Robb Haberman, University of Connecticut
Friends of the MCEAS Fellow
robb.haberman@uconn.edu
"At the Intersections of Cultural Life: Magazines and Literary
Networks in Post-Revolutionary America, 1783-1800"
In my dissertation, I argue that magazines catalyzed the development of culture at primarily local, as opposed to national, levels. By assuming this position, I challenge two scholarly traditions that have shaped current understandings of how magazines influenced cultural development in the post-Revolutionary era. The first of these traditions views magazines
as instruments of national cohesion. Relying on content-based analysis, such scholars contend that magazines played a pivotal role in both creating and reinforcing national subjectivities. By focusing instead on the ways in which individuals associated with magazines also participated in the book trade, newspaper publication, museums, theaters, literary societies, civic groups, and learned associations, I demonstrate that cultural formation occurred primarily through the elaboration and expansion of local and regional networks. A structural analysis of magazine production, moreover, counters the scholarly assertion that
magazines were associated with failure. Whereas much of the literature attributes the shortcomings of magazines to conditions of low subscriptions, distribution difficulties, and faulty payments, investigating them from the context of networks offers a very different assessment of their function and utility. As such, it highlights that magazines were indeed significant for authors, publishers, printers, editors, and institutions in the early Republic.
Friends of the MCEAS Fellow
robb.haberman@uconn.edu
"At the Intersections of Cultural Life: Magazines and Literary
Networks in Post-Revolutionary America, 1783-1800"
In my dissertation, I argue that magazines catalyzed the development of culture at primarily local, as opposed to national, levels. By assuming this position, I challenge two scholarly traditions that have shaped current understandings of how magazines influenced cultural development in the post-Revolutionary era. The first of these traditions views magazines
as instruments of national cohesion. Relying on content-based analysis, such scholars contend that magazines played a pivotal role in both creating and reinforcing national subjectivities. By focusing instead on the ways in which individuals associated with magazines also participated in the book trade, newspaper publication, museums, theaters, literary societies, civic groups, and learned associations, I demonstrate that cultural formation occurred primarily through the elaboration and expansion of local and regional networks. A structural analysis of magazine production, moreover, counters the scholarly assertion that
magazines were associated with failure. Whereas much of the literature attributes the shortcomings of magazines to conditions of low subscriptions, distribution difficulties, and faulty payments, investigating them from the context of networks offers a very different assessment of their function and utility. As such, it highlights that magazines were indeed significant for authors, publishers, printers, editors, and institutions in the early Republic.