Jeffrey Boakye

FIQWS

December 16th 2019

Proffessor Grove

 Reflective writing

As I sit down to reflect about my writings in the English class this semester, I realized that I was able to benefit  from most of the course. During the beginning of the semester, I thought I knew most about writing, how to make effective arguments, how to properly cite sources etc. but at the end of the semester, my perception about all these changed. At first, I wrote essays without brainstorming on the main points I was going to discuss in the paper which made most of my writing incoherent and not informative . I did most of my writing in first person and did not use the proper in-text citations that was required. Common grammatical errors and punctuations portrayed vague ideas and left portholes in my writings. Most of the quotes used in my writings were left unexplained and my sentences and paragraphs were unlengthy. I based most of my work on prior knowledge and did not depend on sources for evidence and factual information to back up my points. I barely addressed the counterarguments or even if I did, there was not a valid reason to refute the counterclaim.I   was not able to analyze sources which gave much problems in my Rhetorical analysis paper . 

During the beginning of the course, my professor informed the class about a 1800 -2400 final research paper with work cited page of a minimum of six peer reviewed articles. I was beyond confused because I had never written a research paper before, not talk of that long. I was ignorant about finding the peer reviewed articles because I did not even understand the meaning of peer reviewed articles and where to find them. Fortunately, we held one of our class sessions in class and this helped.The professor  demonstrated how to use the basic search, advanced search and all of the databases available on the CCNY online library. This made me knowledgeable as a good writer and academic researcher. However, halfway through the course, During this period i was able to finish my Rhetorical analysis for the class.Due to somoe mistakes i got a F in this essay. Although this was disappointing because of the effort i put in and various visits of the writing center, with the Proffessors constant feedback i rather realized my mistakes and  looked to revise my work .Some of the comments were about my word choice, paragraph construction and giving more information and analysis , how to use the proper MLA in-text citation and I lacked vivid explanation of quotes connecting to my claim. As I received this feedback from my instructor, it enlightened me to make corrections that would prepare me for the rest of the course. In class, we went through various articles and writings which proposed different ways of how to use sources to provide effective arguments such as the “BEAM method”. We went over examples of articles which showed how authors organized and built up their argument. This opened my mind to be versatile and I was able to implement most of the new things I learned in my upcoming writings  becuase most the assignments where almost to a end 

 Workshop sessions allowed my peers to review my writings and make any corrections necessary while I did theirs. Peer critique helped me gain knowledge and insight through evaluations and feedback. It helped me revise my pre-semester reading response because after reading the comments and feedback from my peers, I realized that some of the main points were vague and needed restructuring. I wrote in full complete sentences and all my quotes were clearly explained. I rechecked for grammar errors and punctuations just to be on the safer side.

 At the end of the semester, my reading had changed and approach towards writing assignments gradually changed . I was able to easily identify main points and fallacies anytime I read an article. My writing now is better when compared to how I wrote in the beginning of the semester.. With my research paper, the feedback I got from my instructor and peers was important because I was able to finalize my paper based on their comments such as including more quotes to back up the information provided and restructuring sentences.

Jeffrey Boakye 

Micheal Grove 

FIQWS Composition 10103

December 9, 2019 

Slavery And How It Affected Brazil 

               Many slaves achieved their freedom by using their horrible situation  in bondage to motivate them enough to prove their worth to themselves and to others . By examining great   leaders such as and Luis Gama and Antonio Pereira Rebouças of Brazil, one can see how they embodied the drive  that african americans needed in order to gain their freedom . Thus, this paper serves to show how although slaves went through terrible conditions and faced severe injustice , their circumstances motivated them to push for their freedom and embrace their identity. 

               Slaves were very important to Brazil  in the eighteen and nineteen century. Slave labor was the  major force behind the growth of many economies in Brazil  such as the Sugar economy and many more. Klein and Vidal shows us how useful slaves were to the economy in their book Slavery In Brazil when they  say “Slaves are the hands and feet of the senhor do engenho for without themBrazil could not make, conserve, or expand its resources, nor have a viable plantation system.This famous affirmation of Padre Antonil made at the beginning of the eighteenth century could not be more true and need not be restricted to the senhores de engenho(or sugar mill planters). They were the basic labor for the majority, even of the free population, which depended on their services. In all the economic activities developed in Brazil until the last quarter of the nineteenth century, slaves were the essential labor force.’’ ( Klein and Vidal 115)This shows how Slavery  had great benefit to Brazil but on the other hand was not right and wasn’t fair to the Slaves involved.

