| In this thesis, I examine the power structures of literacy sponsorship (Brandt 1998, 2001) through Woody Guthrie's correspondence with Library of Congress archivist Alan Lomax during the years 1940-1942. The following questions frame this inquiry: How is sponsorship working between Guthrie and Lomax? Guthrie and the Archive? What kind of sponsorship does the Archive and its digital collection provide and to whom? What do we make of Guthrie's letters acting as a stand-in or---as I theorize---a "shadow" of him, representing both material and immaterial sponsorship? I contend Guthrie's dual subject positions as sponsored and sponsor allow him to both follow and complicate Brandt's definition of literacy sponsorship, which does not leave room for either dueling or complementary sponsors.;Drawing examples from the Woody Guthrie Manuscript Collection, I argue that people play different roles, sometimes simultaneously, in sponsorship and thus sometimes act as shadow sponsors. In the theory of sponsorship I advance, both parties can leverage the purpose for which a sponsor "recruited" the sponsored; however, the ability to leverage does not necessarily equalize the relationship and one party will be the shadow sponsor (Brandt 1998; 166). The concept of a shadow sponsor acknowledges the multiplicity of sponsors at any given moment and conceives sponsorship to be more collaborative than "reciprocal" would suggest (Brandt 167). Sponsors and shadow sponsors both participate to co-create literacy and a worldview; they both have something valuable to gain. As a shadow sponsor, Guthrie performs two distinct roles: he sponsors shadows, that is, he leaves shadows or traces of his presence in the Archive, and he complements the other sponsor. Guthrie's shadow sponsorship in the Archive invites a shift away from the traditional understanding of literacy sponsorship towards the theorization of a complex network of obligation, support, restriction, and collaboration. |
