This blog is both an encapsulation and an enlargement of a thesis that I wrote to secure a Master's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, in 2007. It has been so exciting to network that project with one involving the course work in a class taught by Dr. Lisa Maruca in the English Department at WSU. The class is entitled Studies in Restoration and 18th Century Literature and Culture: The 18th Century Media Matrix, and combined all of that in one fascinating mix. I was drawn to formulate this project by the various references I saw to the West Indies in the texts of the time. My goal was that they would not stand in a vacuum, and be glossed over by the scholarly reader so intent on the rest of the piece. When I wrote my thesis, I began to understand how little is known of both the historical and present Caribbean -- and how important it is to both the Atlantic World and the modern world. I wanted to remedy this in at least a tiny way by offering these "links" to the past and to the present Caribbean, to make this region come alive to the readers of those 18th century texts. I hope I've been successful.
I want to acknowledge all who helped me in this venture, both with the original thesis and this new iteration. First, Dr. Julie Thompson Klein, my thesis adviser, and Dr. Todd Duncan and Dr. Perry Marrs, my readers, then Dr. Lisa Maruca, for her fascinating class and for approving my vision for this Digital Humanities project, next Cary Gersh, web-builder extraordinaire, who led me through some mapping mazes, and finally, my dear husband Chuck Goldfarb, who is always right there when I need him but never in the way when I'm up to my ears in a project. This effort could not have been completed without them, and I thank them all immensely!