               During the nineteenth century , being a slave was a living hell.Slaves were considered property, because they were black. Their status as property was  further enforced by violence from white people .Slaves lived in unbearable conditions and lived by slave codes.These codes consisted of specific curfews ,restriction of education and more limitations on their rights..Treatment was generally characterized by brutality, degradation, and inhumanity. Whippings, executions, and rapes were a routine, and slaves were usually denied educational opportunities, such as learning how to read or write.The diets of enslaved people were inadequate or barely adequate to meet the demands of their heavy workload. They lived in crude quarters that left them vulnerable to bad weather and disease. Their clothing and bedding were minimal as well.  According to an article by Eunice Masunungure, “The slaves stayed in cabins, which were dilapidated, windowless and earth floors.According to Murray (1971): “One Mississippi planter made his 150 Negroes live in twenty-four huts each measuring 16 feet by 14 feet, sleeping on beds made of straw with old rags thrown down in the corners and boxed with boards.”Those with ‘better’ bedding slept on mattresses of corn husks. They covered themselves with a single blanket, even in extreme weather conditions” ( Masunungure). This shows how  indeed slaves were going through harsh conditions and evil treatment.She   points out and lays emphasis on how these slaves were being housed , the bad weather conditions they were dealing with them and how they were being fed. This shows how slaves facing this bad treatment affected them.she further continues to describe their condition  after all this treatment. “Since living conditions were appalling, several died from neonatal tetanus, gangrene, pleurisy, pneumonia and rheumatism.There was no proper medication for slaves.The slave masters thought that poor diet would actually keep the slaves from committing crime.” This  clearly highlights the nightmare slaves lived in.  Williams, Mary Wilhelmine  tells us more about the treatment of these slaves and the maltreatment they went through in her book in “7 The few wagons that were seen on the streets were usually drawn by slaves un- til towards the middle of the nineteenth century, but most of the burdens were carried by means of poles resting across the shoulders of the slaves, or-especially in the case of coffee, though each sack weighed one hundred and sixty pounds-upon the heads.8 Such heavy burden-bearing often raptured the carriers, crippled them severely in the legs, or otherwise wrecked them physically.9”(Williams,317)This shows how slaves suffered and weren’t treated right which affected them .

Going through all these harsh conditions and unimaginable work demand, the only prayer every slave wished for was freedom because freedom meant an end to the beatings and harsh punishments , to the sale of family members, and  the infringement of their human rights. These slaves realized that the only way they could make a change about their situation is that they make an effort in every single way they can. Some slaves sought to gain their freedom through manumission, escape, or by their own way they wished to demand their freedom. Sue Peabody and Kelia Gringberg stated that, “It would be a mistake to see Freedom primarily as something that was “handed down” by colonial or european elites to slaves .Slaves sought,negotiated for,and demand their freedom both individually and collectively as can be seen in these documents.Maroons escaped their enslavement and engaged in guerrilla welfare. Enslaved women publicly shamed their masters for sexual abuse and breach of contract in lawsuits for freedom”( Peabody and Grinberg Pg 26 ) .This emphasizes on the point that slaves ought to fight for their  freedom in their own way and make a effort to get themselves out of their own situations. Peabody and Grinberg points out the fact that in order for slaves to  gain their freedom they also had to make their voices heard .They start by stating the fact that freedom isn’t going to come to them but instead they have to gain it such as when they talked about the Maroons and Enslaved women . This shows how they were able to prove their worth to themselves and even when they were facing terrible conditions and faced severe injustice , their circumstances motivated them to push for their freedom and embrace their identity. 

