The Attack On Greogry Starchan

Defend, or attack, the validity of Gregory Strachan’s critique of hotels, tourism, and the specific type of unconsciousness that is created by tourism culture. Mention not just the ESSENCE MAGAZINE advertisement reproduced in his book, but pay attention to several of the IMAGES, ADS, and PHOTOS used in  “Paradise and Plantation” that emphasize his overall theme: his ECONOMIC critique. If you support and agree with his critique, use A HOUSE FOR MR. BISWAS among the course texts you will quote to help you support your argument. He critiques ads and photos for very political, psychological as well as economic reasons, and offers them actually as a centerpiece of the early chapters in which he lays out his basic argument. As much as the hotels he critiques are symbolic of his basic argument, the images used throughout the book are symbolic of his basic theme–economic oppression.

If you are against his critique of the racism and self hatred captured by the images and photos you must object to his specific economic and his specific historical arguments with economic and historical arguments of your own, NOT POSITIVISM. So THINK about what his basic economic argument IS, and how it relates to his first few chapters and to everything you’ve learned about the economics of the Caribbean. Discuss both as you defend or attack his critique of the ad. Your thesis will be your declaration of a defense, or of an attack. Bear in mind that whether you defend him or attack him, you must deal with his actual theory, his theme, his analysis, etc. You cannot dispute a social or economic theory by dismissing it or ignoring it with fatuous appeals to God or the Bible, to positivist thinking, or suspicious ideas about ‘success’ or false pride, etc.; you have to discuss what you are arguing against, not indulge in ad hominem (‘ad hominem’ is attacking the person rather than disputing their theory). STUDENTS BEWARE: I will grade you accordingly  if you do not write critically in response to this prompt–no one, not even famous magazines, celebrities, or seemingly wealthy entertainment figures, can escape historical and economic critique. Yes, I even mean the no-dancing, no-singing, no-talent, Beyonce and skill-less Lady Gaga when I say nobody escapes.

PROMPT: Re-read carefully the uncompromising statement Strachan makes on page 14 of his book, where he makes a clear and direct statement of the underlying theme of his entire book: he says that the ad, “My Secret Garden”, brings ‘into bitter focus’ the links ‘between paradise and plantation’. Discuss what he means by this with regard to all of the images of the book, and how he either succeeds or fails to make a valid critique of the ad. Bear in mind that I will not accept a simplistic paper that has no texture, no references to the material of the entire course, or that ignores the deeper issues that Strachan and this course are addressing. You cannot simply agree with him and be done, or disagree with him and call it a day. DISCUSS your SUPPORTING DETAILS and use this question to demonstrate your COMMAND OF ALL THE COURSE MATERIALS. You are an academic, a university student. Those who wish to defend the presumptions of this ad or defend the capitalist values of ESSENCE should beware: In academic writing you cannot legitimately disagree with someone’s argument (as many of you clumsily tried to do in earlier writings and in your emails to me) without accounting for it first—you must FULLY account for everything Strachan is saying, and disagree with him point by point. You cannot disagree with an intellectual critique by simply ignoring what the writer is saying; you must respect whatever you disagree with. Likewise, an intellectual position you support must be accounted for by your obligation to specifically discuss the reasons (evidence) you support that position, which means I will not go any easier on those who agree with Strachan without effectively arguing WHY they agree with him.

To form supporting details:

Present at least three reasons that your two books and/or articles support your thesis, as well as one supporting detail that uses other material from the lectures, videos, and your course supplement.  In your body paragraphs, in addition to expanding on your supporting details you must explain Strachan’s thinking. Your three supporting details are the point of your body paragraphs, which you ought to understand by now, is the meaning of college essay form. It might be best to focus mainly on one specific chapter from each book, and a chapter from one of the course texts, as well as quotes from the lectures and the course supplement as you present your expansion in the body paragraphs.

Feel free to utilize the university’s writing centers and tutors for help and support while you are drafting; my strong advice is that you not turn in a first or second draft but turn in a well proofread, well edited third draft. Essay form is a requirement for this paper. Considering that it is unusually short for a college term paper, you must be certain to follow the requirement of essay form.

NOTE:

Assuming you will proofread, edit, and turn in a THIRD DRAFT, I expect you WILL NOT turn in a document with bad essay form and with incoherent grammar, in 14 or 16 point font, with spaces between paragraphs, and comically large headers and footers. Be warned that I will count each page for its TRUE LENGTH according to basics you’ve adhered to all semester:

-Correct essay form (follow the posted essay form outline)

-Three supporting details in your intro’s summary of support that form an essay map

-at least three PRINT research sources

-NO WEB SOURCES (except FULL TEXT)

-Full bibliography listing everything you’ve quoted and cited and all research sources

-1.5 inch spacing between lines (not double spacing!! not single spacing!!)

-1 inch header and footer

-1 inch margins

-No extra spaces between paragraphs

-NO EXCEPTIONS

College Essay Form

(use this outline as a checklist!)

I. Introductory Paragraph (no quotes or citations in an intro; 3 sentences is all you need)

Topic Sentence (first sentence)

Thesis Sentence (second sentence)

Summary of Support (third sentence–essay map)

-no quotes in your intro

-no rhetorical questions in your intro

-no statistics in your intro

-no plot summary in your intro

-at least three supporting details in essay map

II. Body Paragraphs (two body paragraphs for each supporting detail)

-expand on your essay map

-quotes, statistics, footnotes, citations, rhetorical questions, block quotes, etc.

-examples, sub-topics, etc.

-comparisons, contrasts

III. Concluding Paragraph (two sentences only)

1. Restate your thesis

2. Summarize your entire argument