Janelle M. Collins was general editor of Arkansas Review: A Journal of Delta Studies from 2009 to 2013. She is chair of the Department of English and Philosophy at Arkansas State University, where she teaches courses in African American and multi-ethnic American literature.
"Bringing together essays from experts in various fields, editor
Janelle Collins attempt to create a volume that answers a
long-standing question: what is the Mississippi Delta? The book is
a result of Collins's tenure as editor of the Arkansas Review: A
Journal of Delta Studies, an interdisciplinary journal housed at
Arkansas State University. Having been in contact with scholars
from various fields during her time with the journal, Collins has
seized the opportunity to bring the works of these scholars
together in one book, with the hope of creating a more in-depth
understanding of what constitutes the Delta. Collins puts the
chapters of Defining the Delta: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on
the Lower Mississippi River Delta in chronological order, beginning
with "A Geologist's Perspective on the Mississippi Delta" and
followed by chapters on the environment, prehistory, and history of
the region. The last two-thirds of the book examines the Delta sing
European and African American settlement, looking at topics ranging
from sociodemographic examination of the region to heritage
tourism. Collins also includes various mediums in the work, most
notably a photographic essay on blues musicians. Cultural history,
specifically the blues, the impact of the blues, and musicians,
receives the most coverage, followed by foodways and literature,
which are the focus of the concluding chapters. Unlike many edited
collections that tend to feel disjointed due to the varying writing
styles of so many different contributors, there is a consistency of
style and word usage, which is a compliment to the editor."
--The Journal of Southern History, May 2018
"As an introduction not only to the delta but to multiple scholarly
approaches, this book might be an ideal volume for undergraduates
who need to recognize the many directions scholarship can take. It
is surely an excellent introduction for anyone asking definitional
and scholarly questions about the Mississippi Delta."--Ted Ownby,
Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Winter 2016
"Janelle Collins has done a commendable job of pulling together
this rich and diverse collection of essays offering seventeen
different ways of conceptualizing the Delta, beginning with a
geologist's description of its formation six hundred million years
ago and ending with a literary historian's analysis of post-Katrina
literature. While accessible enough to interest the general reader,
the information gathered here will be invaluable to serious
students of the Delta for years to come."--Margaret Bolsterli
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