Collaborative Study Guide Activity

Okay, guys, now that all of your sections have done the terms, here's the list you can choose from to define for the final blog activity. Any one that is not crossed out is still fair game, and I'll update it as quickly as I can. Remember, you need to submit by 11:59pm on Tuesday, December 4th for it to count.

Remember to explain WHAT the term is and WHY it's something important for our course.

UPDATE 11/30: If terms run out, then you can ADD ONTO ANOTHER ONE ALREADY THERE. Just comment on that comment. Please don't do this until all the terms are gone, though.

UPDATE 12/4: GREAT WORK, GUYS! They've all been covered somewhere in here. Feel free to go back and add more to previous entries, including the ones which we covered in class.

Mughal Empire
Tea
Silver
The Long Depression (1873-1896)
Suez Canal (1869)
Rubber
Cecil Rhodes
Kiama
Muthoni
Yamagata Arimoto
Trans-Siberian Railway
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Chinese Revolution (1949)
Mohandas Gandhi
The Cuban Revolution (1959)
Los Desparecidos (the disappeared)
Sandanistas
Maria Serrano
Defensive Developmentalism
Mohammed Mossadeq
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
1973 Oil Crisis
Ruhollah Khomeini
legitimate trade
Rebellion of 1857
Wahhabism
Raj
Boxer Uprising
New Deal
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Warsaw Pact
apartheid
Fidel Castro
Tiananmen Square
truth commissions
Nelson Mandela

If these run out, I'll give you some more. See you in the last lecture tomorrow!

-Kirsten 

Activity for November 29th

Hang tight, guys - I'll give you an activity as soon as I see the final review sheet, tomorrow at the latest.

Readings for November 22nd...oh wait...

No section this week - HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Enjoy your turkey and other deliciousness and look for a new post next Monday.

Readings for November 15th

This week, we'll be discussing Persepolis for pretty much the entire class. You should have the book finished by Thursday so you can ask me any questions you have for your paper. Remember, the paper is due on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20th at 11:59pm in the dropbox on Carmen. I WILL NOT BE ACCEPTING HARD COPIES OF YOUR PAPER ON TUESDAY because I won't be on campus.

If you would like to meet with me about your paper, please email me to set up a time. Because of the length of this paper, I won't be able to read full drafts via email - there simply aren't enough hours in the day for me to do so - but I am happy to meet with any and all of you. Remember, we only have TWO more sessions, but I'm totally willing to meet outside of section to help all of you prepare for the final.

Some of you have asked me questions about the novel, so below is a little bit more background.

The Qajar Dynasty ruled Iran throughout the 19th century until 1925. The last Qajar shah (who they call the "emperor" in Persepolis) was called Ahmad, and he technically ruled from 1909 until 1925. Ahmad is Marjane's great-grandfather on her mother's side. He was stripped of all his powers in a coup in 1921, went into exile in 1923, and was formally deposed in 1925. The person who led that coup was the man who rose up from nothing to become Reza Shah Pahlavi, who ruled from 1925 until the British and the Soviets ordered him to step down in favor of his son, Mohammad Reza Shah, in 1941. Mohammad Reza Shah was the shah in power when the US & Britain over threw the prime minister Mossadegh (who nationalized the oil, as we saw in the video). He stayed in power until the Iranian Revolution, so all the protests and accusations that the Satrapis make in the book are against him.

A major focus in Persepolis is the Iran-Iraq War, which lasted from 1980 (when Iraq invaded Iran) until 1988. Some of you have asked me where the US fell in this conflict. The US provided outright military support for Iraq, as well as economic aid - BUT, the US also sold arms to Iran secretly, which led to the Iran-Contra Affair (which I'm happy to talk about more in class if you're interested). The causes, course, and outcome of the Iran-Iraq war are all described briefly and very well in this short BBC news article from 2005: The Iran-Iraq War: 25 years on

ACTIVITY - due by 11:59pm on Wednesday, 11/14

Please do ONE of the following two things in the comments:

1) Tell us what your favorite scene (or the one that affected you the most) in the graphic novel was and why - what struck you about this? What does this scene tell us about everyday life during the Iranian Revolution? In what way does it reflect the broader world historical context?

