Short Answer Questions
(class 1, homework 2)

Note:

(1) assignments appear in the syllabus on the day assigned, not the day due

(2) You must submit your written work by blackboard

(3) BE SURE TO FOLLOW THE FILE-NAMING CONVENTIONS FOR THIS COURSE (5% penalty if you do not).

All files should be saved on your computer as: your last name, followed by an underscore ("_"), followed by the first two letters of your first name, followed by an underscore ("_"), followed by the assignment number. So if a student named Saddam Hussein were to submit assignment number 2, the file name would be:

hussein_sa_2.doc

THIS IS ASSIGNMENT 2

Remember This homework is due at 11:05 AM by blackboard and can NOT be turned in late This homework can NOT be revised This homework is worth 2% of your final semester grade

Timing This written homework should take you 1 hour and 5 minutes to do: 3 minutes for each of the short answer questions, 13 minutes for questions #3, 4, & 5, and 20 minutes for question #6.

This homework consists of Short Answer Questions [labeled (SA)] which should be answered with a short sentence and Long Answer Questions [labeled (LA)] which should be answered with a paragraph of carefully written prose entirely in your own language. Answers that repeat the language of the textbook will receive no credit

 

IF YOU WISH, YOU MAY WANT TO DO QUESTIONS 5 AND 6 FIRST, AS THEY REFER TO THE DOCUMENTARY BLING.

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Be sure to read over the questions from the assigned writing and quiz BEFORE starting on the reading itself, then as you read take notes on; doing so will help you know what to look for in the reading and, accordingly, save you time.

1) (SA) How meaningful was the unifying concept of "Africa" to the inhabitants of the continent at this time? USE YOUR OWN WORDS
(worth 5 points)

2) (SA) Around 1300 -- a century and half before extensive European contact with Africa -- with whom and what did West African Kingdoms trade? USE YOUR OWN WORDS
(worth 5 points)

the map on page 11 of the textbook will also be useful in answering question 3

3) (LA) As the textbook notes on pp 9 - 13, Africa had at this time regions that were marked by many, small, decentralized polities as well as other regions -- such as the savannah lands of the west or the coastal regions of the east -- that witnessed the rise (and fall) of larger, complex empires.

QUESTION: How and why did African empires emerge where they did? How and why were decentralized social groupings more common in other areas?

HINTS: 1)Think about what the African empires had in common regarding: (A) geography (B) the relationship between religion and society (C) trade. Think about what the regions with smaller polities had in common regarding these same three items. 2) Think about what has broader appeal and encourages links to elsewhere: the ancestor worship common in the forest regions of Africa, or the Christianity and Islam that marked the empires? 3) No one section of the reading will answer this question -- you will have to synthesize material from multiple parts of the reading as well as analyze what you have read. In short, this is not the sort of question that can be answered by “looking it up” in the textbook. You will have to think about what you’ve read. If you are having trouble with this question, see here (very useful)

 

USE YOUR OWN WORDS AND ONLY YOUR OWN WORDS
(worth 20 points)

HINT: Do not simply repeat the textbook's descriptions of each society -- explain why the political structures of European and Sub-Saharan African societies resembled each other but did not resemble that of Chinese society. BE SURE that your point of comparison is these societies' political structures and not some other characteristic.

4) (LA) Many historians argue that there were remarkable similarities in the political structures of feudal Europe and "forest dwelling" sub-Saharan Africa. In contrast, the political structure of Chinese society was different from those found in either European or sub-Saharan African societies. Using the evidence from the textbook, explain in a paragraph why this argument might make sense.

Be sure to be specific and provide examples. Vague answers will receive reduced credit. Be sure to use your own words.
(worth 20 points)

Questions 5 and 6 refer to the documentary Bling; these questions will require rather specific evidence from that video. To help you, there is a transcript of the video here.

5) (LA) Using evidence from the documentary, compare in a paragraph the impact of American hip-hop culture on the war in Sierra Leone and the impact of the local hip-hop culture on that same war. Reviewing your answers to questions 4, 5, and 6 from Homework 1 will help you. Be specific in your argument and be sure to organize your paragraph around a central idea that responds to the question. The evidence you provide should explain why that idea makes sense.
(worth 20 points)

6) (LA -- will take longer than 3, 4, and 5)

In this question you will apply an abstract concept to evidence from the video; being able to apply principles learned in one context to material in a different context like this is a critical workplace skill -- and that's why this question appears here.

Economists and political scientists often speak of what's known as the "resource curse." This idea refers to the paradox that countries with an abundance of natural resources tend to have less economic growth than countries without these natural resources. While this paradox happens for a number of reasons, there are two prime ones that interest us here. The first is government mismanagement, or political corruption, encouraged by the nature of easy money to be gained from such resources. The second is that natural resources can, and often do, not just provoke violent conflicts within societies but also fuel those clashes.

One way to understand this first reason for the "resource curse," (government mismanagement) is to compare societies with an abundance of natural resources to "ordinary" societies that are not resource-dependent. In these "ordinary" societies, governments tax citizens, who demand efficient and responsive government in return. This bargain establishes a political bond between leaders and subjects. In countries whose economies are dominated by natural resources, however, rulers don't need to tax their citizens because they have a guaranteed source of income from natural resources. So the relationship between rulers and the ruled falls apart as leaders fail to provide essential governement services as part of their rule; corruption often reigns under such circumstances.

Turning to and looking more closely at the second reason, in societies with an abundance of natural resources conflicts can occur over the control and exploitation of resources as well as the distribution of the money ("revenue") earned from the sale of those resources. Moreover, access to resource revenues by combatants can prolong conflicts.

In a paragraph or two of carefully written prose, use evidence from the documentary to demontrate that Sierra Leone has long suffered from the "resource curse" because of the country's abundant diamond resources. Your response absolutely needs to address BOTH of the reasons for the "resource curse" discussed above (government corruption and the fueling of conflict). Reviewing your answers to questions 8 - 14 from Homework 1 will help you. Be specific in your argument by providing explicit details from the documenary. Be sure to organize your paragraphs around a central idea that responds to the question. The evidence you provide should explain why that idea makes sense. Explaining how diamonds prolonged the conflct is fairly straightfoward; connecting the mineral wealth to the state of the infrastructure is a little more complex--and so should represent the bulk of your answer.
(worth 30 points--you will get no more than 5 pts if you address only one of the two parts of the question)

DON'T FORGET TO PREPARE FOR THE QUIZ!