Master Narrative

MASTER NARRATIVE 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. What is the difference between a narrative, master narrative, and a counter narrative? ● Narrative = way of thinking, descriptions of a series of events, what you choose to say and how you relate those things to one another, a form of storytelling that legitimates social relations, forms of knowledge, explanations, not neutral ● Master narrative = narrative that makes a sense of history as a series of connected events; suggests a totalizing truth and serves as the “official” version of history for the dominant culture ● Counter narrative = method of telling stories of those people whose experiences are not often told; a reframe of the master narrative through “little” storytelling of historically marginalized and underrepresented populations Framing is an important function of a narrative. What is it and provide an example. ● Asking yourself how a story is introduced ● Ex) What is the master narrative of American History according to Takaki? Or How does Okihiro tell a counter-narrative? ● Focusing, realizing, closing What is the master narrative of American history, according to Takaki? What is the story that Takaki tells to illustrate the concept of master narrative? ● According to Takaki, the master narrative of American history is defined as a filter that people place over the multiculturalism that is America ● To illustrate the concept of master narrative, Takaki tells the story of him being misjudged by his taxi driver on a trip to Norfolk for a keynote address on multicultural education. What is Okihiro’s “Ocean Worlds” theory in Ch 1? How is this a counter narrative? ● Okihiro’s Ocean Worlds theory is that there is only one huge ocean in the world, and all the continents are islands ● This is a counter-narrative because it allows people to perceive the world in a different way and identify equally with other cultures/countries as through this theory, people of all continents are all islanders of one large ocean, rather than people being of different regions of the world and fighting over different parts Okihiro writes, “European expansion involved the disciplining of what Europeans perceived as an unruly chaotic world” (p 48). What did he mean by this? Give two examples. ● By this, Okihiro meant that Europeans believed it was their responsibility to discipline an “unruly chaotic world,” but that does not necessarily mean it is their job to do so ● Their expansion was essentially imperialism ● Expansion in Africa and India Why was Asia the object of European imperialism? Give an example each of how Portugal and Spain became key figures in trade with Asia. (Okihiro Ch 2) ● Asian countries had many resources and goods that Europeans wanted, such as spices ● Portuguese traded goods for African slaves ● Took Indian hostages to obtain full cargo of spices when they were reluctant to trade Okihiro writes, “Asian and Pacific Islander migration was characterized by indentured labor” (p 50). What led to this and what was the impact on Pacific Islander societies in particular? ● Portuguese and Spaniards invading their land, forcing decisions, and doing as they please in order to grow themselves and gain from trade ● Pacific Islanders societies are unable to prosper on their own land in their own way COLUMBUS 1. 2. What is the master narrative of Columbus and his “discovery of the new world”? ● Using excerpts from Las Casas’s translations of Columbus’s diaries, what do we learn about Columbus’s motivations in the “new world”? ● 3. 4. According to Loewen, what kinds of European development prompted Columbus’s voyages? (p 42-49) ● What kind of impact did Columbus’s voyages have on Europe? (p 66-69) ● ORIENTALISM 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Describe the ways the master narrative of orientalism appeared in any of the paintings we discussed (slides). ● According to Lee, “Asian immigrants did not enter a blank slate” (6). What does she mean by this and what does this sentiment have to do with orientalism? ● How does gender play out in orientalism? Give two examples. ● How does Europe use the racist logic of Orientalism to rationalize colonization in the 16th century? ● According to Said, how did orientalism become ideology? ● What is ideology? Provide two examples. ● How did orientalism lead to the “discovery” and conquest of the Americas? ● Compare and contrast European and American Orientalism? How were they the same/different? ● What are some contemporary examples of orientalism? Why do you think popular orientalism continues to exist? ● SLAVERY 1. What is the master narrative of slavery? ● 2. What were the historical forces that caused white plantation owners to choose black slaves as their labor source? ● 3. What were the types of labor in colonial America? ● 4. What were the contradictions between slavery and the founding of the nation (1619 podcast, ep 1)? ● 5. What is the master narrative of Abraham Lincoln regarding slavery in relation to the Civil War? (1619 ep 1) ● 6. What laws were passed in Virginia that produced