Material Culture Research Project | Colonial Latin America

This project should demonstrate your mastery of several student learning goals set by the Department of History: developing a historical question, researching primary and secondary sources using the College of Wooster library system and online databases, creating a compelling historical narrative, and critically analyzing primary and secondary sources. It will also allow you to show your appreciation of the diversities of cultures and historical experiences in the Atlantic World.

Using Arnold Bauer’s Goods, Power, History and our primary source analyses as conceptual models, you will investigate the ways in which historians use objects to better understand daily life in Colonial Latin America. Your projects will analyze a range of primary sources as well as addressing how your object and the historical questions it raises have been studied by other historians.

You will communicate your findings in two ways: improving a Wikipedia article (described here), and producing a 4-5 minute audio slideshow. Because of the nature of these two formats, you’ll be sharing two very different kinds of history research.

Audio Slideshow: Assignment Details

The best audio slideshows will: demonstrate considerable research into Latin American material culture, including the history of your assigned cultural artifact and what it reveals about the wider colonial context; gather and analyze a compelling set of primary source images; employ important scholarly secondary sources to interrogate the historiography of your topic; communicate your historical analysis with clarity and style; and synthesize information from a range of sources to address Bauer’s questions of colonial power, consumption, and identity.

Questions to be addressed in your audio slideshow include, but are not limited to: The what/when/how/where/whys of the material culture object; how it was made and who used it; and if the artifact’s use changed over time. What role did these objects object play in the history of Colonial Latin America? What course themes does your research illuminate? What does it reveal about colonial power and consumption? About identity? Hybridity? How have other historians interpreted these themes? This audio slideshow should highlight your engagement with Bauer’s main themes: the relationship between consumption and identity; the rituals surrounding objects; and colonial power and consumption.

Your audio slideshow is due by noon on Friday, November 30. Post the link your YouTube video to Moodle. You are welcome to make your video “unlisted”, but you need to make sure I can see it!

Research Prospectus (5% of course grade)

Your prospectus has three parts:

a 150-200 word abstract that explains your central historical argument
an annotated bibliography with at least four scholarly sources related to your research. Parts 1 & 2 are due by noon on Friday, October 20.
a polished storyboard. In addition to the images you plan to use, you will present a full draft of your audio script. This will be 4-5 minutes long, so about 500-600 words, and is due by noon on Friday, November 10.

Audio Slideshow Tips

This project is an exercise in digital storytelling. Your audio slideshow will combine a voiceover analysis of your material culture object with images that enhance your argument. Each student will create a four to five minute audio slideshow. You can use iMovie, Windows Photo Story or an app like Flipagram. You’ll just need to upload your final project to YouTube to share it with me.

Think about the attributes of a compelling audio slideshow:

Descriptive, vivid language
Clear argument supported by concrete examples
Logical transitions and a clear link between slides and audio
Interesting images that support your argument
Images from a variety of sources, perspectives, and mediums

More tips:

You can plan out your storyboard using an online tool like StoryboardThat or in a word processing program in Word or Google.
Draft a script for your slideshow that provides a contextual introduction to your material culture object. Think carefully about how the medium (in this case, an audio file) should inform your composition. Make sure that you have a clear argument, that you vary sentence length and structure, and that you favor active verbs and descriptive language. Your audio should be at least four minutes long, but no more than five.
Think about how to use visuals creatively to enhance your argument.
Plan the timing of your slideshow carefully. Consider how much time to allow between images, and how to sync the images and text. Too many images passing by quickly frustrate your viewer because they don’t have time to process the information. Try to aim for at least five seconds screen time for most slides (It is ok to have a few exceptions.) Too long on a single image can be dull. One strategy is to look for different views of the same image, or multiple images to show your point.
Edit, revise, and refine your storyboard carefully.
Strive for visual uniformity in your presentation. Most professional audio slideshows use black backgrounds because it streamlines the visual effect.
You are designing for a computer screen rather than a projection, so you don’t need to use huge fonts that can be seen from the back of the room. Be consistent with your font choice, size, and basic layout.
Make sure that you crop your images to best make your point.
Don’t blow up an image so much that it becomes pixilated or illegible.
No clip art. Please. It is not cute or funny.
Don’t use slide transitions. Simple is best.
Make sure you include the source for all source images and audio in a final “sources” slide. Follow Chicago bibliography style.

Every step of this process takes time and cannot be rushed! It will be impossible to create an acceptable presentation at the last minute.

Audio Slideshow: Assignment Details

Research Prospectus (5% of course grade)

Audio Slideshow Tips

Examples of Historians Analyzing Material Culture

Image Sources (licensed for educational use with attribution)

Audio Slideshow Resources