Dimensions of Scale: Invisible Labor, Editorial Work, and the Future of Quantitative Literary Studies

PMLA ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-39
Author(s):  
Lauren F. Klein
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Topic Modeling ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Community Formation ◽  
Lydia Maria Child ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
Additional Layer ◽  
Multiple Dimensions ◽  
Editorial Work ◽  
Mary Ann Shadd

This essay calls for a conceptual reorientation of how quantitative methods in literary studies are currently framed, arguing for an expansion from a linear model bounded by the endpoints of distant and close to a space defined by multiple dimensions of scale. I explore the axis bounded by visible and invisible as an example of one of the additional dimensions that might constitute this expanded conceptual frame. In demonstrating its potential for producing new knowledge, I examine the editorial work of two women abolitionists, Mary Ann Shadd (1823–93) and Lydia Maria Child (1802–80). I show how topic modeling and statistical analysis can help identify and describe their invisible editorial labor. I thus provide an additional layer of evidence in support of the argument that positions women, and black women in particular, at abolition's vanguard. I also show how both women employed editing as a method of community formation and world building. I conclude by extending the example of editorial work to the labor required to perform quantitative work today, underscoring the importance of expanding the frame in which quantitative methods in literary study are conceptualized and deployed. (LFK)

scholarly journals Literary Routes: Migration, Islands, and the Creative Economy

PMLA ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 131 (5) ◽  
pp. 1222-1238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Françoise Lionnet ◽  
Emmanuel Bruno ◽  
Jean-François
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Change ◽  
Knowledge Economy ◽  
World Literature ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Global South ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
Creative Economy ◽  
Literary Marketplace ◽  
Human Diversity

Exploring the links among accelerating patterns of migration, homogenizing forces of globalization, and transnational sites of creativity, this essay highlights the contributions that francophone voices from islands of the global South have made to the diversification of the knowledge economy. We discuss the critical effectiveness of literature as an agent of cultural change, focusing on minor writers who reach wide audiences by negotiating new pathways into the literary marketplace. The Comoran Soeuf Elbadawi, the Malagasy Jean-Luc Raharimanana, the Mauritians Ananda Devi and Shenaz Patel, and the Tahitian Chantal Spitz instigate literary dialogues that underscore ways of reimagining our world and redefining world literature. The issues they raise reveal the enduring relevance of literary studies and its interpretive approaches to a full appreciation of human diversity, which cannot be captured by purely quantitative methods.

scholarly journals Editing a Discourse, Not a Text: Meta-Methodological Remarks on an Editorial Endeavour

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Rockenberger
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Thought Experiment ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
Textual Scholarship ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Normative Framework ◽  
Editorial Work ◽  
Ways Of Thinking ◽  
Scholarly Editing ◽  
Death Of The Author

AbstractWhereas in literary studies poststructuralist theory (e. g. deconstruction, discourse analysis, broad concepts of intertextuality, ›Death of the Author‹-claims and several versions of anti-intentionalism) has had – and still has – a massive impact on practices ofHowever, within my contribution I will outline an entirely different approach by asking the question: If we actually decided to give up on author-centricity in scholarly editing and radically rejected authors’ intentions as well as authors’ single or collected works as objects of textual scholarship, could the yet unrealized project of ›editing a discourse‹ or ›discourse edition‹ work as a complement, an extension, or a replacement of traditional editions?To make this clear: So far there is no such thing as a discourse edition, so I cannot give aOne of the underlying ideas of this article is to confront contemporary edition philology (textual scholarship) – which is oriented towards categories like author, work, or text – with a ›foil‹ for contrast specifically invented for the purpose to show quite plainly that those leading categories scholarly editorial work is based on are anything but self-evident and without any alternatives but in the end rather contingent (namely uponI designed a meta-philological thought experiment to exemplify exactly this and I will thereby reveal a discipline-specific methodological ›blindness‹, irritate seemingly unproblematic habitual ways of thinking and thus uncover a deficit of reasoning and self-reflection in the field. Basically, I will clarify some implicit (categorial and methodological) presuppositions of scholarly editing and thereby uncover some aspects of the (invisible) normative framework underlying editorial practices.Firstly, I will clarifySecondly, I will askWhen I will have shown that a discourse edition can actually beFinally, I will briefly consider the question of

scholarly journals Vector hermeneutics: On the interpretation of vector space models of text

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James E Dobson
Keyword(s):  
Vector Space ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Language Models ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
Original Source ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Vector Space Models