the social formation of slaves? (Okihiro p 66-68) ● 7. How did African slavery different from American slavery? (Zinn Ch 2) ● 8. What were the conditions that Africans experienced during the transportation across the Atlantic on slave ships? ● 9. How did slaves resist their enslavement? ● 10. How did the slave owners enact a system of psychological and physical control over slaves? ● AMERICAN REVOLUTION 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Where were the class conflicts that fueled tensions leading up to the American Revolution? ● Why did Bacon’s Rebellion (1676) cause fear among the ruling elite in Virginia? ● In what ways did the white middle class become a tool for the colonial elites to manage class conflict? ● How did the colonial elite convince white settlers to fight a revolution against England without ending slavery and inequality? ● What were the elements of conflict that lead up to the start of the American Revolution? Which events do you think were the most significant turning points? ● What is the difference between colonialism and settler colonialism? Provide an example of each. ● What were the major impacts of the American Revolution? What impacts do you think were the most important? Why? ● How did African Americans participate in the American Revolution? What roles did they take on? ● What role did Native Americans play in the American Revolution? What were they fighting for? ● CITIZENSHIP 1. ● 2. What is the master narrative of citizenship? ● a. How has the master narrative of citizenship changed over time? What were the various citizenship criteria that resulted in the rulings of these cases: a. People v. George Hall (1853): b. U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark (1898): c. Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857): d. Naturalization Act of 1790: e. 14th Amendment, Sec 1 (1868): WOMEN’S MOVEMENT 1. 2. 3. 4. ● 5. 6. How did women participate in the American Revolution? ● What was Post-Revolution life like for women? ● What is the difference between these two master narratives: Cult of Domesticity and Cult of True Womanhood? ● What was the Temperance Reform Movement and why was this significant to the Early Women’s Movement? What kind of impact did this movement have? ● a. How did class play into the Temperance Reform Movement? What approaches and strategies did the early Women’s Movement take to address sexism and patriarchy? ● How did women’s activism resist the master narrative of the cult of domesticity and true womanhood? 7. ● How are these women and activities portrayed/represented by popular media at that time? ● NATIVE AMERICANS 1. What is the master narrative of Native Americans? ● 2. What master narratives are illustrated in John Gast’s painting “American Progress”? ● 3. What is syncretism? Give two examples. ● 4. How did Andrew Jackson impact and shape Native American existence during the 1800s? ● 5. What does the quote from Lewis Cass, Jackson’s Secretary of Way, say about the administration’s attitude toward Native Americans? ● 6. What kind of treachery and deception did white settlers and land speculators perpetrate against Native Americans? ● 7. What was the impact of white warfare and slavery on Native Americans? ● 8. What is the “frontier” master narrative? How is this an example of eurocentrism? ● 9. Why were European colonists embarrassed by Native Americans? ● 10. How did Native Americans influence the founding of the nation? ● 11. What was the legacy of conquest for Native Americans? ● 12. Why was the War of 1812 such a significant moment for Native Americans? ● MEXICO 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. What is manifest destiny and how is it connected to westward expansion and slavery? (Zinn Ch 8) ● Why was the Rio Grande such an important river in the struggle between Americans and Mexico? ● How were missions important to Spanish colonization? ● Why were New Mexico and California important lands in westward expansion? ● What role did white settlers, who were mainly from the south, play in the settlement of the west? ● Who opposed the Mexican war? Why? ● In the film, how did the Mexican elite interact with Native Americans? ● What was the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo? In comparison to the Louisiana Purchase, was the Treaty a good deal? ● CIVIL WAR 1. ● 2. Describe the master narratives of the Civil War? ● a. What is the Magnolia Myth? What are slavery’s legacies (Loewen Ch 5) ● 3. According to Loewen, what were his findings about how the Civil War narrative was constructed in textbooks? Give examples for each finding. ● 4. How was slavery a socioeconomic system? ● 5. How does racism make slavery a unique phenomenon in the U.S.? ● 6. What was white slave owners’ logic of slavery? ● 7. What is the Confederate Myth of Reconstruction? ● 8. What are the master narratives of slavery that appear in the Gone with the Wind film clips? ● 9. How does slavery uniquely lay the foundation for modern day American capitalism? (1619 podcast, ep 2) ● 10. Why was slavery “too big to fail”? 1619 podcast, ep 2) ●