Think Piece Guidelines

For your Think Piece I would like you to consider the issues of social positions and relations of power which are depicted in Lieutenant Nun, Heart of Darkness, or Girls at War. I have come up with a couple specific questions for each work which relate to this general issue. Choose ONE question for ONE of these works and compose a well-written and well-argued response to it. Your response should be about 1000 words, double-spaced, and properly documented (with footnotes or in-text citations) with references to the work. You may refer to other material assigned in the course to support your argument, but do NOT use any other outside sources. I would prefer that you email your finished paper to me as an attached MS Word or RTF file (no Word Perfect!). If attachments absolutely boggle you, you may send it directly in an email, but make certain in all cases that your work is proofread and well-organized. Your Think Piece is due on Tuesday, May 20 in class!

Work 1: Lieutenant Nun
Choice A: During her adventures from the Old World to the New World and back, Catalina de Erauso occupies many different statuses and social positions. Identify those different statuses and positions and explain why she occupies them. What does her decisions and actions reveal about relations of power in New World?

OR

Choice B: Based on Catalina de Erauso's memoir, what was social order in the Spanish Americas like? What were its basic assumptions and “rules of the game”? How could one accrue social power there?

OR

Work 2: Heart of Darkness
Choice A: Use your reading of Heart of Darkness and any other appropriate assigned reading to interpret this statement: “Every act of civilization entails an act of barbarism.”

OR

Choice B: If you were to retell Heart of Darkness in another setting covered in this course, where and when would you set it and why? (You can’t pick Vietnam because Francis Ford Coppola already did.)

OR

Work 3: Girls at War
Choice A: Drawing on at least three of the stories from Girls at War, select three characters and describe how they represent different social positions and statuses in pre- and/or post-colonial Nigeria. What ways could one rise in status?

OR

Choice B: Drawing on at least three of the stories from Girls at War, discuss the ways in which Western (European) civilization manifested itself in Nigeria and assess its positive and negative impact.