BLACK ROBE ESSAYS
(assignment 11)

Notes:

1) This assignment, like ALL assignments in this class, must be typed. See handout on class expectations

2) You MUST use blackboard's digital dropbox (details here) to submit this homework

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

All files should be named as: your last name, followed by an underscore ("_"), followed by a your first initial, followed by an underscore ("_"), followed by the assignment number. So if a student named Saddam Hussein were to submit assignment number 11, the file name would be:

hussein_s_11.doc

THIS IS ASSIGNMENT 11

4) Remember, you must do one "long paper option" from the four papers assigned between 3/01 and 4/05. For any essay that you do not chose the "long paper option," you must do the "short essay option." So, you must write one "long paper option" and three "short essay options." Although "long paper option" essays may be turned in late (with the usual penalties), "short essay options" MAY NOT BE TURNED IN LATE.

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"Long Paper Option"

Your essay should be between 360 and 580 words; you should identify your cl/ev/wa structures, or you will receive no credit.

Due: Tuesday, March 15th

Popular understandings of the encounter between Europeans and the indigenous peoples of the Americas often fall into one of two broad parables:

(Parable A) capitalism and civilization pushing aside what had been societies of lazy natives uninterested in (or incapable of) commerce and industry.

Or

(Parable B) racist whites destroying native societies that lived in harmony with both their environment and with each other.

In this paper, answer the following question:

How well (and why) does the evidence from the Alan Taylor readings and the film Black Robe support or dispute these parables?

Be specific and use direct quotations from both the film and the text to support your argument.

Some important writing instructions:

1) The evidence might support both parables, one but not the other, neither, or parts but not all of both.

2) Notice that in both parables, Euro-Americans destroyed the cultures of indigenous peoples of the Americas.

3) Don't address only one aspect of a particular parable while ignoring others. Be sure, accordingly, that your analysis addresses the entirety of both Parable A and Parable B.

4) Be sure to organize your paper around a thesis expressed near the beginning of your essay. This thesis must be a concise answer to the question asked above and it must explain to your reader HOW and the WHY your argument is a valid interpretation of the evidence.

5) Because you have the transcript available to you, it make sense to provide (accurate) direct quotations from it for your paper. Transcripts for all films are available on our blackboard site under "course documents"

6) You must have at least 10 pieces of evidence for this paper; 5 from the from Alan Taylor and 5 from the film. Your thesis, however, might easily require more.

7) Your quotations from the sources should be no more than 10 words and preferably
MUCH shorter -- if you are unsure how to omit unnecessary information from a quotation, see here. (very useful)

8) Finally, no outside research is necessary, desirable, or even permitted for this paper. DO NOT USE OUTSIDE SOURCES IN WRITING THIS PAPER. Papers that use outside sources as the basis either a direct and indirect quotation will receive an "F".

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"Short Paper Option"

Due: Tuesday, March 15th

As a prominent Native American historian has argued, the Jesuits sought to craft an Indian world “purified of its cultural sins and united by Christianity.” And yet the Jesuits seemed only to have succeeded in fostering within Native American society the very divisions and conflicts they sought to avoid. Indeed, conflicts within Native American societies grew precisely because of interaction with the Jesuits.

In a paragraph (or two), answer this question:

How accurately (or inaccurately) does the Black Robe portray this pattern and why?

To be clear, I want you to focus on conflicts within Native American groups (say, within the Huron) rather than between such groups (say, between the Huron and Iroquois). Be specific and use direct quotations from both the film and the text to support your argument.

Some points to keep in mind:

1) You must watch the whole film to write this paper. Really.

2) Your short option paper need only be a paragraph (or two). It does not need an introduction of a conclusion. You simply need a claim, at least two pieces of evidence, and the necessary warrant(s).

3) One of your required two pieces of evidence should come from Taylor, the other must come from the film.

4) Be sure to compare the reading to the film when writing this essay. Taylor addresses in a specific fashion the pattern described above. So, use Taylor as the yardstick by which you judge the accuracy of the film on this particular issue.

5) Do not summarize Taylor or the pattern; tell me how and why the film accurately (or not) portrays the pattern Taylor addresses. Yes, understanding the pattern is essential to writing this paragraph, but it is only the first step.

6) You should identify your cl/ev/wa structures, or you will receive no credit.

7) YOUR PARAGRAPH MAY NOT BE TURNED IN LATE.

8) Finally, no outside research is necessary, desirable, or even permitted for this paper. DO NOT USE OUTSIDE SOURCES IN WRITING THIS PAPER. Papers that use outside sources as the basis either a direct and indirect quotation will receive an "F".