“Intrusions in Asia; Opera and Society and a Dilemma” Please respond to one (1) of the following, using sources under the Explore heading as the basis of your response:

Describe two (2) examples of how either black slaves or white abolitionists used literature or the visual arts as a form of protest against slavery. Be detailed in your descriptions and summaries of the texts that you actually read, and refer concretely at least to the textbook. Compare this to a modern example of art used for social protest.

Describe the key motives involved in the increased presence of Westerners in India, China, and Japan in the 1700s and 1800s. Identify the key factors that led to Britain’s successful imposition of its presence and trade policies on China, despite communications like those from Emperor Ch’ien-lung (i.e., Qianlong) and Commissioner Lin Zexu (i.e., Lin Tse-hsu). Argue for or against the British policies regarding China in the 1800s, using analogies from our own modern times.

Review pages 960-962 and 987-988 from the textbook.

Then, (1) click on Resource Center in Blackboard, (2) click on Databases, (3) click on Credo Reference and (4) in the search window type up ‘communism’.

Explain in your own words, while referring to your sources: (A) what is communism according to Marx? (B) what problems did it aim to solve? (C) what solutions did it propose to those problems?) (D) what problems does communism face in practice? (talk about concrete communist countries and their problems)

Evaluate communism: is it a good political and economic system? Is it inherently evil? Support your opinion with strong reasoning.

Read, listen to, and watch the sources for the opera composers at the Websites below and in this week’s Music Folder. Describe the major influences that Verdi, Wagner, or Puccini exerted upon opera in terms of making it more innovative, realistic, and even controversial. Next, consider Wagner and this dilemma: Wagner’s brilliance is clear because his works remain some of the most popular and admired productions in our own time. Yet, he was a blatantly antisemitic and held notions of racial purity, traits that have stained his artistic legacy. (This was compounded by the later celebration of Wagner’s music by Hitler and the Nazis). New York Times writer Anthony Tommasini wrote of Wagner in 2005: “How did such sublime music come from such a warped man? Maybe art really does have the power to ferret out the best in us.” So, consider the issue of whether we should or can separate the artist from the art, whether we can appreciate the art but reject the artist. Or whether we should reject both the person and his or her art. Identify one (1) modern musician or artist where this dilemma arises.

Explore:

American Dilemma–Slavery – The Art & Literature of Protest

Chapter 29 (pp. 962-976); slavery, literature, and art

Haven’s article on Goodman’s scholarship on art protesting slavery before the Civil War at http://news.stanford.edu/news/2009/february18/artists-slavery-protests-021809.html

Art and Slavery article at http://www.realhistories.org.uk/articles/archive/the-art-of-slavery.html

PLEASE copy the links and paste them into your browser – otherwise they don’t work for some reason.

Intrusions in Asia

The Opium Wars and Foreign Encroachment:http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1750_opium.htm

Opium Wars with visuals at http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/opium_wars_01/ow1_essay01.html

Key documents from China at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1793qianlong.asp andhttp://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/texts/com-lin.html

Opera and Society

Chapter 30 (pp. 999-1004), Wagner and Verdi; (pp. 1133-1134), Puccini; review the Week 5 “Music Folder”

Huizenga article and audio selections athttp://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2012/04/11/150420827/talk-like-an-opera-geek-how-verdi-wagner-and-puccini-got-their-grooves

Wagner video of a stage production (Tristan und Isolde) at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAEkTK6aKUM

Verdi video clip of stage production (Rigoletto) at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5NEOh-XhyA

Puccini video clip of stage production (Tosca) at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sSoKbv46zc

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