            Slaves and other people other rose up to fight to get their freedom. Some slaves used their advantage of   acquiring knowledge and used this knowledge to stop slavery .One slave who  used his oratorical and intellectual abilities to pave a way for the end of freedom  was Luis Gama . Luis Gama was the son of Luisa Mahin who was a free African woman of “Mina” nation who sold foodstuff in the city market. In 1840, when Gama was 10 years old, his papa sold him illegally, allegedly because of gambling debts but Luis Gama  ended up being  one of the most successful abolitionist of his time  who impacted Brazils slavery system with his role in the abolitionist movement and freeing more than one thousand slaves.Gama  was born a slave in 1830, in Bahia .  He educated himself and became determined to make a change about slavery  not only for himself but for all slaves. Toyin Ashiru gives us an insight of Gamas life as a slave  by telling us in his blog “Gama stayed with his master for 8 years on an estate and learnt how to read and write from a students who rented rooms on the estate. In 1848 Gama escaped and managed to prove that his condition was illegal to justice courts thus becoming a free man.Once a free man he became a soldier in the Urban Guard a military police force where he stayed until 1858 until he was discharged for insubordination, after this he joined the police force and progressed to be the scribe at the Sao Paulo Police Secretariat” . This shows that although Gama was a slave and was going through terrible conditions and severe injustices, he used his circumstances to motivate him and push him to his freedom. They  shows emphasis on his effort by showing how he made an extra effort to acquire knowledge even though he realized his ability when he was young he still made efforts to be taught although at that moment it was illegal for a slave to be educated.

             Antonio Pereira Rebouças was also another individual  who used his effort to push for his  freedom and embrace their identity as african americans.  Rebouças  was also  surely one of the best advocates in his time. In this case he  also grew up in slavery and experienced these terrible conditions and severe injustices of  his point was a great effort.Born as a slave in 1798 Born into the era were black people were like  treated like property he found a determination to succeed and discovered many qualities in life. He suffered racism in much of the positions in which he held. He considered himself different from other browns for his achievements and fought for his civil rights.  Rebouças   wasn’t able to receive an Education  at a certain time because it was illegal for him to receive but he still didn’t let this get in his way to acquire knowledge , he  continued to strive freedom because he was determined to educate himself .In a biography about Reboucas “André Pinto Rebouças was born in the town of Cachoeira, on the coast of Bahia, on 3 January 1838, the oldest son of Antônio Pereira Rebouças and Carolina Pinto Rebouças.Despite racial prejudice, his father, a mulatto, was an important and prestigious man at the time. Self-taught to read and write, he had been granted the right to practice law throughout the country, represented Bahia in the House of Representatives on a range of legislature, was secretary of the Provincial Governorship of Sergipe, advisor to the Empire, and had received the title of Knight of the Imperial Order of the cross in 1823.” (Lúcia Gaspar.) This shows how took his education seriously and it benefitted his son  although he had to go through bad circumstances instead he used this to motivate him to because he knew that this was what go get him towards his  goal for african Americans. The author goes on to talk about how he used this knowledge to leave a legacy for afrcan american identity. 

 Overall, no rational person would wish to be a slave so  slaves became active agents in their own lives because their freedom depended on them. And though their lives were  confined in many significant ways, but they sought to make the best of their circumstances. They succeeded to a remarkable extent, a testimonial to the endurance of the human spirit.This connects to the idea that although slaves went through terrible conditions and faced severe injustice,their circumstances motivated them to make a change for themselves and their people , to push for  their freedom and embrace their identity

 Jeffrey Boakye 

FIQWS 

23rd October 2019 

 Micheal Grove 

Why  Some People  Dig Conspiracy  Theories And Why They  Were More Likely To Accept Them  ?

  In many cases, conspiracy theories tend to bring together random events into meaningful patterns to make sense to someone . “Conspiracy theories” by Micheal Shermer and Pat Linse  aims to show why people believe in conspiracy theories and how  they are made believable. Micheal and Pat uses unforgettable events and circumstances from the past to show how conspiracies form a different perspective into an occurrence .Ultimately, their article  lays emphasizes on why conspiracy theories are formed,what triggers belief in them ,factors ideologies and test which overall gives the reader a deeper understanding.

    Author : Micheal Shermer and Pat Linse are the authors and most of their articles are devoted to investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. 

