Faculty: James Millette, African American Studies
Librarian: Haipeng Li, Reference Librarian
Course: Slavery and Freedom in the Western Hemisphere
This proposal relates to a course, which I have been teaching for some time. It is entitled Slavery and Freedom in the Western Hemisphere, AAST 208. The course focuses on the rise of the slave systems in the New World and examines the reasons underlying the establishment of "Negro slavery", and the forces, developments and trends that explain the ubiquitous character of the system of African slavery throughout the hemisphere. The course examines the "discovery" of the Americas, the establishment of European contacts with the original people of the New World and the rise of a socioeconomic, political and cultural complex based upon slavery and other firms of coerced labor. The major themes include: the incorporation of West Africa and its peoples in the new economies of the west, the creation of a development triangle uniting Europe, the Americas and Africa; New World slavery, its anachronisms and characteristics; slave life, slave culture and slave resistance; marronage and maroon societies; the Haitian Revolution and its consequences; comparative political institutions and structures; the emancipation movements, from above and below; their causes and manifestations; the realization of freedom by the enslaved peoples of the hemisphere.
The field of slavery studies is alive with new material, books, book reviews, articles, conference proceedings, CD-ROM's, debates and forums on a whole host of substantive and related issues, including race and racism, reparations, urban studies, education, family life and class contradictions within the Black community, and more. Techniques of information literacy will help considerably in assisting students to complement the written history with the new insights unfolding on a day-by-day basis on an old but continuingly important subject. It would be useful to integrate information literacy into the assignments, and to make information literacy an established part of the pedagogical routine.
I want to spend some time this summer re-working the list of topics addressed in the course and rationalizing the reading material offered in it. Usually, the reading is manageable but challenging. I want to make it more manageable and less challenging, more focused on the vital necessities of the topic, and more diverse with respect to presentation. Also, my technique makes significant use of maps, tables, and diagrams, usually offered selectively on the topics covered from week to week.
The other plan I have for this course is to create a website and make as much information related to research on the web as possible. Most students are already quite familiar with the Internet and it would be to their advantage to have the course materials on the web, such as the syllabus, maps, tables, etc. This will provide wider and easier access to the materials for our students.
Additionally, it is important to have the students draw on the vast book resources of the library. Traditionally, students read what they are told and not much else. I would like to explore ways of encouraging them to use the whole resources of the library, digital and textual. I would like also address the problem of sources that has a peculiar resonance in the digital age wherein books are being challenged for attention by internet paraphernalia which is often unreliable, journalistic, non-academic and prone to plagiarism.
The course contains a substantive research component, which requires a 10 - 12 page research paper. This would be the place where information literacy issues could be incorporated. The following is an outline of how information literacy issues are to be integrated into this course:
Early on in the semester after an orientation of the subject matter, a session on methodology of the course will be given, which will include general discussions of the research assignment, the research process, and expectations.
Students will be given a number of research topics assigned by the professor, from which they will choose a topic of their own interest to work on. Additional reading/research beyond Reserve Room readings is expected. The students are to submit a bibliography of materials relevant to their topics.
At this point students should have started their research process. The librarian will come to the class to discuss specific information literacy issues such as the distinction between scholarly and popular materials, the difference between primary and secondary information the specific resources available on the issue of slavery and how to best locate the information.
Students are to evaluate the information gathered to determine what the best sources are to use for the paper. A literature review discussion with the professor and the librarian is held to include issues on what resources were examined, how the process went, and how useful the information located proved to be.
The assignment requires that students include a bibliography, footnotes or endnotes in the paper. It is important for students to know the proper way of citing references and making attributions to authors. They also need to know that citing needs to be consistent in research.
For all of these reasons I would appreciate the opportunity to work with Reference Librarian Haipeng Li on re-designing this course so as to develop a mix of content and format that is appropriate to undergraduate scholarship in the electronic age.