesis, I'm comparing eighteenth-century English theater with colonial American theater. I am focusing on a theater company led by Hallam, and later Douglass, called The London Company of Comedians, later known as The American Company. As implied by their original name, this troupe came from London to perform in the colonies, and traveled a circuit which includes Williamsburg. In fact, Douglass built his first theater here in Williamsburg in 1760, then built others in Philadelphia, Charleston, and Jamaica. I'm planning on looking at the effect that theater had upon the identity of the colonists. In The Marketplace of Revolution, T.H Breen argues that the consumption of British goods led the colonists to feel more connected to the British empire, enhancing their feelings of "Britishness," until they could bind together in boycotts and non-consumption agreements, which then strengthened their feeling of American unity. In a sense, that's what I'm arguing about theater, at least the professional London companies which dominated colonial theater. The similarities between the playgoing experience in London and America contributed to a feeling of "Britishness" in the colonies until the Revolution, when theater was seen as "too English" and they boycotted theater just as they did other luxury goods. Douglass and his American Company waited out the Revolution in Jamaica.

I'm also going to try to incorporate the return of The American Company after the Revolution (in 1786 they came back to the States). I want to see how they changed their repertoire, how they adapted to the new political climate, and how the former colonists responded to the theater after the Revolution, especially theater done by British subjects who had left during the Revolution. So, in that way, I will be comparing American theater pre-and-post Revolution, as well as comparing English and colonial American theater. It's a multi-layered project.

My other major assignment right now is my research paper for Golden Age of Spain. Here I'm rather restricted by my inability to read Spanish, Portuguese, or Hebrew, so I have decided to approach my topic historiographically (that is, I am looking at the way the topic has been discussed by historians in the past few decades, and the major arguments within the field). For my paper, I'm examining converso identity after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. Conversos are any person who can trace their lineage back to a forcibly converted Jew. Not all conversos actually retained any Jewish beliefs, but all were far more likely to come under the scrutiny of the Inquisition, so after 1492 many fled to Portugal or other places on the continent. After the establishment of the Portuguese Inquisition in 1536, those conversos in Portugal also fled into Europe, many to Amsterdam, where they had a community. For my paper I'm focusing mostly on the community in Amsterdam because it was very important to converso societies throughout Europe.

Converso identity is hard to pin down because it has an ethnic, religious, and "national" quality to it. Conversos, of course, were racially Jewish, at least in part, so even those conversos who had no wish to practice Judaism and who legitimately believed in Christian teachings were often welcomed by community members (NOT leaders who wanted pure rabbinic practices). On the other hand, many did want to practice Judaism, but they had different ideas about Judaism-- they felt that they had adequately kept the Law of Moses while living in Iberia. Some were crypto-Jews who combined Catholic and Jewish beliefs. Some practiced traditional rabbinic Judaism. It's a wide spectrum. Then, they all had great pride in their Iberian heritage. In the communities Portuguese and Castilian were the main languages and they looked down upon the Ashkenazi Jews who they regarded as inferior and less-educated. The converso communities were greatly influenced by their Iberian roots, many kept in touch with family in Spain or Portugal, and some even continued to travel there for mercantile purposes (though sometimes in their travels they fell into the clutches of the Inquisition). Anyways, it's complicated business, this converso identity.

Beyond these two things, I am also trying to keep up with my American Rev readings, which proves difficult when the library loses the readings on reserve, as they did yesterday. Thanks Swem! Those readings, as I've mentioned, are excessive, but extremely interesting. Not this Monday, but the next Monday I have a paper due on "The Constitution: Political or Social Document?" I've never really gotten to study the Constitution, so I'm looking forward to actually sitting down and learning about the creation of this thing that dominates American politics. I'm also still trying to get through books in Golden Age of Spain; right now it's "Writing Women in Late Medieval and Early Modern Spain," about female authors, usually nuns or religious writings. And of course, I'm preparing for my thesis presentation! Let me just stress for a moment how much I love the CW Rockefeller Library for having so many amazing sources for me that Swem just does not have. :)

I would tell you all about the fun things I've been doing with my life, but basically what I just outlined for you is it. There has been a little bit of drama in the past few days with people text-messaging me that I never really expected to hear from again, or people who are very forward, but that's peripheral. I did see Twelfth Night last Thursday, presented by SitD, and it was amazing. Truly wonderful. I went out for drinks with some people after the show, and that was fun, too. Um... Saturday evening Shea came to visit me (she was my flatmate when I studied abroad) and we watched a silly Nickelodeon show called iCarly and got ice cream at Maggie Moo's. And then Sunday I went out to dinner with Zan, Allison (who was visiting from Georgetown!) and Sarah Lifka. But seriously, these things were brief hourly respites from days at Swem and Blair. Mmm Winter Break. Can't come fast enough.