OR

2) What similarities or differences do you see between Persepolis and The River Between? What are some common themes and some examples of where you see those themes? What do they tell us about everyday life in periods of intense social upheaval?

See y'all on Thursday!

Readings for November 8th

ACK! Sorry, gang - apparently, I never posted what I wrote on Monday. I'm super sorry!

Easy week for reading - just Juan & Eva Perón (p. 333). In light of this, you should start reading Persepolis. If you're wondering how to read it, try to look at each small section and think what the main theme is. Also, check out the study guide on Carmen.

In section, we're going to talk a little bit about the way Enlightenment ideas evolved and changed, and I'm also going to give you a 5-6 minute introduction on the Iranian Revolution to help you contextualize the graphic novel.

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT FOR SECTION

What did Juan Perón suggest needed to be in done in order to strengthen Argentina? What was his idea of social security? How did Eva Perón see the difference between feminism and the masculinization of women - how could their lives be improved?

ACTIVITY - due by 8:00am on Thursday, November 8th (note the difference!)

This one is all about helping you with review. I know we've skimmed over some topics, so tell me three things that you don't understand or you think we need to go over more in section. Please tell me WHY you want to go over these things - what is it that is unclear specifically? It can be anything from the primary sources to people/events/places you think need to be explained more to topics where you're having trouble understanding what the main points are.

Readings for November 1st

Home stretch here, folks, and not a bad week for reading.

You have three primary sources from the reader for this week: Mohandas Ghandi (p. 295), George Kennan's The Long Telegram (p. 326), and Isabel & David Crook (p.340). They are all on the longer side, but I think all of these have really important content. Hopefully, you'll be able to see the impact of the things we discuss in the coming classes in some of the events today.

Because this week is half October, half November, I'll make you guys a deal: I'll count the activity, if you complete it, toward EITHER October or November. So, if you didn't do a post in October, now's your chance. If you want to get November's out of the way, it would work for that too.

You'll get your map quizzes back in section, as well as an update on your participation grades going into the last few weeks of the semester.

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT FOR SECTION:

1) Ghandi writes about satyagraha - what is it, and what are some examples that he provides throughout the letter? Why use it as a method of rebelling against the colonial government? Why write to Lord Irwin to announce his next proposed Salt March? What wrongs does he accuse the colonial government of committing?

2) Kennan is attempting to explain to the US State Department the mindset of the post-WWII Communist regime in the Soviet Union (Russia). How does he describe Soviet policy? How does it feel about the West? What are its goals, according to Kennan? What should the US do in response? Does it sound like he's describing Communism fairly?

3) The Crooks were in China during the struggle between the KMT (the Chinese Nationalist Government) and the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) for control of the country. How do the Crooks describe land ownership prior to Communist intervention? What changes did the Communists make, and how did it affect the peasants? What was the main problem the villagers had with Fu Gao-lin? What do these accusations and the subsequent punishments show about the villagers attitudes toward inequality?

ACTIVITY - due by 11:59pm on Wednesday, 10/31 if you choose to complete it

Pick ONE of the above THREE questions and answer it in the comments. It may be easier to wait until after lecture on Wednesday so you have some more context, but feel free to do so sooner if you prefer.

Stay safe with the wind & see everyone on Thursday!

Also: if any of you are considering seeing a movie, Argo is very good. It depicts a portion of the events of the Iranian Revolution (albeit a small part and from an American perspective), which is also the topic of Persepolis. I've embedded the trailer below.

Extra Stuff: History of WWI & WWII via a Facebook News Feed

If you're still fuzzy on the sequence of events of WWI & WWII, we'll talk more about it in section, but there's also this "Facebook Feed" history of the events of WWI, the Great Depression, and WWII on College Humor. It's kind of fun, but it's also a pretty good overview.

College Humor - History of the World via Facebook