|History 284: Hawaiian History||
|Instructor: Colette Higgins|
Understanding Self & Community
Historians are detectives of the past. The work of an historian involves a great deal of searching, and sometimes the quest is more rewarding than the final product. Your assignment is to go on a detective-like journey to learn more about a subject you find intriguing, and to share an unexpected story that you discovered along the way.
Look over the topics listed below, you will be signing-up for topics in class during the second week of instruction (no more than two students per topic). Once you have your topic, you can begin your quest. Be mindful of your own thought processes along the way.
I want to know more about . . .
1. Kamehameha's two foreign advisors: Isaac Davis and John Young.
2. Kamehameha II's visit to London in 1823-24.
3. the French Catholic missionaries who were forced to leave Hawai‘i in 1831.
4. Alexander Liholiho's and Queen Emma's pro-British sentiments.
5. Kalakaua's world tour, or his study abroad program for promising Hawaiian scholars.
6. Kapi‘olani's experiences on her trip to Washington D.C. and London in 1887.
7. the Chinatown fire of 1900, and the impact on its residents and downtown Honolulu.
8. the Massie case, and how it exposed race relations in Hawai‘i in the 1930s.
9. the life of an immigrant plantation worker in the early 20th century.
10. the Japanese-Americans in Hawai‘i, and why the majority weren't interned during WWII.
11. the story of the Hokule‘a, and its connection to the Hawaiian Renaissance.
Be sure to keep track of all your sources. You will need to submit a "Detective's Notebook" with Parts I & II. This is basically an informal list of all the sources you've consulted during your investigation. For Part III, you must submit an annotated bibliography, which means, in addition to the typical bibliographical citation (author, title, city, publisher, year), you need to also provide a brief explanation on how each source helped you. I am interested in all the sources that you’ve consulted for your information (i.e. books, articles, videos, internet sites, historical sites, interviews), regardless of its significance in the final product.
Three Part Writing Process (worth 150 points total)
o If you choose to write an essay, you will develop a thesis and support it in a typical research paper format. Imagine that you’re writing for a scholarly journal and the theme for that edition is: People & Places in History. You will develop a thesis statement, then support it with data uncovered through research.
o If you choose to write a dialogue, you will need to identify two people who will have an imagined conversation (one being a person conncected to your research). It will read much like a script for a play, or a transcript of an interview. Imagine that your written dialogue will be performed as a two person live play at a high school or middle school. The curriculum objective is to have students appreciate the value of learning about people who came before us.
o If you choose to write a vignette, you will be telling a story. You could describe behaviors, thoughts, and events from your historical character's perspective. This format also provides the option of a narrator's voice (i.e. someone telling the story, but not necessarily involved in it). Imagine that your vignette will be published in one of KCC’s student journals and your audience knows nothing about Hawaiian history.
Organization, grammar, spelling and punctuation will be graded in this third part. You must also resubmit your graded Parts I & II, and provide an annotated bibliography (all in a non-plastic folder). Format: double spaced, one inch margins, 800-1000 words, although it is understood that the dialogue or vignette may be substantially longer for scene setting reasons.* Late papers will be accepted, but there will be a five-point penalty for each class day that a paper is late. Due: Wednesday, April 22nd
*Please identify the font & provide a word count at the end of each part.
(e.g. Times New Roman 930 words)