Thesis: 😲

#mindblown

Thesis: 😲

Now, there may be those among you who might insist that “😲” cannot, properly speaking, be a thesis. I get it. But allow me to present some evidence.

Yesterday I was in a seminar on AI. The presenter, Jules White, presented some demonstrations of ChatGPT’s capabilities that shocked me. In one, he uploaded a picture of an avocado, a can of black beans, a tub of Greek yogurt, an apple, a lime, and a jar of peanut butter. He didn’t say what was in the photo. The prompt to ChatGPT was simply: “this is what I have in my pantry. Create a dinner recipe”—and ChatGPT did it. (The recipe even sounded better than some meals that broke college student Adam ate many moons ago.) It was black bean and avocado salad with a creamy sweet/sour sauce made from the yogurt and lime juice.

I had no idea that ChatGPT’s visual processing powerful enough to allow it to “see” the contents of a picture. While the presentation was still going on, I turned to my left and snapped a picture of a bookshelf in my office:

My prompt to ChatGPT was, “Here is a photo of books on my shelf. I've read all of these. provide a list of titles, followed by a three sentence summary of each. then suggest 10 potential academic articles I could write based on these sources.” (Also, for context, I should mention that I’d recently reminded it that I’m an English professor.) The bot pretty much nailed it from a photograph. Here are the first four:

The summaries are good—certainly better than I would have done in the same time frame (about 30 seconds)—and there are some interesting and unexpected changes: my copy of The Queer Art of Failure has Judith Halberstam as the author. Since I haven’t kept up with Halberstam’s work, I mistakenly assumed that “Jack” was an AI hallucination until I fact checked myself and realized Halberstam does indeed go by Jack now.¹ So…. kudos to the non-conscious ai chatbot for not deadnaming Halberstam, an error I almost certainly would have made? Yeesh. Also, 😲

But wait, it gets better.

Here is the list of articles it suggested:

Not great, but again here I think the power is in the speed in which it provides these ideas: again, much better than I could have imagined in the same amount of time (30 seconds). What I think is interesting in this response is the way Chat gets the form of academic discourse right, even if the content sounds a bit milk toast. Stochastic parrots anyone? On the other hand, I did provide an arbitrary and unrealistic constraint in asking for article suggestions based on books that were arranged in alphabetical order on my shelf. Not exactly a heuristic of cutting edge scholarship, is it.

Further down the rabbit hole.

I told ChatGPT that I liked #10 (Harlem Renaissance + Stuart Hall) and asked for it to provide two potential outlines of the article, one suited for the Journal of Modern Literature and one for PMLA.

Outline 1: For the Journal of Modern Literature

This version emphasizes literary analysis and the historical context of the Harlem Renaissance, with a focus on how narrative techniques shape identity.

Title:
"Constructing the Self: Narrative Identity in Harlem Renaissance Literature and Its Resonance in Cultural Studies"

Introduction:

• Introduce the significance of the Harlem Renaissance as a critical period for African American literature and identity formation.

• Pose the central question: How do narrative techniques in Harlem Renaissance literature contribute to the construction of Black identity, and how do these narratives relate to later theories in cultural studies?

• Preview the argument, which bridges literary analysis with cultural studies theories by Stuart Hall and others.

I. Historical Context and the Rise of the Harlem Renaissance

• Provide a brief overview of the Harlem Renaissance (1918-1937), emphasizing its cultural and political motivations.

• Discuss key figures (e.g., Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston) and their contributions to the movement.

• Establish the importance of narrative as a tool for redefining African American identity in response to racial oppression.

II. Narrative Techniques and the Construction of Identity

• Analyze specific narrative techniques (e.g., free indirect discourse, vernacular language, and fragmented storytelling) used in key texts such as Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes.

• Discuss how these techniques challenge traditional literary forms and create new spaces for Black self-expression.

• Argue that these narrative innovations reflect an emergent, self-determined Black identity that resists dominant cultural narratives.

III. Cultural Studies and Identity: The Stuart Hall Connection

• Introduce Stuart Hall’s theories on cultural identity, especially his concept of identity as fluid and constructed through discourse.

• Draw parallels between Hall’s ideas and the narrative strategies of Harlem Renaissance writers, arguing that both foreground the dynamic process of identity formation.

• Suggest that Harlem Renaissance literature can be seen as an early form of cultural studies, analyzing and resisting dominant ideologies.

IV. The Role of Media and Popular Culture in the Harlem Renaissance

• Explore how media representations (e.g., magazines like The Crisis and Opportunity) influenced the shaping of narratives and the public construction of Black identity.

• Discuss how Harlem Renaissance writers used these platforms to craft counter-narratives that resisted stereotypical portrayals in mainstream media.

