About Me
Brianne Neptin (PhD student – University of Illinois Chicago)
I am a PhD student in the Department of English at the University of Illinois Chicago. I am interested in Victorian-era literature and food and food pathways.
Project Purpose
This work is an expansion of a seminar paper I wrote focusing on the subaltern voice in the Mutiny novel. Because both Mutiny novels and historical narratives are not generally written by someone from the peasant class, their voice can be made invisible. The paper intended to showcase where the peasant voice can be heard between the lines of a novel written by a former British colonel. This digital project focuses on the circulation of chapati, a mistaken symbol of the uprisings, which was briefly discussed in my paper. The digital visualizations are designed to put multiple novels and historical texts into conversation with each other to see if there is anything to see.
Chapati continuously finds its way into fiction and scholarly research, even though the historical records from the Mutiny have never definitively answered whether the chapatis were circulated as a warning of an uprising in the making. They simply are a topic too enticing to ignore. By putting these texts together, something I believe has not been done before, I hope to further illuminate how history and fiction blend, how history becomes literary narrative.
Research Methods
Most of the texts I used were collected from HathiTrust and Project Gutenberg. Because I included a textual analysis, I relied heavily on works in the public domain. Digital visualizations were created using StoryMapJS, TimelineJS, and Voyant.
Research Limitations
One of the primary issues to contend with were the multiple spellings of chapati. As can be seen in the textual analysis, several spellings are needed to properly analyze the texts. Only three spellings were chosen for that analysis but a total of six were used to collect the necessary information. It is possible that I have missed unique spellings in these and other texts. If this research is continued, more spellings might be discovered, or other terms might be necessary.
I also used a limited number of texts. Approximately 15 total texts were used for the different analyses in this project. Expanding the corpus is the first step for continuing this research.
Impact of the Project
It is my hope that anyone with an interest in the Indian Mutiny will find this site useful and informative.
Research Literature
Butler, William. The Land of the Veda: Being Personal Reminiscences of India; Its People, Castes, Thugs, And Fakirs; Its Religions, Mythology, Principal Monuments, Palaces, And Mausoleums: Together With the Incidents of the Great Sepoy Rebellion, And Its Results to Christianity And Civilization … Also, Statistical Tables of Christian Missions, And a Glossary of Indian Terms Used In This Work And In Missionary Correspondence. New York: Carlton & Lanahan, 1872.
Dodd, George. The History of the Indian Revolt And of the Expeditions to Persia, China, And Japan, 1856-7-8. London: W. and R. Chambers, 1859.
Fanthome, J. F. Miriam: a Story of the Indian Mutiny of 1857. Benares: Chandraprabha Press, 1896.
Kaye, John William, Sir and G. B. Malleson. Kaye’s And Malleson’s History of the Indian Mutiny of 1857-8. London: W.H. Allen, 1888-89.
Malleson, G. B. The Indian Mutiny of 1857. London: Seeley and co., 1891.
Mitra, Siddha Mohana. Hindupore: a Peep Behind the Indian Unrest : an Anglo-Indian Romance. London: Luzac, 1909.
Moncrieff, Ascott Robert Hope. The Story of the Indian Mutiny. United Kingdom, Warne, 1896.
Money, Edward. The Wife and the Ward, Or, a Life’s Error. Routledge, Warnes, & Routledge, 1859.
Muddock, J.E. The Great White Hand; Or, the Tiger of Cawnpore: A story of the Indian Mutiny. United Kingdom, Hutchinson & Company, 1896.
Strang, Herbert. Barclay of the Guides: a Story of the Indian Mutiny. New York: Hodder and Stoughton, 1909.
Tracy, Louis. The Red Year: A Story of the Indian Mutiny. New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1907.