   Audience : Micheal Shermer and Pat Linse audience are very large since a lot of people   are skeptical about their belief in supernatural stories .Their audience may include  people who don’t know much about conspiracy theories or people who are interested in trying to engage  with ,and shift the thinking of people with conspiratorial ideation. 

   Purpose: Their purpose is to show how the  belief in conspiracy theories persuade people and are made believable and we accept them.

   Tone: Their tone is  persuasive and is also very informative  by including information outside the box about the purpose of trying to find the truth  behind conspiracy stories.

Genre/Medium: The genre for this magazine article  is conspiracy theory belief and how people generate different  ideas on a situation which changes our way of thinking. In this magazine article they   basically use shocking news as headline or flash, or article about their topics .Both authors  use past unforgettable occurences with conspiracy theories explained thoroughly. Overall, they use facts, different ideas and perspectives to belief  in conspiracy theories . The Conspiracy genre is limited because use their personal knowledge  to backup theories instead objective facts .

  Stance: Both  of the author’s stance  is to make people find the truth about conspiracies and test the truth about them .

   Monica Jimenez shows how supportive she is on conspiracy theories by using an interview between  Kelly M. Greenhill and Tufts International Relations programs to discuss how conspiracy theories work , and their effects. .Monica Jimenez uses famous conspiracy theories and  important past occurrences to support her stance such as the Watergate conspiracy theory ,German Conspiracy to invade and occupy British Isles and the 2016 elections In my understanding looking at the website, how she lays her information is easier to understand   males her point understandable .

Audience:  Monica Jimenez has a very large audience since conspiracy theories  gets a lot of attention and is of the public interest.

Purpose : Her purpose is to give people information about the truth behind these conspiracy theories .She attempts to  inform people with this by using these facts and other experiences .For example, Jimenez says,”conspiracies are all around. But how do they work ?” shows how easily people who are not knowledgeable can be fooled by people with false information about conspiracy theories.

Tone :  Her tone is very informative and engaging with with how she lays out  information .She uses a question and answer format with the reader that keeps the reader engaged. She also uses evidence and facts to persuade the  reader about the truth behind conspiracy theories.

 Genre/Medium: The genre of this article is truth behind conspiracy theories and how over past time behind had  turned to believe these theories because they hadn’t been openly told the evidence and facts. Greenhill hypothesizes that, “many conspiracy theories are false, crazy, and sometimes even dangerous, but other such theories are eventually revealed to be true, after which they are referred to as conspiracies—or simply crimes—rather than conspiracy theories.” Greenhills’ statement connects to the overall  idea about how people don’t know much about conspiracy theories and just accept them.  Overall, shes uses facts to show why we should know the truth behind these conspiracy theories.

Stance :  Jimenez stance although not stated is to bring light  to the truth about conspiracy theories and that they shouldn’t always been seen as complicated  but rather understandable .

        Rachel Hope Cleves is a professor of history at the University of Victoriain British Columbia .She  starts off by bringing up political issues, past and present situations to show how America turn to conspiracy theories.In her article she bring up conspiracy theories in a more political perspective  to raise her point .

Author :  Rachel Hope Cleves is the author of this book. 

Audience :   Rachel Hope Cleves   has a very large since a lot of people  believe in political matters and are ready to find the truth behind them  .Their audience include politicians and historians.

  Purpose:  Her purpose is to enlighten her audience about the history of these conspiracy theories and tell them more about conspiracy theories with relation to political matters .

   Tone: Her tone  is factual because it  gives a lot of information  by including sources outside the box regarding the purpose of trying to find the genesis in conspiracy stories.Cleves also  start bringing out a good sense of humor by how she uses twist of words to start her writing and catch the attention of the reader. 

 Genre/Medium :  The genre for this article is conspiracy theory belief and how people should know the actual facts and information  in different ideas on a situation which changes our way of thinking.She uses political facts and information for example, Hilary Clinton’s claims against the russians.

 Stance : Cleves stance is she wants to point out why Americans relate  their problems or matters especially political ones on conspiracy theories. 

Ted Goertzel uses his  journal article to show  People who believed in one conspiracy were more likely to also believe in others. Belief in conspiracies was  backed up with facts , lack of interpersonal trust, and based on what they were told .

