Final exam study guide - 1st quarter

The 1st quarter final exam study guide can be found here.

ANNOUNCEMENT: 1% infractions

The following list of mistakes will result in a 1% penalty for each occurrence on assignments going forward:

1% for each infraction:

• There/their/they’re
• You’re/your
• To/too
• Not capitalizing a proper noun like Nigeria or Belgium or Shell Oil or The Holocaust
• Not capitalizing the first word in a sentence
• Not putting a period at the end of a sentence
• Using the wrong word:

  “loose” instead of “lose”

  “defiantly” instead of “definitely”

  
  

  “alot” instead of “a lot”

  “barley” instead of “barely”

  
  

  “King Leopard” instead of “King Leopold” 

  
  
  
  

  “of” instead of “off”

  “I” instead of “if” or “in” 

  “board” instead of “bored”

  “go” instead of “got”

• Things that spell check would have caught:

  “rtes” instead of “rates”

  “f” instead of “if” or “of”

• Misspelling the name of a country or a people – “the Belgiums” is totally unacceptable
  
  
  
  
  One I didn't mention in all of today's classes was screwing up it's/its - this is also on the 1% infraction list.

In class: Vice Guide to Congo

Date assigned
Monday, Oct. 28


Assignment
Watch "Vice Guide to Congo" (found here).  Write 10 questions you have about the film.


Due date
Tuesday, Oct. 29

In class: Congo slide notes

The Congo slide notes from Monday, Oct. 21 and Monday, Oct. 28 are located here.

In class/homework: Lumumba's assassination

Date assigned
Thursday, October 24


Assignment
Read this editorial from the New York Times in 2011 to see how Belgium and the United States actually reacted to Lumumba's speech.  Write margin notes.


Due date
Monday, October 28

In class: Lumumba's speech

Date assigned
Thursday, October 24


Assignment
Read Patrice Lumumba's speech (link here) from the day the Congo got independence from Belgium.  Answer the following questions:

1) What are the themes of Lumumba's speech?  Use examples from the text.

2) How do you think the people of the Congo reacted to the speech?  Use examples from the text.

3) How do you think the Belgian government reacted to the speech?  Use examples from the text.

4) 1960 was the height of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.  Belgium was an ally of the United States, and sold many of the resources they harvested in the Congo to the United States.  How do you think the United States government reacted to the speech?  Use examples from the text.


Due date
Thursday, October 24, end of class

Homework: The Wood That Weeps

Date assigned
Monday, Oct. 21


Assignment
Read the "The Wood That Weeps" excerpt from King Leopold's Ghost.  Be prepared to discuss it in class on Tuesday.  Take margin notes and answer the questions by Thursday.


Due date
Read by the beginning of class on Tuesday, Oct. 22
Margin notes and questions by the beginning of class on Thursday, Oct. 24

In class/homework: The Kingdom of the Kongo

Date assigned
Monday, Oct. 21


Assignment
Read "The Kingdom of the Kongo" excerpt from King Leopold's Ghost.  Be prepared to discuss it in class.


Due date
Tuesday, Oct. 22

In class: Nigerian independence slide notes

The Nigerian independence slide notes from Monday, Oct. 14 and Thursday, October 17 are located here.

EXTRA CREDIT: Hoop Dreams, 15 years later

Date assigned
Thursday, Oct. 17


Assignment
Read three articles about Hoop Dreams:

1) Hoop Dreams, 15 years later - link

2) The Great American Documentary - link

3) The death of Arthur's father - link

Then answer the following questions:

1) What is Hoop Dreams about?  How many different things is it about?

2) What issues does Hoop Dreams raise about American society?

3) How did Hoop Dreams change your perspective?  What did it make you think about that you haven’t considered before?  How did it change your thinking?

4) Of all the films we could have chosen to show you, why did we choose Hoop Dreams?

5) How could the lives of William, Arthur, and all of the other people in the film have been improved? 

