Paper #2
Please write a well-organized essay (1000-1200 words, excluding footnotes), based on the
following question. Your paper should be based on your own analysis of the primary and
secondary sources from this course. PAPERS WITHOUT PROPER SOURCE CITATIONS WILL BE
RETURNED UNGRADED. PLAGIARIZED PAPERS WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE REFERRED TO
STUDENT JUDICIAL AFFAIRS. If you have questions about how to cite sources, please see
below or ask me.
NOTE: You shall NOT use AI generative tools for this course.
Please note: You should use only the primary sources and secondary sources (When Asia was
the World) that have been assigned for this class. You can also cite lecture notes.
Format: Please use 12-point regular fonts and have margins of 1 inch. The paper should be
double-spaced and the footnotes should be single-spaced. Include page numbers in footer. Give
the paper a title, centered, underlined, and place it just above the first paragraph. You must
highlight (bold or using yellow highlighter) the main theme of your paper.
Prompt 1 (please carefully read the following instruction, do NOT skip)
In lectures and discussions, we have discussed various aspects of the way people from the West
(including Europe and the U.S.) envisioned places and people in Asia during colonial encounters.
For instance, British colonizers claimed that “India needed to be civilized.” Japan and China
were both depicted as “closed countries” which practiced “isolation policies.” Asian countries
were descried as “undeveloped and primitive.” There are other examples.
Imagine that you were living in one of the Asian places we have studies at some point during a
colonial encounter. Tell a story about your life and your experiences that calls into question,
complicates, or even falsifies the narrative(s) you chose. Your essay should use the primary
sources (the readings posted on D2L) as evidence to support your OWN analysis and
interpretation.
Prompt 2
In our lectures and discussions, we have explored the diverse ways that that Asian countries
attempted to break free from colonial or semi-colonial rule during the process of
decolonization. Imagining that you were living in one or more of these Asian places that we
have studied, tell a story about your life and experiences during the process of decolonization
and share your opinions on the way(s) that the Asian countries built a new nation. Your essay
should use the primary sources (the readings posted on D2L) as evidence to support your OWN
analysis and understanding of decolonization and nation building.
NOTE: For both prompts, you must cite at least two sources from class readings. Direct quotes
from the sources are encouraged.
If you have questions, please ask us!
EXAMPLE FOR REFERENCES:
Footnote your quotations and your use of information or ideas derived from any other writers.
Your first citation should provide the author’s full name; the full title of his or her work; and (for
published books and articles) the place and date of publication; and the specific page or pages.
In subsequent citations of that source you need use only the author’s last name, a brief version
of his title, and the page number.
Examples:
• This is the full citation form for a chapter from a book:
“Biographies of Women,” in Images of Women in Chinese Thought and Culture: Writings
from the Pre-Qin Period through the Song Dynasty, ed. Robin Wang (Hackett Publishing
Company. Inc., 2003), 149-161.
• This is the full citation form for a book:
Stewart Gordon, When Asia Was the World: Traveling Merchants, Scholars, Warriors,
and Monks Who Created the Riches of the East” (Da Capo Press, 2009), 15.
