SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITING A Meeting of Old and New Worlds

1. A key theme during the time period covered by this chapter, which spans several centuries, is the collision of old worlds and new. What cultures and value systems are in conflict in the readings? Compare and contrast the bases for two conflicts.

   Question

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   SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITING A Meeting of Old and New Worlds: - A key theme during the time period covered by this chapter, which spans several centuries, is the collision of old worlds and new. What cultures and value systems are in conflict in the readings? Compare and contrast the bases for two conflicts.
2. The seventeenth century saw the emergence of women as critical voices in the New World—in both positive and negative ways. By studying the work by and about women of this era, what issues, questions, and values of gender roles do you see surfacing?

   Question

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   SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITING A Meeting of Old and New Worlds: - The seventeenth century saw the emergence of women as critical voices in the New World—in both positive and negative ways. By studying the work by and about women of this era, what issues, questions, and values of gender roles do you see surfacing?
3. Travel writing has become its own field of study, with scholarly journals and numerous books dedicated to the subject. After reading a contemporary travel writer, discuss how his or her work is similar to or different from the travel writing by Cabeza de Vaca, Christopher Columbus, Captain John Smith, and Mary Rowlandson included in this chapter. Pay special attention to audience and purpose in your analysis.

   Question

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   SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITING A Meeting of Old and New Worlds: - Travel writing has become its own field of study, with scholarly journals and numerous books dedicated to the subject. After reading a contemporary travel writer, discuss how his or her work is similar to or different from the travel writing by Cabeza de Vaca, Christopher Columbus, Captain John Smith, and Mary Rowlandson included in this chapter. Pay special attention to audience and purpose in your analysis.
4. The historical figure Tituba was one of the first people in Salem to be accused of witchcraft. Different accounts have identified her ethnicity as Native American, West Indian, and African; she has been the subject of scholarly articles as well as fictional accounts (e.g., Tituba of Salem Village, by Ann Petry, and I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem, by Maryse Conde), and she plays a key role in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible. After researching Tituba, including how she is visually represented, discuss what insights into the phenomenon of the Salem Witch Trials you gained through studying the historical interest in and controversy about her.

   Question

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   SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITING A Meeting of Old and New Worlds: - The historical figure Tituba was one of the first people in Salem to be accused of witchcraft. Different accounts have identified her ethnicity as Native American, West Indian, and African; she has been the subject of scholarly articles as well as fictional accounts (e.g., Tituba of Salem Village, by Ann Petry, and I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem, by Maryse Conde), and she plays a key role in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible. After researching Tituba, including how she is visually represented, discuss what insights into the phenomenon of the Salem Witch Trials you gained through studying the historical interest in and controversy about her.
5. Bruce Goebel, author of Reading Native American Literature (2004), makes the following criticism of the treatment of Native Americans in high-school history textbooks:

   First, economy of stereotype is the favored technique. From Columbus’s own shallow perception of these early tributes, the historians select a few key images—innocence and passivity, gold jewelry—which contribute to and do not question the mytho-heroic narrative about Columbus… . Second, a strategy of invisibility…seems to pervade most accounts. While various Indian tribes may at some point in a thousand-page textbook receive a subchapter’s worth of attention, those whose history is poorly known or whose experience conflicts too greatly with traditional perceptions of heroic men and events are simply left out… .

   After examining two different history textbooks (a recently published one and another published one or two decades earlier), write an essay that supports, challenges, or qualifies Goebel’s viewpoint.

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITING A Meeting of Old and New Worlds: - Bruce Goebel, author of Reading Native American Literature (2004), makes the following criticism of the treatment of Native Americans in high-school history textbooks:First, economy of stereotype is the favored technique. From Columbus’s own shallow perception of these early tributes, the historians select a few key images—innocence and passivity, gold jewelry—which contribute to and do not question the mytho-heroic narrative about Columbus… . Second, a strategy of invisibility…seems to pervade most accounts. While various Indian tribes may at some point in a thousand-page textbook receive a subchapter’s worth of attention, those whose history is poorly known or whose experience conflicts too greatly with traditional perceptions of heroic men and events are simply left out… .After examining two different history textbooks (a recently published one and another published one or two decades earlier), write an essay that supports, challenges, or qualifies Goebel’s viewpoint.
6. How does this early era in the development of the United States manifest itself today? Choose one issue, conflict, idea, or viewpoint from this era and discuss how it continues to influence today’s national narrative.

   Question

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   SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITING A Meeting of Old and New Worlds: - How does this early era in the development of the United States manifest itself today? Choose one issue, conflict, idea, or viewpoint from this era and discuss how it continues to influence today’s national narrative.