Essay Proposal: Colonialism (Research Proposal Sample)
Course Name: Visual Culture and Colonialism
Assignment : Final Essay Proposal
The proposal is a one-page outline of your final essay topic (please see the description for the final essay below), with the image attached. It should consist of a description of the image, the reason you chose it, how it fits with the course theme, which concept/s from the course you will use to analyze it, and at least 3 references beyond the weekly course readings that speak to your image or topic (these could
provide background information on the context of the image, and/or elaborate further on the concepts you are using).
final essay description:
8-10 page paper that examines an image (film, artwork, advertisement, photograph, etc) or display (exhibition, museum, theme park etc) in relation to the visual culture of colonialism, using any of the
concepts covered in class: gender, the picturesque, the ethnographic gaze, the ‘world as picture’, collecting, commodity culture, race,
neocolonialism, etc. This could be a colonial image/display or an instance from contemporary visual culture. Again, you are expected to go beyond the readings assigned in class; your image analysis will
also require substantial independent research, so for both you should budget adequate time.
Course topics are listed below:
Week 1 Introduction: mapping colonialism
Week 2 Commodities and advertising
Week 3 Colonial imaginaries: Orientalism
Week 4 Challenging Orientalism
Week 5, Postcards, the picturesque, and gender
Week 6 Photography
Week 7 The ethnographic gaze
Week 8 Cinema
Week 9 Exhibition and display
Week 10 Museums and collecting
Week 11 Neocolonialism, cultural imperialism
Week 12 Speciesism and the question of the animal
Instructor:
Course:
Date:
Research Proposal
Colonialism is one of the aspects that have shaped the world and the relationships that most of the countries have. While it may deemed to have been in the past, it is still thriving between most of the countries, having changed the face of a slave and a master and taking more global look (Myweb.rollins.edu).
The picture attached, represents one of the paintings that was made depicting he colonial times of the nineteenth century. In the picture, there is a clear representation of the slavery associated with conquered people working in the plantations, while British masters supervise on horse backs. The choice of the picture relates to the fact that, the image is one of the most elaborate on issues related to colonialism and slavery. Workers under the colony are forced to work in the fields for meager wages, even though the land actually belongs to them. Ideally the people would be forced to work for the imperialists. Large plantations like the one that has been depicted in the picture were quite common, for mass production agricultural products to be used in trading overseas, in the cities and at the ports. In the picture the slaves are tending to the sugarcane plantation and it is evident men and women work together. Children were not spared either, as the image depicts (Exhibitions.nypl.org).
This is an image that fits in perfectly with the elements of imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism and historical representation of culture (Exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu). To analyze the picture, the concepts that are going to be applied include that of gender, race and neocolonialism. These are some of the ...
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