AUTHOR :  Ted Goertzel   is the author of this book 

AUDIENCE : His audience is a large due to how he explains his point and give readers a better understanding .This audience may include historians, adults ,young adults and teachers .

Purpose:  Their purpose is to show how believe in conspiracy  theories persuade people and are made believable and we accept them. 

Tone :   Her tone is very informative and engaging with with how he  presents the information He makes it very understandable with  the reader that keeps the reader engaged with how he breaks into parts . He  also uses evidence and facts to persuade the reader about the truth behind conspiracy theories .

 STANCE: He wants readers to understand conspiracy theories , how conspiracy theories take root and their   history . He doesn’t focus on taking a stand but instead whats reader to understand conspiracy theories before they pick a side to believe it or not .

CITATION PAGE: 

Shermer,.Micheal and Linse,Pat. “Who believes in them and why, and How to determine if a conspiracy theory is true or false“ .”Conspiracy theory “. https://www.skeptic.com/downloads/conspiracy-theories-who-why-and-how.pdf

Accessed December 16,2019

Jimenez,Monica.”The truth about conspiracy Theories”. TuffsNow. September 2,2019. https://now.tufts.edu/articles/truth-about-conspiracy-theories  Accessed December 15,2019 

(MLA 8^th Edition) 

Cleves, Rachel Hope. “Why Americans turn to conspiracy theories.” Washington Post, 21 Oct. 2019. Gale Academic Onefile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A603345036/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=5f359fa4. Accessed 16 Dec. 2019

Goertzel, Ted. “Belief in Conspiracy Theories.” Political Psychology, vol. 15, no. 4, 1994, pp. 731–742. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3791630.

    Ethnography  paper:

      There is no denying to the fact that when someone is growing up they begin to see different aspects of their identity which they believe its them but come to see it different overtime.Some factors that tend to form one’s personal identity are the environment, friends , family and personal interests. But with me  ,being born in a American society whilst growing up with a African family taught me different aspects. This gave me different aspects to my ethics and morals, speech, clothing and a different approach to my school activities. This showed me different aspects of my identity that I came to see differently over time.

             For African American Children born to African immigrants, blending the two identities Can be a challenge .Growing up in such a lively city like Atlanta, Georgia whiles being raised by and African family sure taught me a lot .While growing up being around so many Cultures Taught me different morals . As a little boy I always found it cool to blend in With the American kids therefore I pushed myself to become Americanized. Trying to talk like them, trying to dress Like them and trying to behave like them In order to feel more Americanized. This looked to me as to be my identity but while I was growing up I  began realizing who I really am I started embracing my African values which brought out my true identity. I began Dressing up how I wanted, talking how I usually do to and behave and how I should. This taught me different values and brought out my real identity because For example, in an African home it is never accepted to walk around with your pants below your waist but in this case where one is trying to be more Americanized I started walking around with my pants but on my waist. Trying to make this match right entity I need to realize that it wasn’t and stuck to my true identity. 

            As a child born to first-generation Ghanaian parents, my childhood was quite formulated. I’d go to school, face my books, I’d attend church on Sunday’s and repeat this every week .But growing up and seeing all this social vices .In resisting my values I wanted to see how it felt like to skip class ,go out late at night ,stop going to church every Sunday and putting myself in bad company. But after doing this I found out that I was trying to form an identity that wasn’t real. The mindset behind this was growing up always being forced to do the right thing I wanted to know how it felt to be also seen as a “bad  boy” . It’s rather unfortunate to see that it’s common these days to see young ones especially adolescents resisting their own values and continuing this path which ends them up in unhealthy relationships but fortunately for me I came back and remembered the type of ethics and morals I was in which brought me back to my values.

         After coming back to my values ,It helped me discover my true self and find my true identity. Discovering my true identity gave me happiness because it lead me to do stuff I wanted and which gave joy doing .It also lead to me being better at decision making and gave me Self control .I was now able to resist social pressure because now that I had a strong sense of my identity I was now easily able to resist the influence of others  and had tolerance and understanding of others. This also made me realize my strengths and weaknesses. Finding your true identity and knowing yourself means knowing your purpose in life.

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