March 19th Class

Hey, it's Amy. So, today we talked about our 100 research notecards, which are due April 8th. You should write out your thesis sentence on a separate note card and turn it in with your other cards. This thesis card is to make sure that you stay on track with whatever topic you are researching, just to keep focus. Another index card should include a listing of slugs, the number of cards you have per slug, subject headings, and the number of cards you have per subject heading. This card must also be turned in. Again, the due date is April 8th.

We also talked about the "white man's burden" in class and discussed whether the author was racisist or mocking the idea of this "burden," whether the idea of this moral burden was pure fantasy and the only motive behind European colonization and exploration was for personal gain, and whether or not society in other parts of the world would have progressed had they been left on their own. Allison and Cristy had contrasting views, as Allison believes that it would have happened eventually (her example was Martin Luther King, if he hadn't played a major role in the movement, someone could have eventually come along and carried it out) while Cristy compared the situation to the ideas from the video Guns, Germs, and Steel and the New Guinean tribe that is still using the same methods today as their ancestors used for numerous generations. Although this society is content, they have not advanced as far as Europe. It has been hypothesized that this is due to their geographic region, since they lack nutrient-dense crops and animals that can be domesticated, focussing all of their efforts on surviving from day to day.

Sorry, I didn't write down the quote (but it was something like we are all flies in vaseline).