Critical Essay
You will be writing about Imperialism. The actual topic for your essay will be chosen from the questions/prompts listed below.
For this paper you must use the textbook for this course, Traditions and Encounters: A Brief Global History Volume 2 from 1500 to the Present (Bentley) and evidence taken from primary document sets found in the documents reader, The Human Record Sources of Global History Volume II: Since 1500 (Andrea). Additionally, you are required to incorporate and integrate information, examples, and ideas taken from King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild. This source must be woven into the analysis and explanation for this assignment. Failure to include this text will result in a zero for the paper. Only using a couple quotes or minor references from the Hochschild book is not sufficient and is akin to not using it at all. You will get an F if this occurs. All of these above sources will provide the historical context and background for your essay. Furthermore, class lecture notes, outlines, and other materials from the course can and should be used as well in exploring your chosen topic. You will need to utilize all of these items in order to construct, corroborate, and prove your thesis.
Your essay must be 5-7 full pages in length
You are not permitted to bring in additional texts or outside materials (including online sources) to support your essay beyond those already assigned for class or used during class. Failure to follow this rule will result in a grade of an F on the essay. Students should only analyze class materials and assigned texts when composing and formulating their essay and corresponding argument.
Remember that as was the case with your response essays, citations are a requirement for this assignment. Parenthetical notations (example- Bentley, 239) must be used in your essay for all class sources.
**You will need to review chapter 28 in Bentley, chapters 8 and 9 in Andrea, and the Hochschild book in great detail.
**Keep in mind your focus is on imperialism from the middle to late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in your essay.
**You are selecting one prompt to answer from the list provided below.
1) Build a thesis around this quote and following question: Academic Perry Rogers argues, “The term expansion is basically benign, connoting progress and dedication, but imperialism is often pejorative in connotation and recalls economic exploitation, racial prejudice, and even war.” (Rogers, 196) Does this definition of imperialism apply to how the western nations saw, treated, and intervened in places like Africa and Asia? The Congo must be used as one of your examples or one of your areas of focus in this essay.