PAPER 2

Write a 5-7-page paper in response to one of the following prompts. Your paper should be double spaced and written in 11- or 12-point font. Please quote from the reading (as well as any secondary sources you consult), and use footnotes and correct documentation format (Chicago). If you include complete citations in your footnotes, you do not need to include a bibliography or works cited page. See this link for grading criteria and writing guidelines. Note: for some topics, you will need to consult outside sources.

1) Write on any topic that arises from Masani, Indian Tales of the Raj. Please clear your topic with me before proceeding.

2) Analyze how class functioned in relations between (and among) Indians and Britons in the period covered by Masani's Indian Tales of the Raj.

3) Explore the issue of identities (imperialist, nationalist, professional, racial, gender, etc.) in Masani's Indian Tales of the Raj. In what ways did Indians and Britons define themselves in relation and/or in opposition to one another? Note: an important issue you may want to consider is the discrimination experienced not only by Indians but also by some Britons. How were distinctions between groups drawn and maintained?

4) In many instances the tools of empire (ranging from railways and guns to language and ideas) not only strengthened the empires that deployed them but also eventually served the interests of nationalists who challenged them. Using Masani, explore how tools of empire became double-edged swords.

5) Identify and explore a key turning point in the nineteenth- or twentieth-century empire, such as the 1857 Mutiny/Uprising, the 1865 Morant Bay Rebellion, or the Anglo-South African War (Boer War). In what ways was this a watershed moment, for the colony concerned and/or the metropole? Please clear your topic with me before proceeding.

A good source for both identities and the Morant Bay Rebellion is Catherine Hall, "Imperial Man: Edward Eyre in Australasia and the West Indies," available via ARES.

 

 

PAPER 1

Write a five-page paper in response to one of the following questions. Your paper should be double spaced and written in 11- or 12-point font. Please quote from the reading (as well as any secondary sources you consult), and use footnotes and correct documentation format (Chicago). If you include complete citations in your footnotes, you do not need to include a bibliography or works cited page. See this link for grading criteria and writing guidelines.

1) A relatively new historical subfield, Atlantic history presents an alternative methodology to nation-centered history. How can Equiano's Narrative be used as a source for studying Atlantic (as opposed to English or American or African) history for the eighteenth century? In other words, in what ways does it reveal the Atlantic world as an interconnected zone? For an introduction to Atlantic history, see Alison Games, "Atlantic History: Definitions, Challenges, and Opportunities," American Historical Review 111, 3 (June 2006) available via Jstor in the database section of the library's homepage.

2) Equiano's Narrative is an extremely rich source for the history of religion in the eighteenth-century British Atlantic world. Explore some of the many ways that religion functions in the Narrative. What can we learn about religious experience, identities, and communities by studying this text?

3) In recent years, scholars have engaged in a heated debate over Equiano's birthplace [see Jennifer Howard's article in the Chronicle of Higher Education for a summary and assessment of this debate.]. Some, notably Vincent Caretta, question Equiano's claim to have been born in Africa. Why does it matter? If he did fabricate parts of the narrative, how does this affect its standing as a primary source? In other words, what value, if any, does the Narrative retain as a primary source?