Abstract Scholars working in computational literary studies are increasingly making use of text-derived vector space models, by which I mean numerical models of texts that represent the distribution or modeled relations among the vocabulary extracted from these texts. These models, as this essay will argue, call for distinct modes of humanistic interpretation and explication that are related to but distinct from those that may have been used on the original source texts. While vector space models are analyzed using increasingly complicated quantitative methods and the explanation of their operation requires statistical sophistication, my emphasis on humanistic interpretation is quite intentional. This essay theorizes two major categories of vector space models, the document-term matrix and neural language models, to position these models as not merely descriptions of texts but inscriptive representational objects that perform interpretive work of their own in order to demonstrate the need for a multi-level hermeneutics in computational literary studies.

scholarly journals 'Judgemental Category' is the Major Concept in Ntozake Shange's “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf”

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 256-264
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Methods ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Black American Women

This paper aims to explore the frequencies of using the Attitudinal resources in Shange‟s Postmodern American drama “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf”. The purpose of that investigation is to make a comparative analysis among all three types of Attitude categories which are: Appreciation, Judgment, and Affect. In order to accomplish the role of being the spokesperson of black American women in the United States of America by delivering the real agony and oppression that those people faced because of their class, gender, and race. The playwright has presented and cantered on seven black women who encountered some form of neglect, harassment, and abuse; either emotionally, sexually, or physically. The analysing process has presented that the playwright had utilized many linguistic resources; „Judgement‟. This category is considered as one of the major Attitudinal systems in the discourse-semantic appraisal mode within Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) for interpersonal meanings. Judgement is connected with the evaluation of black women‟s characters as well as their behaviours in this literary text. This article intends to discover the reason behind the heavy use of that category compared with the other two types of Attitudinal system. The paper has adopted qualitative and quantitative methods to conduct the objectives of the Attitudinal resources in the selected data sets. This paper has concluded that in the Attitude category, Judgement turned to be the most presentation system comparing with the other Attitudinal types which are Affect and Appreciation. Moreover, within the scope of Judgement „Propriety‟ and „Tenacity‟ have exceeded other judgmental subtypes.

scholarly journals Mapping Literature Through Quantitative Instruments. The Case of Current Romanian Literary Studies

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daiana Gârdan ◽  
Emanuel Modoc
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
Distant Reading ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Current State ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Critical Approaches ◽  
Romanian Literature ◽  
The One

Following a two-pronged line of argumentation, our article seeks to analyze and evaluate the current state of quantitative approaches applied to Romanian literature within the context and framework of one of the most prominent emergent fields of literary studies: quantitative formalism. Thus, on the one hand, the paper will attempt to present the most well-known lexicographic instruments currently used in quantitative studies in Romania (The Chronological Dictionary of the Romanian Novel from its Origins to 1989, The Chronological Dictionary of Translated Novels in Romania from its Origins to 1989, and The Bibliography of the Relations between Romanian Literature and Foreign Literatures in Periodicals 1919–1944), and, on the other, to employ the emerging methods that make use of these instruments, alongside their inherent limitations and the pragmatic issues that concern them) as a starting point for a debate on the current state of theoretical and critical approaches to the study of literature in the Romanian academic field. A selective and detailed application of the quantitative methodologies in question, as they are theorized by scholars such as Franco Moretti (“distant reading”) or Matthew L. Jockers (“macroanalysis”) will be another focal point of our paper, as it will seek to further illustrate the manner in which a meta-reflection on the approach itself can encourage the further development of quantitative methods in the study of Romanian literature.

Alexander Grosart, ‘The First True Gentleman That Ever Breathed’, and the Independent Scholar

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (262) ◽  
pp. 264-282
Author(s):  
Charles Cathcart
Keyword(s):  
Sustained Attention ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
English Studies ◽  
Independent Basis ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Editorial Work

Abstract The Presbyterian clergyman and amateur scholar Alexander Grosart borrowed a line from the Renaissance play, The Honest Whore, Part One, in his sermon for the opening of Blackburn’s new church in 1868. Christ ‒ says Grosart ‒ was ‘the first true gentleman that ever breathed’. Exploring the resonances of this unacknowledged use of secular drama and turning to the editorial work of Grosart himself allows the essay’s underlying concern to emerge. What does it mean to be an independent scholar? This is an issue with implications for all who value scholarly study within the humanities ‒ for the practice of academic research in literary studies is diminished if these studies are the preserve of salaried academics and if the discussions that they comprise rarely extend beyond universities. This subject, so it is argued – the place of scholarship undertaken on an unaffiliated or independent basis in the world of English studies – is a topic worthy of sustained attention. In this essay, I acknowledge the challenges of scope and tact that lie in the path of all who pursue this matter and I propose that one way of doing so is to celebrate the work of the amateur scholars of the past. The essay concludes by returning to Alexander Grosart and reflecting upon his reputation during the years since his death in 1899.

