Latin American and Caribbean Studies

I.  Group Presentation (50 pts)

On the day indicated on the syllabus, each group will introduce their country to the class in an interactive presentation.  In other words, group members will present an overview of life in their assigned country and lead a discussion about its history and cultural life.  You may use video clips, CDs, or other media to enhance your presentation.  You should be sure to include the following information in your presentation:  historical background, ethnic makeup, economic basis, population, cultural characteristics, and interesting facts.  You may want to discuss music, religion, dance, rituals, beliefs, customs, etc. of the population living on your assigned island.  The group should come prepared to lead a discussion on the day’s assigned readings as well.  You should prepare a Powerpoint presentation to help guide your presentation.  All group members must be present and participate in the presentation to receive credit for this assignment.  The presentation should be between 15-20 minutes long (no longer than 20 minutes) and is worth 50 pts.

To enhance your presentation, each group must prepare a fact sheet about your country to distribute to the class.  The fact sheet should include basic information about the country, including population, racial distribution, mean income, current political situation, historical information, major import and exports, etc.  The fact sheet should give a brief overview of your assigned country and discuss some of its unique cultural, religious, and economic characteristics.  You want your reader to be able to use your fact sheet to learn everything they need to know to acquire a basic understanding of your assigned country.  For sample fact sheets, check out:  http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFFacts; http://hhttps://www.cthealth.org/publications/resources/.    You must email the fact sheet to me 24 hours before your presentation if you want me to make copies to distribute to the class.  If you do not do so, your group will be responsible for making and distributing 18 copies of it.

II.   Individual Assignment (75 pts)

For this assignment, you will work on your own to create an appropriate and culturally-relativistic travel brochure for the country on which you focused for your group presentation.  You should decide who your desired audience is for this brochure and design a brochure that speaks to them.  You should use both text and images in your brochure, but remember that brochures shouldn’t include too much text.  If you use outside sources or sources read in class in your brochure, you should cite them using a standard academic citation style. 

In addition to your brochure, you will also write a 2-page explanation of the decisions you made in creating of your brochure. You must include an explanation of why you decided to include the information you did and how you tried to avoid ethnocentrism and exoticizing your country in your brochure. The brochure must correspond to your rationale.

You are being assessed on your ability to think about your assigned country and its people; your brochure design, information, and layout; and your written rationale.  A rough draft of these assignments is due on November 13 in class.  You will earn up to 25 points for the rough draft.  You will earn up to 50 points for the final drafts of your brochure and accompanying explanation.  The final drafts are due in class on November 25. 

POPULAR SOURCES

These sources are magazines or newspapers.They are secondary discussion of someone else's research; may include personal narrative or opinion; they provide general information, and their purpose is to entertain or inform.

TRADE PUBLICATIONS

Current news, trends and products in a specific industry; practical information for professionals working in the field or industry.

SCHOLARLY JOURNALS

In-depth, primary account of original findings written by the researcher(s); very specific information, with the goal of scholarly communication.

 Advanced Search