Unit 2: Project Builder 2

Genre/Discipline: History 

1.  What specific qualities do historical writing pieces have those made the audiences recognize that they are historically related?
2. What is your favorite style of writing when it comes to the genre of history?
3. Who are the main audiences and are people without historical backgrounds able to understand the written language within this genre?
4. How important is it to quote or include historical scholars as reference within the genre of history?
5.  What kind of citations do historians usually use and why?
6. What are the main goals as you are writing in the fields of history? 

Unit 2: Project Builder 1

Cold War/ 20th Century Wars

Suri, J. (2006). The world the superpowers made, an article from History in Focus. History.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 April 2016, from http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus/cold/articles/suri.html

What is the article about?

The article talks about the cold war; the struggle between the US and the Soviet Union to emerge as the superpower; the only two countries in the position to emerge as superpowers after the collapse of the European countries after the famous 2^nd World War. It is important to note that the Cold War was the condition of military and political upheavals that developed between Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc just after World War II, in 1947-1991. It was a difference in economic beliefs and ideas with other countries backing their ideologies with their religious beliefs. The US was capitalist while the Soviet Union was communist and each advocated for the spread of their ideas to various Asian countries. The two nations were working hard to expand their territories further and further.

What has been written or published before it

Many articles were written before this article mostly talked about the World War II and its effects on the global income. After the collapse of the European and the Asian countries the US as well as the Soviet Union were actually the only two powerful countries left to handle the future of the international relationships. 

What is in the article?

The article talks about how Truman and Stalin joined forces to determine the fate of the world economy and avoid another war. However, they two knew that they were rivals. Before the cold war, the US and the Soviet Union turned from a cautious cooperation to a bitter rivalry with each superpower trying to spread their political and economic ideologies to the other countries of the world. The Soviet Union was dissolved due to massive economic destruction and bankruptcy which is believed to be brought by the need to put up with NATO’s armament level in the 1980s; the individual countries partnered with the US. The Reagan doctrine succeeded in reducing nuclear use and in using diplomacy other than force while facing any global disagreement. However, it is the source of labor strikes in America, third world dependency and most of the critical wars such in Angola.

The impact of the article

The article opens the reader to what happened in the past about the Cold War. It enables anyone who reads it to understand why the Cold War existed and why it lasted for that long.

The design

The article is historical and shows the activities that took place in the world in the past. The author of the book wrote the prize-winning book, Power, and Protest: Global Revolution and the Rise of Détente (Cambridge, Mass., 2003). The author uses stylistic sentences that compare the two superpowers. The sentence shows what Soviet Union does in response to what the US does. The story flows continuously from the first to the last paragraph. The introduction shows where the Cold War began while the conclusion summarizes the whole events and comments what ended the war.

Whether it is appropriate

The article was appropriate since it narrates the whole story about what happened since the World Cold War started to when it ended.

Saunders, N. (2002). History in Focus: War (Articles: Material Culture of War). History.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 April 2016, from http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus/War/articles/intro.html

What is the article about?

The article talks about the material culture of the war in the twenty century. It shows the elements that the anthropologists have corrected from the military personnel. The anthropologist should have tangible evidence to connect the war and the activities.

What has been written or published before it

The book is an edition of a previous book

What is in the article?

The article talks about how little things such a bullet is used to give people an experience of the situation at that particular time. For instance, each war that occurred in the past has a representative object. World War I is represented by an artefact.  Seeing the objects helps people to explore the connections of changing values and attitudes associated with different individuals in the various decades. The war materials enable people to connect the spiritual, material, politics and emotions of the residents in a particular decade. The British commemorate the war memorials through observance of silence for two minutes since 1919 to present. The materials also showed the evolution of technology over the years. For instance, during the World War I the soldiers used the 3-D items such as mementos. The archaeological materials are often a tourism heritage for the countries that have them. The article also talks about the Imperial War Museum which is now a financial gain for the country it is situated.

The impact of the article

The report shows the importance of archaeological materials; the benefits the war materials have brought to the countries which have them. It motivates people to preserve the materials of an individual situation for memorization and future references. War items are historical evidence of the fact that war existed.

The design

The article uses rhetorical style. It kept the reader in suspense and interested to know more about the author theme. The author makes paragraphs that are related, but each has a different topic with a similar theme. Most sentences are in a question form to enable the reader to think through about what they expect would happen. The title is related to the whole article concept since the author expounds on it. The author also incorporates photos such that of Imperial War Museum to show the importance of war materials.

Whether it is appropriate

The article is relevant since it convinces readers like me about the importance of archaeological evidence. It also shows the financial and other benefits realized through preservation of the cultural and historical evidence. The war areas are now tourism sites.

