Pitches for Final Project (unsure which to choose!)

Kane Kwei s is a Ghanian artist (1924-1992) who creates coffins that represent important aspects of the deceased in life. For instance, for a fisherman he might make a fish-shaped coffin. His coffins are found in collections all over the world. I would like to focus on his works in the United States while comparing how his works are used and viewed elsewhere, particularly Ghana.

To research for this there are a few places to look. I already have a book ordered on Melcat that features an essay on Kwei. Oxford Art Online has an article about him, but there isn’t a lot of academic stuff on him, so I will also need to use reviews of his exhibits online.

Kane Kwei’s art certainly speaks to life and death, and also the utility of art. I will discuss whether or not Oscar Wilde would have valued Kwei’s coffins (probably not) and why American society values them. At Kwei’s workshop in Ghana, the coffins are shown together, being worked on by many people. In the United States, they are displayed completely on their own and obviously not being used for their intended purpose. I would like to discuss how this changes the meaning and what it says about the culture of death in the United States. A potential thesis is: Kane Kwei’s coffins in the context of the United States show the incredible fascination death holds for Americans, and how our culture glamorizes and fetishizes death, as compared to Ghanian culture, which celebrates it.

OR!


“The Jersey Shore” is a reality television show that follows eight people brought together for the summer in the New Jersey shore to work in a t-shirt shop, party, socialize, and get into trouble. The eight characters represent Italian-American stereotypes in an over-the-top way that has caught the attention of the United States in a sensational manner.

Since its release, many people have written about “The Jersey Shore”. I would like to examine why the Jersey Shore characters in particular appeal so much to the American people. How the people on the show are portrayed is meant to be ridiculous and invite comment. What do these people make us discuss? What issues about our society bring up? They certainly show how much we like to examine/insult people different from us. They also attack the moral underpinning of the nation and show how easy it is to “unpin” it. Group identity is important here: these “guidos” and “guidettes” are inhabitants of American culture but are not mainstream. Were they made mainstream by the show? I would like to explore all of these questions and attempt to answer them.
A possible thesis is: “The Jersey Shore” shows Americans yet another facet of society that they might not be familiar with; it lays bare the material, judgmental, base aspect of our lives...and shows us how important those attributes are to our sense of identity as a group and how we treat the “other”.

For resources, the television show will serve as a primary source while the many online blogs and criticisms will help as well.