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A double major in English and government and law, Sarah Hazel ’05 (Perkasie, Pa.) is contributing to a professor’s upcoming book by researching examples of interracial romances in British and American magazines from 1890-1930.
A member of the varsity soccer team, Hazel is working with Susan Blake, professor and head of English, through Lafayette’s distinctive EXCEL Scholars program, in which students collaborate with faculty on research while earning a stipend. Many of the more than 160 students who participate each year go on to publish papers in scholarly journals and/or present their research at conferences.
Blake will use their research in her next book, Miscegenation Plots in British Colonial Fiction.
“This book reads literal and symbolic interracial romances in literary and popular fiction by Rudyard Kipling, Joyce Cary, Sarah Gertrude Millin, Mary Gaunt, and others as ways of exploring social and political questions current at the height of the colonial period, including the justice of colonial rule, the prospect of advancement for colonized peoples, the rights of (white) women, and the nature and importance of race,” explains Blake.
In her examination of miscegenation, Blake is taking a closer look at the contradiction between what she terms “the conventional racial pronouncements of several popular women writers and the racially adventurous plots of their desert and jungle romances.”
Hazel is contributing to the project through critical background research.
“I have been searching for references to miscegenation, intermarriage, and its variants in mainstream magazines that deal with culture and politics, including Harper’s Weekly. I have also searched for similar references in popular British magazines. I keep a detailed research log, and select and copy articles I believe merit Professor Blake’s attention. Overall, I am becoming familiar with turn-of-the-20th-century racial discourse, as well as Anglo-American culture of the period in general,” she says.
Hazel credits her mentor with helping broaden her understanding of this issue and also allowing her to forge her own path in the research.
“Professor Blake is very organized, as she makes clear my responsibilities. At the same time, she gives me the freedom to explore articles and influential people of the time period, and she trusts me to use my discretion as to what sources could be interesting and relevant,” says Hazel. “I decided to do this project because I have a great working relationship with Professor Blake. She was my Literary Questions professor and is someone I admire and respect.”
Says Blake, “Sarah is an outstanding student, an acute reader, clear writer, and efficient worker.”
Blake is author of Letters from Togo, a book based on the year she spent in the African country as a Fulbright Fellow, and other publications, including an article this year in Doubled Plots: Romance and History. She also has received a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship.
Hazel has been excited by the opportunity to tackle a topic that goes beyond normal academic work.
“This project in particular appealed to me because I found the prospect of researching periodicals from the turn of the 20th century a very interesting way to get a feeling for the time period and the racial discourse of that time,” she says. “I have never done this type of historical research, focusing primarily on periodicals, but I believe it is a great way to understand the cultural context of the colonial novels Professor Blake is working with.
“It is sometimes a challenge to find the material I am looking for at Skillman Library because of the time period I am researching, but I have found the reference librarians to be of great help,” Hazel continued. “I have found it very rewarding when from my close readings of articles I can point out contradictions and/or trends in the discourse of miscegenation. Because I was not very familiar with this topic previously, every day, as I gain a better overall understanding of popular racial discussion, I am very pleased.”
Though unsure of her career plans, Hazel believes she may pursue another degree. She credits this EXCEL project with preparing her for future challenges.
“The work I am doing with Professor Blake will give me background with research that will be helpful whether I choose to go to law school, grad school, or enter the workforce after graduating from Lafayette,” she says.
She adds, “Lafayette provides the perfect learning environment for projects like the one I am working on because in a small school setting, there are great opportunities to form close relationships with professors who do all different types of research.”
In addition to playing varsity soccer, Hazel is student life chair of Student Government and education chair of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. She is a 2001 graduate of Pennridge High School.