Unit 1: Project Builder 2

            The genre historical documentary shown by “The Prequel” by Nicholas D. Kristof aims to raise historical awareness, educate, and spark controversial dichotomy among the audiences. The document raised eminent comparison between the infamous Christopher Columbus, Zheng He, as well as Vasco Da Gama of Portugal. As a result, with the bulk of information provided by the author, readers will be able to draw their own conclusions, comparison, and analysis within this subject matter. Moreover, “The Prequel” might also be able to raise awareness on subjects that are often overlooked or ignored – this text is one of the many modern history-related texts that encouraged everyone to acknowledge Zheng He, and give less praise for Christopher Columbus.

Historical documentaries including “The Prequel” contains an academic tone, one that makes the readers feel the intensity as well as being able to believe that the mentioned historical facts and analysis are credible and worth believing. “As a resident of Asia for most of the past thirteen years, I’ve been searching for an explanation. It has always seemed to me that the turning point came in the early 1400s, when Admiral Zheng He sailed from China to conquer the world.” Here, the author provided a slight of his background information in order to enhance credibility. He stated that he was a resident of Asia, intending for the readers to assume that he is an expert in Zheng He and Asia-related History. Even with such an exaggerated statement like “Admiral Zheng He sailed from China to conquer the world”, this statement is deemed credible because the author subtly mentioned that he is an expert in this field. Just like the historical video documentaries, each guest speakers are subject to a line or two of texts that introduces the speaker’s background; for example “Professor Jackson Warkentin from University of California, Santa Barbara, specializes in East Asian studies.” With this, even before the professor started talking, viewers already unconsciously realized that this speaker is more knowledgeable than they are, and whatever they say will be credible.

Many people will find history mundane, and therefore each historical-related texts will include some unique elements that aims to hook the reader’s attention. For example, in “The Prequel” Kristof mentioned the phenomenon of giraffes according to the Chinese people in the 1400s. “Every time I heard the story about the giraffes my pulse began to race. Chinese records indicate that Zheng He had brought the first giraffes to China… The giraffe caused an enormous stir in China because it was believed to be the mythical qilin, or Chinese unicorn.” The author immediately hooked his readers by mentioning how his pulse began to race whenever he hears about the story that he’s about to tell. After successfully grasping the reader’s attention, the author then cleverly threw in an interesting fact that Zheng He had brought the first giraffes to China, and at the same time presenting the fact in a way that it is credible. The author then inserted mythology within the text as a wow factor – at this point all the readers are amazed by this new unknown fact. After reading about giraffes, the readers might wonder where did Zheng He receive the giraffes? Throwing in fun facts like these could not only entertain the readers, but also allowed them to analyze deeper asking themselves how? Why? And so what? (which are all important questions in history.

Towards the end of the text, the author invites his audiences on a journey filled with “what ifs?” In doing so, the readers will think about this texts beyond what they read, a technique that proves to be thought provoking, and very influential. “If ancient China had been greedier and more outward-looking, if other traders had followed in Zheng He’s wake and then continued on, Asia might well have dominated Africa and even Europe.” This is one of the moments where history could have went in many other directions, which will of course have an impact on the present. Rhetorical techniques like these not only make the readers believe what they read, but also convince them that history as a whole offers much more than what people usually think. 

Unit 1: Project Builder 1

            The Prequel by Nicholas D. Kristof published in 1999 is a secondary historical article that vividly described not only the voyages, but also the after effects of Admiral Zheng He’s voyage in the 1400s. This article’s genre could be best described as a historical documentary or historical narrative.

            What made this article “historical” is the secondary sources compiled within the author’s journey with an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of Zheng He. The article jumps from the 15^th – 16^th century to the 20^th century depending on the subject of matter. Dates remain as a very important factor that exists in any historical related works. Moreover, there were also comparisons made between Zheng He and Christopher Columbus in the article. Although historical figures are often mentioned in many other genres, an analysis between them does not. The article is filled with deep historical analysis, primary texts, as well as interviews and conversations with native people in the countries that Zheng He visited.

            When you think of a history-based documentary on TV shows such as the history channel, there will always be scholars and professors of history talking towards the end of each scenes providing their own opinion/analysis on the subject matter – this article is no different. The author Nicholas D. Kristof gave his own opinion after each interview sessions or after describing a historical event regarding Zheng He. In addition, historical pieces often tend to have references to primary sources or other historical works in order to make a point more credible – this article is filled with primary sources from all around the world, which further strengthens the author’s research about Zheng He.

            The shift between settings in this article is also noteworthy. Normally, historical pieces will consist settings that are located in the past. In this article, the same settings were described within both the context of the 15^th – 16^th centuries as well as the present. Furthermore, according to Wikipedia, authors also frequently choose to explore notable historical figures in these settings, allowing readers to better understand how these individuals might have responded to their environments.

            However, from a different perspective, the author could only be telling a story about Zheng He and his effects on the people surrounding him – if the reader chose to look at article this way, then this article’s genre could be narrative. In one of the paragraphs, the author even mentioned that some people believed that Zheng He brought Giraffes to China, and Chinese people during that time thought that giraffes were some sorts of mythical Chinese unicorn. If this paragraph were viewed alone, then the genre of this article would be myth or even fairy tale.