Your first research assignment in HIST 20 is to consider specific, human experiences of imperialism (aka globalization 1.0) with special attention placed on one new medium of the early 20th century: photography.
Briefly, you will describe in at least 1100 words, citing from assigned readings and Wikipedia (see details below), the experiences of one community of people in
one imperial system (American, Belgian, British, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Ottoman, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish) in one place (South Africa, the American West, the Philippines, Belgian Congo, etc.). Following themes from the class, explore how this community participated in, resisted, or even enforced imperial political systems, imperial economies or imperial environments. Then, describe two historic photographs with citations that tell us something about this community’s experiences.
Guidelines for developing an A+ paper:
1) Youmustdrawmultiplepointsfromatleasttwooftheassignedreadings – R01 through R19. A+ papers will exhibit extra intellectual creativity in bringing in as many points from assigned readings as possible to describe one community and one empire. Each paragraph should feature four to five points with citations. Use the following style for in-line citations: (R03, p. 43); (Wikipedia, “British India”)
2) YoucanuseuptotwoWikipediapagestoprovideextradepthonyour community and imperial system. For example, one might pick “Muslim Brotherhood” and “history of Egypt Under the British” or maybe “Suez Canal” to describe the community of Muslim nationalists seeking Egyptian independence. A+ papers will exhibit creativity in selection of these two outside sources.
3) Your descriptions of the community and the imperial system should cite points from multiple sources, mixed together. (Do not rehash a series of points from one reading or another in forming each paragraph.)
4) Research and include images of two historic photographs describing your community from the period 1870-1920. You should try to use advanced online archival research tools such as Library of Congress (loc.gov), the Online Archive of California (oac.cdlib.org), or various national archives. (see suggested sites below) You must include a source attribution for each image (such as the image above), indicating its creator and origins. Failing to attribute the image will result in point deductions. If you find images online with no source information about the image’s origin, they won’t count.
5) Whensearchingforattributableimages,payattentiontothesource website. Academic (.edu) sites and museum (.org) sites usually follow best practices in attributing images.
6) For each image, analyze it in a short paragraph! Describe who took the image, any descriptions or captions, and where it appeared, who saw it. Then consider the subjects in the photograph, persons and/or landscapes. What can we learn from the images about your community’s experiences of an imperial system? Relate the image to your discussion of the community. For example, if you discuss women in imperial Japan, look for photographs of women in imperial Japan. If you discuss Indian Muslims in British Calcutta, look for images of Muslims in Calcutta. Finally, consider the medium of the photograph, the photographer and any other features that can tell us something about the production and use of the image.
Recommended structure for your 1100-word paper: Paragraph1 – 150 words: Introduction
introduce your community, imperial system and the two photos and briefly, in a few sentences, summarize this community’s experience of imperialism.
Paragraph2 – 200-300 words: The Community
Describe your community. How did it form? Why? Where? Who?
Paragraph3 – 200-300 words: The Imperial System
Describe the imperial system in which this community lived. How did they engage with it?
Paragraph4 – photo then ~100 words: Photo 1 Analysis
What does the photo tell us about your community’s experiences?
Paragraph5 – photo then ~100 words: Photo 2 Analysis
What does the photo tell us about your community’s experiences? How is it different from the first photo? Similar?
Paragraph6 – Brief Conclusion – 150 words Submission:
Turn in on your section iLearn page via the assignment link (no hard copies)