V. Legacy and Implications for Modern Cultural Studies

• Reflect on the lasting impact of Harlem Renaissance narrative techniques on later movements, including the Civil Rights Movement and contemporary Black literature.

• Suggest that the insights from this literary period prefigure critical cultural studies and help us understand modern discussions of race, identity, and representation.

Conclusion:

• Reiterate the argument that Harlem Renaissance literature not only shaped Black identity but also laid the groundwork for later theories in cultural studies.

• Highlight the continued relevance of these narratives in contemporary debates about race and identity.

• Suggest avenues for further research, particularly in exploring connections between Harlem Renaissance literature and postmodern theories of identity.

---

Outline 2: For PMLA (Publications of the Modern Language Association)

This version aims for broader theoretical engagement, combining literary analysis with more extensive discussions of theory, especially poststructuralism and cultural studies.

Title:
"Fragmented Narratives, Fragmented Selves: Harlem Renaissance Literature and the Cultural Construction of Identity"

Introduction:

• Frame the Harlem Renaissance as a critical moment in the development of American literature and identity politics.

• Pose a research question focused on the interplay between narrative form and identity construction in Harlem Renaissance texts, viewed through the lens of cultural studies.

• Outline the scope of the paper, which includes a theoretical analysis drawing from Stuart Hall, Fredric Jameson, and poststructuralist thought.

I. Reconfiguring Narrative: The Harlem Renaissance and Its Literary Innovations

• Discuss the Harlem Renaissance as a response to historical forces, including the Great Migration and the rise of urban Black communities.

• Analyze the formal experimentation in works by Jean Toomer (Cane) and Nella Larsen (Passing), focusing on their use of fragmented narratives and stream of consciousness.

• Argue that these techniques reflect a broader cultural search for identity, mirroring the fragmented experience of African Americans during this period.

II. Theoretical Framework: Identity as a Discursive Construct

• Provide a theoretical overview, drawing from Stuart Hall’s essays on cultural identity, especially "Cultural Identity and Diaspora."

• Introduce Fredric Jameson’s ideas on postmodernism and narrative, suggesting that Harlem Renaissance texts prefigure postmodern narrative experimentation.

• Highlight how the narrative forms used by these writers challenge essentialist notions of identity and instead suggest fluid, constructed identities.

III. The Double Consciousness of Narrative Voice

• Engage with W.E.B. Du Bois’s concept of "double consciousness" and connect it to narrative voice in Harlem Renaissance literature.

• Analyze examples from Hughes, Larsen, and Claude McKay to show how the texts represent this internal conflict and duality of identity.

• Argue that these narrative voices anticipate later theoretical insights on hybridity and cultural negotiation found in Hall’s work.

IV. Media, Performance, and the Construction of Black Identity

• Explore the intersection of literature, media, and performance culture during the Harlem Renaissance.

• Discuss the role of music (jazz and blues) and oral performance traditions in shaping narrative form and influencing literary expression.

• Argue that these performance elements serve as a form of cultural discourse, constructing identity in ways that resist dominant narratives of race.

V. Beyond the Text: The Legacy of Harlem Renaissance Narratives in Postmodern and Postcolonial Theory

• Connect the themes of narrative fragmentation and identity construction in Harlem Renaissance texts to postmodern and postcolonial theories (e.g., Homi Bhabha’s notion of hybridity).

• Analyze how these early 20th-century works resonate with later literary movements and critical theories that address issues of race, identity, and representation.

• Suggest that the Harlem Renaissance provides a proto-theoretical framework that enriches contemporary cultural studies.

Conclusion:

• Summarize the main arguments, emphasizing the link between Harlem Renaissance narrative techniques and cultural studies theories of identity.

• Propose that these early literary experiments offer a critical lens for understanding the complexities of race and identity in contemporary society.

• Call for further interdisciplinary research that continues to bridge literary studies and cultural theory.

Now, I’m don’t think either of these are in danger of getting accepted at a Tier 1 journal any time soon. But are they as good as, say, a graduate-level seminar paper? I probably² wrote worse papers during my tenure as a grad student. I note, too, that the bot gets quite a bit right, even correctly identifying some of the defining characteristics of the two journals, such as PMLA’s broader appeal and emphasis on theory.

Stay tuned folks…

I’ve hit my GPT-4o limit for today, but I’m going to push the bot to see how close I can get it to producing a full 8,000 word draft of this article. (Hint: we’re this close.)

(Also, if you need me between now and then, I’ll either be curled in a ball weeping softly my existential dread or sitting in the sunshine throwing a frisbee for my dog. Possibly both, simultaneously, if you can believe it.)

1. I tried to find Halberstam’s pronouns to use here. Apparently they allow them to remain murky, but I decided to edit the sentence to avoid them entirely, so I suppose this footnote is now useless, maybe.

2. Certainly did. And thank god for it.