6) Can poverty be eliminated?  If so, how?  If not, why not?

7) Discuss the idea of athletes as role models.  Why are athletes idolized?  Should athletes be idolized?  Why don’t teenagers have posters of scientists or writers or journalists on the walls of their bedrooms?

Due date
Thursday, Oct. 24

In class: Nigerian independence

In groups of 3, you are creating:

-Political organization

• Name of country
• Type of government
• National motto
• National symbol

-National map after independence

• Regional borders and names
• National capital city marked with a star
• 1,000 miles of roads (scale: Ibadan to Enugu is 250 miles)

-National flag

-National pledge of allegiance



Due at the end of the period on Monday, Oct. 14

Homework: Shell Oil in Nigeria

Date assigned
Monday, October 14


Assignment
Read the handouts about Shell's involvement with the oil industry in the Ogoni region of Nigeria (links here and here).  Write at least 1.5 pages on the following opinion questions:

1) Should the Shell Oil company have been punished for their actions in Nigeria?  Why or why not?

2) What should Shell Oil’s punishment have been?  Explain your answer.

3) What was the worst thing Shell did?  Explain your answer.

4) What responsibilities do international corporations have when they harvest natural resources in places like Nigeria?  Explain your answer.

5) What responsibilities do national governments have when they allow international corporations like Shell Oil to harvest natural resources in their country?  Explain your answer.

Photo essay:
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/06/nigeria-the-cost-of-oil/100082/

Wiwa vs. Shell Oil on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N10wAPhDJAM&feature=youtu.be&safe=active

Further readings:
http://ccrjustice.org/ourcases/current-cases/wiwa-v.-royal-dutch-petroleum
http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/cases_03-04/Ogoni/Ogoni_case_study.htm
http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/ogoni-people-struggle-shell-oil-nigeria-1990-1995


Due date
Read both articles by Thursday, October 17
Turn in margin notes and questions on Monday, October 21

In class: Nigerian spoke diagram

The slide notes introducing Africa and Nigeria can be found here.  The instructions for the Nigerian spoke diagram are on the last page - come see me to get the reading required to do the assignment.

Project: African film assignment

The culminating project for the Africa unit - due Tuesday, November 5 - can be found here.

Homework: 3 imperialism documents

Date assigned
Thursday, October 3


Assignment
Read and write margin notes for 3 documents from the era of imperialism:

- British Contract with an African King (link)
- Letter Opposing the English (link)
- In Favor of Imperialism (link)

Answer the questions attached to each of the documents (EXCEPT for question #3 on Letter Opposing the English).


Due date
Tuesday, October 8, beginning of class

Government shut down and debt ceiling readings

James Fallows
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/09/why-this-is-not-just-washington-breakdown-in-3-graphs-and-1-story/280099/?google_editors_picks=true

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/09/your-false-equivalence-guide-to-the-days-ahead/280062/

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/10/the-two-basic-facts-that-should-be-in-every-shutdown-story/280179/


Andrew Sullivan
http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/10/01/the-nullification-party/

http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/09/27/how-to-think-about-obamacare/

http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/09/26/the-gops-demands/


Ezra Klein
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/26/wonkbook-the-houses-debt-ceiling-bill-is-wow/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/30/dont-forget-what-the-shutdown-is-really-about/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/30/our-governing-crisis-in-one-sentence/


Thomas Friedman
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/02/opinion/friedman-our-democracy-is-at-stake.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0


Greg Sargent
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/09/26/the-morning-plum-the-gops-debt-limit-strategy-is-insane-people-should-say-so/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/09/30/our-current-governing-crisis-in-two-sentences/


Derek Thompson
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/09/here-are-the-gops-debt-ceiling-demands-and-they-are-insane/280012/


National Review (conservative news and opinions)
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/360122/holding-firm-robert-costa

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/360092/ongoing-health-care-debate-yuval-levin