Due December 15th 2020 before 4pm
Formatting:
–Double–spaced
–Length should be between 900 and 1000 words. Not more
–Use Turabian (CMS) foot notes for the citation format
failure to use footnotes for quotations or ideas from additional sources constitutes plagiarism.
–The essay needs to use at least two primary sources (uploaded) and at least two secondary sources (you need to find on jstor) not counting the book, Nervous Conditions.
Content:The essay needs to balance three objectives. An essay that depends on summarizing Nervous Conditions or other sources will receive a grade no higher than a C. The essay needs to include your personal analysis and assessment, which will amount to at least 1/2 of the essay. The essay can be organized in anyway that makes sense to your objectives. It does not have to narrate events first, and then address historical accuracy. These can be done simultaneously so long as the narration and historical analysis is balanced and conforms to the expectations that the majority of the emphasis is placed on your evaluation and analysis rather than rewording information from sources.
1) The thesis statement is expected to answer a specific historical question related to Nervous Conditions and the experiences of gender and race in Southern Africa. In other words, the essay cannot simply be a description of events but it must include an analysis of the events that supports a focused historical argument. An argument means some kind of explanation for how or why.
2) Analysis and Interpretation expectations
a. Critically assess the historical value of Nervous Conditions in relation to how it depicts the African experience in settler colonies.
b. Provide a synthesis of the primary and secondary sources that supports your chosen thesis statement. Paragraphs of substance that support the thesis statement should include short quotations from either the novel or the primary and secondary sources to support the content of each paragraph.
c. Use at least some primary and secondary sources from the African perspective to ensure that the evaluation of the events is balanced.
d. You may consider the long–term consequences of issues depicted in the novel, but the focus of the essay must remain on Nervous Conditions and its content.The novel is the center piece of the essay.
3) Some suggested topics around which to craft a historical thesis for the location and time period covered in the novel.
a. Education and Gender
b. Identity
c. Mental Health and Gender
d. Racism
e. Social Class
f. Religion
