Specifically, I’d like you to write an essay of approximately 1,800 words [roughly 6 double-spaced pages] that adopts as its thesis one of the three template sentences listed below. See the grading grid below for specific requirements.

 1. Kincaid is surely right about _________ because recent research and published documents on Thomas Thistlewood, the Haitian Revolution, and twentieth-century vodou show that _____________.

2. Whereas Kincaid is surely right that _____________________, recent research and published documents on Thomas Thistlewood, the Haitian Revolution, and twentieth-century vodou convince me that __________________________ instead.

3.  I disagree with Kincaid’s view that _________________, because, as recent research and published documents on Thomas Thistlewood, the Haitian Revolution, and twentieth-century vodou prove, _______________________. 

Instructions: To read my embedded comments in older versions of Microsoft WORD, click “View” and “Comments” on the menu. In Word 2003 and after, click “View” and then “Print Layout View”.  I highlighted [in green] words and phrases that contain obvious errors; ask me if you have trouble figuring out what the mistake is!

On your Mama Lola paper I said you should improve:

As long as you’re in WebCT — go ahead and check out your grades in the gradebook. Make sure I have everything there that you’ve turned in!

Some folks have just reminded me that by pushing back our Mama Lola paper [worth 15% of the grade] to next Tuesday, I’m violating the UTA rule about not having any major assignments [more than 10%] due in the last week before finals.

So I think we’ll shift the Mama Lola deadline back yet again, but give everyone the advantageous option of turning the Mama Lola paper in early:
Option 1. The official due date for both Mama Lola and A Small Place paper will be 12/13 before 10:30 am. Together they will constitute the final exam and be worth 32% of the grade. Personally, I think that is too much weight to be based on a single day’s submission.
Option 2 , for those who would like feedback, would be to turn the Mama Lola paper in early. For anyone who submits the Mama Lola paper before Thursday 12/6 at 10pm [note that the old deadline was 12/4], I will promise to return the graded paper with full comments before the following Monday. That means you will have some extra input from me about writing that would help you write the final Small Place paper. But this is just a “turn-it-in-early” option.

Let me know what questions you have, if any, when we meet on Tuesday 12/4. We’re still having our graded discussion on A Small Place on Thursday 12/6. Really, this is a ‘test prep’ session and the ‘graded’ part is there to encourage you to think over the book and the semester before class in order to get the most out of the session.

1. It’s a good idea to begin your PowerPoint with a slide that presents the image and names the website where you saw it.

2. The first half of the PowerPoint might [or should]put the image in context. In other words, how realistic is the image? For this you will go to other websites to get other perspectives on the problem.

a. If you are starting with a picture of impoverished Haitian children, you might put that in context by finding pictures of other Caribbean children. Are they all impoverished? You could also show other Haitian children from images on other websites. You could also have a graph [that is an image too!] showing what fraction of Caribbean or Haitian children live in poverty.

b. If you are starting with a picture of a Cuban beach resort, you might put that in context with images of other Caribbean beach resorts, or other pictures of Cuba. These would all be from other websites.

2. The second half of the PowerPoint should be about the website that posted the initial picture. What is the idea that the person or organization behind the website wants to communicate. In other words, what are they trying to sell us? For this you would probably rely mostly on image or information taken from the website itself.

a. If you can find out anything about the people who mounted the website, pictures, biographical data, political, religious, or economic views, this is where you should display them.

b. Even if you can’t find that information, you should be able to report on the general perspective demonstrated in the website.This is what you’re trying to communicate.

You should include this sentence [with blanks filled in] as your thesis:

“Some people say ________ about ________, but Karen Brown says _____________.” I encourage you to talk about vodou but you can fill in the blanks with anything that makes sense to you.

Extra credit opportunity: get out the graded version of your Haitian Revolution  paper. Copy the grading grid and comments I made and paste them into the top of your Mama Lola paper. I’ll use that to help grade this paper, so you’re saving me some time!

You DO need to read a mini-history of the revolution — that is what the introduction is for! The primary source documents are your chance to uncover the hidden meanings behind events. They don’t make that much sense if you read them to see “what happened.” Where they do make sense is if you read them to see why people acted, the motivations and explanations they attach to their actions.

