Materials: 

Lecture 4 – Unification and Isolation of Japan (Links to an external site.)

documentary – Japan (Links to an external site.)

Purpose: 

This discussion post is designed to evaluate your ability to make broader, analytical connections from the past to contemporary events.  Your discussion post should reflect your critical analysis of the past and present.  

Directions: 

1. Watch the lecture in its entirety.   

2. Determine what the main argument is.  In other words, all academic lectures have a key point (unless you have a terrible professor and they ramble on without a clear direction or purpose) that is being supported by evidence, which is what we call the argument.  Figure out what that argument is.  

3. In your discussion post, explain the argument by analyzing the evidence. As you are explaining the argument, you should discuss how that argument is significant for world history.  In other words, tell me why this topic is important for world history.  

4. Next, make a connection between the topic and any political, social, or cultural issue that we face today in the world.  You should explain how and in what ways the past informs or have shaped the present.  

5. Your discussion post should reflect how you interpret the past and connect it to present events. 

6. Please, be creative; be bold!  There is no right or wrong answer! I will evaluate you based upon the quality of your analysis.