HIS 1510: Introduction to Western Civilisation (Part I)

Due date: 25 November 2014, 10:10 AM.

Submission: submit electronic copy (MS Word or compatible) using Turnitin option on the HIS 1510 BlackBoard companion site.

Length: 1000-1500 words (= ca. 4-6 pp. double-spaced, 12-point font, 1 inch margins).

Documentation: please append a bibliography to your essay. For citations in the body of your discussion, you may use footnotes, endnotes, or in-text references, so long as you follow a recognised & consistent format (see Harvey, Hacker, Rampolla for various styles).

This essay assignment requires that you reread carefully the primary sources studied so far and think about them as an historian. Your essay should draw on three or more of the primary-sources up to Week XIII (inclusive); you may use both textual and non-textual 1ary sources (such as artwork). You are free to draw on sources studied in the first half of the semester (Lysistrata, the Bible, the Qur’an, etc.). At least one of your sources must be Beowulf, the Rule of St. Benedict, or Shakespeare’s The Tempest. You are not expected to conduct independent research; the lectures, textbook and other readings should supply you with enough background to engage these primary sources directly.

Some optional topics for structuring your essay are suggested below; you may pick from these, but should elaborate them to your specific needs and interests. Whichever prompt you choose, you must consult with your instructor to confirm that your topic is viable and suitable. Remember: the more specifically you define your topic, the greater your chances of writing a successful essay. You should come to my office hours no later than Week XII for consultation.

Suggested topics:

1. In many of our primary sources, such as The Tempest, mundane concerns (food, shelter, reproduction, etc.) mix with supernatural matters (magic, divine powers, fate, etc.). What can we learn about perceptions of reality and attitudes towards the extraordinary from these texts? Are the lessons you derive applicable to the historical societies in which these sources originated, or are they ‘just theatre’ (or other literary form)? How do you know?
2. What ideals of masculinity and femininity emerge from texts that give us ‘narrative portraits’ of men and women in action (such as Beowulf)? How do these ideals differ among the sources, and in what ways might these differences suggest to us differences in real social practice? How does the packaging of these ideals in narrative form (as opposed to philosophical tract, for instance) affect their substance?
3. Some of the primary sources we have encountered are descriptive works – i.e., they claim to record the world as it really is or was (e.g. Fulcher’s account of the First Crusade); others are prescriptive – i.e., they offer instruction on how the world, or some sliver of it, ought to be (e.g., the Rule of St. Benedict). Consider the varied forms of Christian living available to medieval Europeans. How are these different modes of practising Christianity similar to each other? In what ways do they differ? What might have inclined medieval people towards one way of living or another? How closely did lived realities match up with prescribed ideals?
4. Each society defines its Others in order to inscribe its own boundaries. Such boundaries may be physical (e.g. borderlines, frontiers, no-man's lands) or conceptual (e.g. ethnic, linguistic, behavioural), external (e.g. Greeks vs Persians, Christians vs Muslims) or internal (e.g. aristocrats vs commoners, Christians vs Jews), self-evident or contested, and so on. Analyse the descriptions of social Selves and Others in some of the sources we have studied; compare the values each society defines as central to its own ‘civilisation’ and those constituting ‘barbarism’ elsewhere. (Be sure to specify who is being included and excluded; do not assume that Others are homogeneous or pre-existing entities.)
5. Make up your own topic!

As in your first essay assignment, a successful paper will alert the reader to the question(s) that interest you through its title and a clear statement of the problem you are researching (a.k.a. 'thesis'). The arguments you make in the paper will be based on an interpretation (= analysis) of carefully-selected passages from the primary sources (= evidence). Your essay should include a discussion of the historical context of the works it examines, of the authors’ viewpoints and biases, and of your own approach to interpreting the sources. Your concluding paragraph should reflect on your project, that is, it should do more than summarise the preceding paper; it should, rather, highlight the significance of your investigation for other historians, consider the advantages and limitations of your approach, outline avenues for future research, and so forth.

Questions? Please don't hesitate to e-mail me or come in to speak with me in office hours.

Have fun!