Once More, with Feeling: Reflections on Racial Formation

PMLA ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 123 (5) ◽  
pp. 1565-1572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Omi ◽  
Howard Winant
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Racial Formation ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
Multiple Dimensions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Surprising Discovery

Our concept of racial formation was advanced in 1986 as a critique of prevailing notions of race in the social sciences. We challenged approaches that treated race as epiphenomenal to supposedly more fundamental axes of stratification and difference: ethnicity, class, and nation. But we were disappointed—depressed, in fact—by the reception our analysis received. Some years would pass before our approach was seriously taken up by sociologists, political scientists, and other social science scholars. What kept our spirits buoyed during this period was the surprising discovery that our work was resonating with scholars in other disciplines, most notably in history, law, and literary studies. We learned much and greatly profited from these newfound colleagues' engagement with our work, from the ways they creatively extended our concept of racial formation, and from their advancement of new ways to think about the ongoing evolution of racism and its multiple dimensions.

Anthropomorphism, Trope, and the Hidden Life of Trees: On Peter Wohlleben’s Rhetoric

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-152
Author(s):  
Johannes Wankhammer
Keyword(s):  
Personal Experience ◽  
Forest Ecosystems ◽  
Community Formation ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
Reading Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Non Fiction ◽  
Silent Spring ◽  
Creative Non Fiction ◽  
Textual Representation

While the textual representation of plants is yet an emerging concern in academic literary studies, it has squarely arrived in the mainstream of a general reading public: The best-selling German non-fiction book of the past few years, Das geheime Leben der Bäume (2015), is a sustained writerly exercise in representing the complexity of vegetal life.147 Written by the forest ranger Peter Wohlleben, the book portrays trees as exquisitely complex creatures, exploring (among other things) their capacities for communication, memory, and community formation. In terms of genre, the work is perhaps best categorized as creative non-fiction in the tradition of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring: Wohlleben synthesizes scientific findings about trees and forest ecosystems in an accessible and captivating form, blending science with personal experience in the service of an environmental mission – in his case, that of raising consciousness for the damaging effects of conventional forestry on ecosystems.148

A Framework Based on K-Means Clustering and Topic Modeling for Analyzing Unstructured Manufacturing Capability Data

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramin Sabbagh ◽  
Farhad Ameri
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Topic Modeling ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Reduction Process ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Manufacturing Capability ◽  
N Gram

Abstract The natural language descriptions of the capabilities of manufacturing companies can be found in multiple locations including company websites, legacy system databases, and ad hoc documents and spreadsheets. To unlock the value of unstructured capability data and learn from it, there is a need for developing advanced quantitative methods supported by machine learning and natural language processing techniques. This research proposes a hybrid unsupervised learning methodology using K-means clustering and topic modeling techniques in order to build clusters of suppliers based on their capabilities, automatically infer topics from the created clusters, and discover nontrivial patterns in manufacturing capability corpora. The capability data is extracted either directly from the website of manufacturing firms or from their profiles in e-sourcing portals and directories. Feature extraction and dimensionality reduction process in this work are supported by N-gram extraction and latent semantic analysis (LSA) methods. The proposed clustering method is validated experimentally based on a dataset composed of 150 capability descriptions collected from web-based sourcing directories such as the Thomas Net directory for manufacturing companies. The results of the experiment show that the proposed method creates supplier cluster with high accuracy. Two example applications of the proposed framework, related to supplier similarity measurement and automated thesaurus creation, are introduced in this paper.

Research on the Leadership of Black Women Principals: Implications for Black Students

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 336-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kofi Lomotey
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Women Principals ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Aspiring Principals ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Black Women Principals

In this exploratory review, I consider research on Black women principals for the period 1993 to 2017, using 57 research reports obtained from dissertations, journal articles, and a book chapter. This exploration is of particular significance given the continuous disenfranchisement and subsequent underachievement of Black children in U.S. schools and the importance of black women principals in addressing this quagmire. I highlight the methodological and theoretical traits of these studies, single out overstressed approaches, and highlight the most significant gaps in research on Black women principals. Major findings are (1) the large majority of studies on Black women principals appear in dissertations; (2) researchers studying Black women principals explore the lived experiences of Black women principals (e.g., race, gender) and aspects of the leadership of these women (e.g., transformational leadership); (3) the most common theoretical framework in these studies is Black Feminist Thought, followed by Critical Race Theory and Standpoint Theory; (4) all of the studies employed qualitative methods, while a few also included quantitative methods; (5) the principals who were studied served in elementary, middle, and high schools; and (6) spirituality, race, and gender are important to these leaders. Following a discussion of the findings, I conclude with implications for (1) future research, (2) the preparation of aspiring principals, and (3) the professional development of practicing principals.

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