Europeans, Africans, Indians and Their Shared History 1400-1900
OVERVIEW
This assignment provides the student an opportunity to assess the weekly textbook readings,
presentations, and websites. This is an important step for you as a graduate student, as you learn
to evaluate academic work critically. In addition, the annotated bibliography allows you the
opportunity learn the field of historiography for each weekly topic.
INSTRUCTIONS
The student will write a response to the weekly readings in approximately 550 words. (This is
approximately 1.5 pages typed. You are welcome to go over this limit, but 550 words is the
minimum.) The paper should be in Turabian formatting, double-spaced in 12 point, Times New
Roman, font. The response should assess the reading for the week. What are the major takeaways
from the reading? How has the reading changed your understanding of this period in history?
Please make sure that you are writing in third person, assessing the weekly reading as you would
in an academic review.
Lastly, provide three additional sources (either books or peer-reviewed journal articles) for
further reading in an annotated bibliography. This will help to build your knowledge of the
historiography of each weekly topic. What are three major sources in this related weekly topic
that every historian should be familiar with? In the annotation, address who the author is, why
the author is an expert in the field, what are the major arguments of this book or article, and how
this work contributes to the field of study. Annotated bibliographies should first list the citation
for the book or article in bold, in Turabian format. Then put the supporting information in a
paragraph under the citation.
Example of Annotated Bibliography citation:
Blanchard, Paula. Sarah Orne Jewett: Her World and Her Work. New York:
Addison Wesley Publishing Company, 1994.
Part of the Radcliffe Biography Series, which publishes the life stories of prominent American
women, Blanchard’s book is the definitive biography on Jewett. As her subtitle implies, she not
only seeks to illuminate the events of Jewett’s life, but also to contextualize her writings and
provide a critical reading of her most famous works. Many of the chapters in Blanchard’s
biography are devoted specifically to major texts. Blanchard provides background on Jewett’s
writing process (such as where she wrote and the degree of revisions she made) as well as brief
literary analyses. Most of Blanchard’s chapters are centered on key relationships and themes in
Jewett’s own life. Blanchard argues that it is only by thoroughly situating Jewett in her historical
moment that we can understand her literary work, thereby issuing a critique of scholars who
claim we can study Jewett’s canon in isolation
Tips for a Response Paper:
Part I: A Brief Summary of the Sources Provided
HIWD 560
- Identify the major arguments and takeaways of the weekly reading, presentations and
websites.
- Provide a brief summary, condensing the content of the sources by highlighting the main ideas.
- Keep the summary objective and factual.
Part II: Your Reaction to the Work
- How are the related problems and topics discussed relevant to the overall class?
- Do viewing the sources change your ideas on the topic?
- Does using a Christian worldview change the way the sources are evaluated?
Part III: Clean-Up
- Proof-read your work. Avoid common spelling and grammar mistakes, and avoid passive
voice.
- Make sure each major paragraph presents and develops a single main point.
- Organize your material.
- Cite paraphrased and quoted material.
Tips for an Annotated Bibliography:
- An annotated bibliography is a description of a set of related sources that address a
common topic. It is a very useful tool in helping you analyze sources and organize your
research.
- An annotated bibliography usually contains three parts: • Source Citation: Like a regular
bibliography, an annotated bibliography provides proper citation information for each
source. Remember that historians use Turabian/Chicago Manual of Style.
- Source Summary: The first part of your entry will summarize the source concisely.
- Source Evaluation: Your source evaluation explains how the source contributes to a
particular topic.
Thomas Benjamin’s book, The Atlantic World: Europeans, Africans, Indians and Their Shared History 1400-1900, makes for one of the outstanding scholarly work on the Atlantic World history. Precisely, Thomas Benjamin explores the interactions and relationships among the inhabitants of the Americas, Africa, and Europe from the 15th through the 19th century by providing a comprehensive chronological account of how the said regions forged a new circuit leading to the Atlantic World.[Benjamin, Thomas. 2009. "Antecedents." In The Atlantic World: Europeans, Africans, Indians and Their Shared History 1400—1900, by Thomas Benjamin, 6-50. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.]
The first chapter of the book, Antecedent, provides the social, political, and economic backgrounds of the people living in the Americas, Africa, and Europe before their interactions and integration from the 15th century through the 19th century. He provides the social, political, and economic backgrounds of the individuals and groups living in the three different worlds sharing a connection with or touching the Atlantic Ocean. For instance, the chapter explores the diverse indigenous peoples that inhabited the Americas across the social, political, and economic domains with an articulate geographic distribution of different Native American communities in the region. Benjamin highlights the socio-cultural practices characterizing the ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica that influenced the rise of the Mexica and Inka empires amidst the rise and fall of other cultures. The author uses the same approach in exploring Africa highlighting the socio-cultural, economic, and political orientations of different groups or communities. For instance, the author points out that the Tenerife and La Palma Islands off the northwest coast of Africa in the Canary Islands each had nine different political communities. The antecedent of Europe, posits the author in the first chapter, rests on the regions affiliation to the Christendom cultural identity. In essence, the social, political, and economic domains of the inhabitants of Europe were shaped by the doctrines of Christendom or the imitation of Christ.[Ibid.] [Ibid.] [Benjamin, Thomas. 2009. "Antecedents." In The Atlantic World: Europeans, Africans, Indians and Their Shared History 1400—1900, by Thomas Benjamin, 6-50. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.] [Benjamin, Thomas. 2009. "Antecedents." In The Atlantic World: Europeans, Africans, Indians and Their Shared History 1400—1900, by Thomas Benjamin, 6-50. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.]
The second chapter, Commencement, captures the beginning of the interaction and integration of the unique and equally diverse social, political, and economic orientations of the societies or communities occupying the three land masses with the Atlantic Ocean as the conduit. What separated the three land...