So the essay about the IRON CURTAIN
You will be writing about what it was answering the who, what where when and why questions
Explain its significance and how it changed the world/Europe
The tension between USA and USSR
how it effected NATO and warsaw pact
And how it dealt with wider topics such as capitalism/communism and liberal democracy/totalitarianism
Microsoft Word - GEOG 2070 Assignment 2.docx 1 GEOG 2070: Empire, State, and Power Assignment 2 This is a term paper with two general components. First, you are invited to choose a course-‐related topic from a list of eight given below, and second, explore it through a short case study involving a particular place or region of the world. The idea of ‘place’ here is flexible: you could study a city or a site within a city or town (a wall, a monument, a prominent building or institution) or concentrate on a wider geographical area such as a region or nation. You could also design a case study that compares or connects different parts of the world. Length of the paper: Between 2,000 and 2,500 words, excluding the bibliography. In pursuing your topic, you are expected to engage with some of the conceptual literature on that topic as a lead-‐in to your case study. We say “some” because we want you to engage with more than one author’s discussion of “nationalism”, “borders” etc. We expect that the opening section of your paper will deal with general and definitional aspects of your topic, with the rest dedicated to the case study. The discussion of your case study will be based not only on existing academic scholarship but also on at least one set of non-‐scholarly sources (e.g. news stories, photographs, paintings, book illustrations, cartoons, comics, magazines, movies, TV series, music) that illuminate your arguments. Structure and referencing: We expect the standard essay organization of introduction-‐body-‐conclusion to be followed and that paragraphs will be focused and not overlong. Again, you are at liberty to choose a referencing format, but learn from the feedback presented to you in assignment 1. You could also use the same referencing system as the textbook (see, for example, pages 99-‐102). Proposal of topic and case study: This is worth 5% and is to be emailed before midnight on Wednesday, February 28 to both
[email protected] and
[email protected]. We have moved the date forward so that at least some of you can take advantage of our office hours. The proposal itself should be at least one substantive paragraph (no more than two) describing what your chosen topic and case study is. It should not be more than one double-‐spaced page. We also ask that you identify at least three pieces of reading that will help with your topic: this can be from any of the course reading or from other sources you locate between now and February 28. Our goal with feedback is to help you refine your ideas and help you locate additional useful reading and/or the most efficient strategy for handling your non-‐academic source. Getting Started: Your choice of what topic you want to pursue may come from what has already been discussed in the course or it may come from what is going to be discussed in its second half. In any event, your starting reading will be the course reading relating to that topic. 2 Enriching your perspective on your topic: The textbook chapters contain brief recommendations for further reading on topics, which you should follow up to assess their utility for you. Another key source of information for the conceptual part of your essay will be the previously mentioned Dictionary of Human Geography. Entries in this dictionary also contain short bibliographies, some of whose titles you could also chase up. There are also three excellent recently published handbook-‐style works on political geography that have become available online that you should be aware of. In fact, essays in the first-‐listed (Key Concepts in Political Geography) have a general topic-‐case study outline, and this should be consulted before the other two below. • Key Concepts in Political Geography, a twenty-‐eight chapter e-‐book available online (and also downloadable) through the York University Library. The book contains short and focused chapters on nation-‐states, sovereignty, superpowers, geopolitics, socialism, migration, borders, regionalism, terrorism, nationalism, citizenship, and many more. The full reference is: Carolyn Gallaher, Carl T Dahlman, Mary Gilmartin, Alison Mountz and Peter Shirlow, Key Concepts in Political Geography (London: Sage, 2009). • A Companion to Political Geography, a thirty-‐chapter e-‐book available online (and downloadable) through the York University Library. The book contains chapters on boundaries, nation-‐states, nationalist religious movements, citizenship and rights, sexual politics, Cold War geopolitics, and much more. The full reference is: John Agnew, Katharyne Mitchell, and Gerald Toal (eds.) A Companion to Political Geography (Malden MA: Blackwell, 2008). • The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Political Geography, a thirty-‐seven chapter e-‐book available online (and also downloadable) through the York University Library. Chapters focus on themes such as boundaries and borders, sovereignty, the state, geographies of conflict, violence, citizenship, geopolitics, and “the banality