With that in mind, we had a discussion and came up with a short list of sources that would be especially good to use. You can certainly use any primary source you want! But with these, you are sure to find something interesting to write about.

Section 1: how the revolution gets started

• Julien Raimond’s Observations: tells us about motivations of free people of color (so do Vincent Ogé’s letters, or the free colored address to the French National Assembly)
• Martinique rebels of 1789: tells us about slaves’ vision, their use of “nation”, their awareness of change
• Letter from Jean François and Biassou in 1791:
• Sonthonax abolishes slavery

Section 2: defending and prolonging the dream of the revolution

• Toussaint’s “Refutation of the 8 assertions” — shows how St Domingue’s leaders saw themselves as part of the Revolution; saw the future
• Polverel’s plantation policies: shows how French leaders envisioned keeping the plantation system going
• Council of 500: shows France enacting its new constitution to include Saint Domingue

Section 3: France changes its mind about Guadeloupe and Saint-Domingue

• Bonaparte’s instructions to Leclerc
• Cangé’s letter to Delpech
• Haitian Declaration of Independence

What I want you to do is to find a picture on a website. You need to know what website it came from — this is a key part of the assignment as I explain below. You are going to do two things with that picture — the same two things we have been doing in class with our daily Show’n’tell, though maybe it hasn’t been obvious enough.

The first thing is I want you to analyze the picture, the one that is the focus of your website. What aspects of the Caribbean does it represent? Find other pictures that amplify and show other perspectives on that picture. For example if you have a website on Cuban music with a picture of a musician you think is interesting, you could find other images of Caribbean musicians, or of Cuban people, to describe and amplify the theme presented by the image. This would be about 7 to 10 slides of the 15 to 20 slide PowerPoint file.

The second thing is, I want you to analyze the website. This is trickier. It requires critical thinking and a bit of saavy web research. You want to explain, “Why is that particular picture on the web?” “Who created the website?” “What is he or she trying to sell or communicate, by putting that picture on the web?” You’ll need to do some research about the creator of the website, about the product or ideology or perspective that that person or organization is pushing.

I’ll use the example of www.afrocubaweb.com, though it is not a good example because that website has almost no pictures. But it is a good example because it has a very particular point of view, which makes the job of analysis easier. The authors of the site explain that they are promoting the fact that Cuban music is really AfroCuban music and that they want to encourage people around the world to support Cuban performers in their country and perhaps visit Cuba. Look for the “About us” link that many webpages have to get more background information

All this analysis of the website goes into the 2nd half of the Powerpoint. Why is a website “pushing” Cuban music? I haven’t done the research, but I can think of some possible motivations for the authors of afrocubaweb.com. For example: 1) Cuba needs money because of the US embargo and music is one of the country’s most famous and popular products; 2) the Buena Vista Social Club craze of the late 1990s introduced a lot of people to old-style Cuban music and the website is trying to build on that interest; 3) black Cubans are justifiably proud of their musical heritage and realized that many non-Cubans associate Cuban music with white performers like Desi Arnaz and Gloria Estefan, and they want to correct that stereotype by educating people about black Cuban musicians.

Because so many people in the class wanted to revise their PowerPoint work after we discussed the assignment in depth, we changed the due date. The PowerPoint is due Tuesday October 16 at 5 pm. The paper on the Haitian revolution, which we are talking about in class, is due on Tuesday October 23.

Good luck!

Specifically, you should write about three documents, of your choosing. One must come from pp. 63-132 — these are the sections entitled “The Revolution Begins, 1789-1791″ and “From Slave Revolution to Emancipation, 1791-1794″. The second should come from pages 133-156, which is the section entitled “Defining Emancipation, 1794-1798″. And the third document should come from pages 167-196, which is the section entitled “War and Independence”.

The syllabus says the paper is due on October 18, but I would like you to take a little more time — it will be due on Tuesday, October 23. Watch this post for another “grading grid” and be sure to review my comments on your Thistlewood paper. I will look at those comments when I grade this essay — I’m looking for improvement!