Short Answer Questions for
Disposable People
(class 24)

Note:

(1) This assignment, like ALL assignments in this class, must be typed. Handwritten work will NOT be accepted. See handout on class expectations.

(2) You MUST use blackboard's digital dropbox (details here) to submit this homework; if you do not use microsoft word, be sure to follow these directions

(3) BE SURE TO FOLLOW THE FILE-NAMING CONVENTIONS FOR THIS COURSE.

All files should be saved on your computer as: your last name, followed by an underscore ("_"), followed by the first two letters of your first name, followed by an underscore ("_"), followed by the assignment number. So if a student named Saddam Hussein were to submit assignment number 24, the file name would be:

hussein_sa_24.doc

THIS IS ASSIGNMENT 24

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Answer the following questions with one to three concise sentences USING YOUR OWN WORDS. If you find yourself copying the language of the author, you may not understand the material thoroughly yet. Reread the relevant passages carefully or contact us to ask questions.

Question 5, however, deserves at least a paragraph in response.


I will grade only 2 of these questions and I will choose those questions at random; however, any question you do not answer will immediately become one of the two I grade.

 

1) Why is the new slavery more profitable for slaveholders now than was slavery for American or Brazilian slaveowners in the nineteenth century?

2) Why does race place a much diminished role in the new slavery as compared to the old, and how does this change make slaves less expensive now than they were in the American South before 1860?

3) How and WHY did the forced transition from subsistence to cash-crop agriculture make possible the New Slavery? PROVIDE EXAMPLES! (read carefully)

4) In what ways are we as consumers in America deeply involved in the new slavery? Another way to think about this question might be, "How do you benefit from slavery?"

5) On pages 8 - 9, the author (conservatively) estimates that there are 27 million slaves in the world today -- a number roughly in line with official United Nations estimates. What, in your opinion, might explain why there is so little public discussion of contemporary slavery (it's often news, for example, to many John Jay students), particularly given the justifiably significant attention devoted to the 14 million enslaved Africans kidnapped during the era of Transatlantic slave trade? If we can admit the evil in our ways then, why not now?

(if you are interested in other forms of contemporary slavery grounded in cultural practice rather than economics, you may be interested in this short , recent news report on ritual or trocossi slavery in modern day Ghana)