of empire”, etc. The full reference is John Agnew, Virginie Mamadouh, Anna J. Secor and Joanne Sharp (eds.) The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Political Geography (Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2015). Thinking About What and Where to Discuss as a Case Study: The case study can explore a process shaped over time and space to bring about an important political transformation (the colonization of a particular territory, environmental changes caused by colonialism; nationalist/anti-‐colonial movements in a particular territory); an event or resistance that took place that was likewise transformative (an election, a riot, a violent incident or revolution, a forced migration, a civil war, the building and enforcement of a border, occasions of commemoration, a redefinition of citizenship and voting rights, etc.), or a site of symbolic importance (the architecture and construction of state buildings; the landscape of monuments). Finally, it can also relate to the role of text and imagery in various sorts of media that produce representations of colonial, national, and/or geopolitical 3 relationships. You do not necessarily have to work on a historical topic; examining ongoing contemporary issues is welcome. In terms of where to choose as a case study, this will require some thought on your part, so feel free to make the most of your curiosity for researching a particular place, site, region, nation, or some other territory. Reading through the assigned readings helps, of course, since the authors reference several parts of the world to illustrate their points, and the same is true of the three reference works listed above. There should be no substantial overlap between what you wrote for assignment 1; if you are unsure, please consult with Prof. Jenkins. Use of scholarly sources/texts: The bibliography in your final, submitted paper must contain at least six scholarly pieces of literature. One such “piece” can be a scholarly book, journal article, or chapter in an edited collection. Websites are not included. The course textbook could, for example, be one such source, and we expect to see the textbook referenced in most if not all of your bibliographies. Use of non-‐scholarly sources: • Newspapers: online archives of sections of the ‘Western media’ such as the Canadian Globe and Mail and Toronto Star, as well as the New York Times and The Times (of London) are available through the York University Library (search under e-‐resources). Searches for articles can be done by date, date intervals, and keywords, and we can assist the process where needed. • Historical Texts: Try www.archive.org to search for older texts such as fiction for young boys as well as the works of explorers and promoters of ‘popular’ geography. Many of the academic and ‘popular’ geography texts referenced on lecture slides were accessed through this website. • Paintings, Popular Illustrations and Political Cartoons: see, for starters: https://www.illustrationhistory.org/genres/cartooning-‐political and for more formal art: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-‐on/tate-‐ britain/exhibition/artist-‐and-‐empire and associated links • Films, Documentaries, and TV series: www.youtube.com is an obvious starting point but for those of you with interests in Britain’s empire, you could also explore http://www.colonialfilm.org.uk/ There are a number of ‘heroic’ movies on the Canadian west, such as “Saskatchewan” and “North West Mounted Police” and various documentaries on border security (for example, Border Security: America’s/Canada’s Front Line, and the UK Border Force). Finally, on “empire and art” in a more general sense, see: http://www.britishempire.co.uk/art/artandempire.htm Use of material from websites: Although the use of websites for the assembly of information is permitted, you will need to include an annotated list of the websites you have used alongside a bibliography. ‘Annotated’ (from which the word ‘note’ is derived) refers to a short description of the website from which the information was taken and your sense of what sort of audience the website might have and what possible biases such a website might contain. Up to three sentences will suffice. It is 4 important for you to be able to probe the source of your information, and its reliability, if you use this method. TOPIC AREAS The list of eight topic areas is as follows. Note that there is some thematic overlap among the topics. We have also entered some ideas relating to each topic to spur your thinking. 1. Empire and Commodities • The geographies of sugar production and consumption (Caribbean plantations and slavery/European consumption) • American commodity imperialism and Latin America: ‘banana republics’ and the United Fruit Co. • The geographies of tea production and consumption (South Asia plantation / British consumption) – a similar approach for coffee is also possible. • The phenomenon of African ‘blood diamonds’ (see movie of the same name) 2. Socio-‐Cultural Dimensions of Colonialism and Imperialism (Class, Gender, Race, Religion, Indigeneity) • Representations of Canadian wilderness and indigeneity in Boy’s Own magazines mentioned in class (this could also be done for other colonial frontiers and questions relating to race, gender, and age) • Representations of non-‐Christian