Guy McEntarffer

Knox College junior Guy McEntarffer participated in the Knox Summer Scholars this summer. The program allows a group of students to pursue intensive individual projects and then, together, identify connections across disciplines, emphasizing a deepening understanding of how to create constructive dialogue across disciplines. Guy’s project was called Locating Southern Culture in Post-Reconstruction Novels. This fall he will study abroad in Germany.

What can you tell me about your Knox Summer Scholars research project?

This summer I did this project—Locating Southern Culture in Post Reconstruction Novels. I took these, people call them plantation fiction, novels written after the Civil War and the thesis that Reconstruction was a bad event for the South, and I read the novels in a way that had awareness of both the colonized and colonizing aspects. Many of the authors wanted to make the South seem colonized by the North because there's an obvious political agenda. But by writing these novels, they also showed how they were colonizing at the same time. I tied that in with postcolonial theory, specifically Homi Bhabha, and it made the South a very visible site of the ambivalence Bhabha says is inherent to all cultures. 

What about this subject drew you in and made you want to do a research project on it?

I'm an English literature major, and I'm super passionate about novels. I was reading a lot of Faulkner for a long time. In Faulkner, you see all this weird stuff and all these weird depictions of the South. But to go deeper is to read what Faulkner is responding to in a lot of ways, which is this more traditional Southern fiction. 

Did you have a thesis, theory, or some kind of preconceived belief of where your research would take you, or were you going in as a blank slate? 

I had an idea that was too concrete. It was different at first, and I wanted to do a comparative reading with other colonized nations, take it outside of America. Then, after talking with my advisor, Professor of English Emily Anderson, I realized I was handicapping myself by being too attached to something.

So really a big part of this process was learning. It's okay to come in knowing what excites you and follow that, and you'll find something, as opposed to trying to make things fit a certain idea, which is what I was trying to do at the start. I learned that doesn't work and will result in a worse product.

Have you done a research project similar to this or like this before?

I did an independent study with Visiting Assistant Professor of English Ryan Tracy during the winter term. I also presented at the Abolition for All Times Humanities Conference in 2024; that was research I did in class. I've done research semi-independently before, but this is definitely a level up from that.

What is this process like when you are doing more in-depth, independent research projects?

It's hard in its own way because Summer Scholars is the highest level of research. They set you up to start researching, and then you start doing it, and you realize no one's watching you. I really have to hold myself accountable. That actually became really valuable because it naturally teaches you. You decide your own schedule, and you decide how you're going to work. I really think it's the best way to learn how you work because everyone has different ways they're most productive. 

How did you work with Associate Professor of English Emily Anderson, your faculty mentor?

Emily was super great. She was really perfect for me. We met twice a week. I felt comfortable doing all the reading on my own and explaining it to Emily when I was there. I made my own schedule, did the reading, showed up, and talked with Emily. She'd push back on some stuff and deepen my readings. Over those conversations, my thesis evolved through all that idea-sharing. Emily also helped a lot with making a schedule, with the research, and with learning about the research process in general. I remember when I started, I made my own schedule. Emily looked at it, and she was like, ‘Yeah, you need to give yourself more time for every single thing; you need to give yourself time to think and to breathe.’

How do you think research opportunities strengthens the student's understanding of a subject when you do have to do these things outside of a classroom, outside of your program, or your three courses per term?

It inherently changes your relationship with it. You gain more ownership. The real thing is you gain so much intellectual confidence in that field, especially when you're doing something with Summer Scholars. In every presentation I saw at the end of the project wrap-up, those people were doing something niche enough that they were certainly the expert on their topic. Gaining that kind of intellectual confidence, knowing that you can be by yourself and become an expert in something, changes your relationship with everything else in terms of the learning process. It makes you feel like you have more ownership over how you think about stuff and your intellectual development.

What are you involved in at Knox outside of the classroom?

I'm the editor-in-chief of Catch magazine; well, I will be in the spring because I'm gone in the fall. 

I play in the Cherry Street Combo; I play every Jazz Night. I play jazz piano, and then I do a lot of stuff in the music department. I accompany the vocal jazz combo. I'm the music tutor. I'm also going to be a Richter Ambassador coming up next year.

What's next for you?

I'm studying abroad in Berlin next semester, which is really exciting. Then I'm going to apply to a bunch of conferences with the paper I wrote. Looking ahead, I'm definitely thinking about Honors. Honors is really cool. And looking further out, I’m considering Ph.D. programs.