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Events
Jun. 30 | 2012 Bode-Pearson Prize
Nominations for the 2012 Bode-Pearson Prize for Outstanding Contributions to American Studies due
Jun. 30 | 2012 Mary C. Turpie Prize
Nominations for the 2012 Mary C. Turpie Prize for Outstanding Contributions to American Studies Teaching, Advising, and Program Development due
Oct. 1 | Travel Grants for Graduate Students
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Resources: Abstracts of American Studies Dissertations
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Montague, Diana M. "Empowering the Sense of Place: Regional Detection Fiction Elevates Non-Urban American Culture," American Culture Studies, Bowling Green State University, May 2000.
Regionalism is the literature of difference. It explores the geographical, political, psychological, and sociological facets of a sense of place. On the other hand, detective literature is a formulaic art form that requires a significant amount of inherent sameness. This study interprets American detective literature as regional literature, and explores how the sense of place has a direct impact on the types of crimes committed and the ensuing detecting methods employed. Since regionalism examines how a sense of place affects value systems, language patterns, economic systems, and worldviews, methods from the disciplines of sociology, psychology, linguistics, cultural anthropology, and geography can be used to examine the complex impact of place. This selective study investigates how a pronounced sense of place, particularly non-urban American sense of place, manipulates an archetypally urban detective formula into a subgenera that explores the complexities of unique American subcultures. When authors adapt the detective formula to individual regional cultures, these distant places are able to participate in a larger cultural discourse while still maintaining a sense of individual identity and values. Solving the crime out of its usual urban context allows the region to identify with, while at the same time distance itself from the inherent evils of urban life.
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