The First Wave of Cuban Feminism Research Paper Essay

Assignment:  This paper is an exercise in explaining and interpreting a primary source.  You are to choose one of the primary sources from Week 2 or Week 4 and craft a paper that demonstrates what this source reveals about the past.

Primary documents on Feminism:

1. María Abella de Ramírez, "Basic Plan for a Vindication of the Rights of Women" (1906) in Murray, Women and Gender in Modern Latin America
2. Ernestina A. López, "What Feminists Stand For" (1910) in Murray, Women and Gender in Modern Latin America
3. Paulina Luisi, "A Call for Solidarity of the Sexes and Social Classes" (1936) in Murray, Women and Gender in Modern Latin America
4. Elena Caffarena, "The Movement for the Emancipation of Chilean Women”
5. Elena Caffarena, "States of Exception" in The Chile Reader
6. Ofelia Domínguez Navarro, "The First Wave of Cuban Feminism" in The Cuba Reader

Primary documents on gendered divisions of labor:

1. Instituto Alejandro E. Bunge, “The Problem of Working Women” in Murray, Women and Gender in Modern Latin America

H.  Adelinda Díaz Uriarte, “Recollections of a Household Servant” in Murray, Women and Gender in Modern Latin America

In order to do this, you must first address the purpose, context and perspective of the source.

• What kind of source is it (a letter? treaty? diary entry?)? 
• Who produced it, why, and for what intended audience?
• How would you characterize the author’s perspective? 
• And, of course, when was this source produced, and what is the context of this source’s production?

You must then consider what is significant about this source and what it reveals about the past.  Hence you ought to think about what the source suggests about the person who produced it and about its intended audience.  And you must consider what it reveals about the context in which it was produced. For this, you should use what you have learned in discussions, and assigned readings. For citations, use the page numbers in parenthesis and avoid an over-reliance on direct quotes, especially block quotes!  Most of the information you need can be paraphrased. You should not use any other materials from outside of class.  Please provide the full citation for your document’s published location at the end of the paper: e.g. Elena Caffarena, “States of Exception” in The Chile Reader: History, Culture, Politics, eds. Elizabeth Hutchinson, et. al. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2013.

Remember that the purpose of this assignment is not to simply answer these questions (and your paper should not be a series of answers); it is to prove an argument. You are advocating for a particular interpretation of your source.  Thus, you must state your argument early on, ideally in the first paragraph, and then use the following paragraphs to support your argument with evidence.  Each paragraph should lead logically from the one that preceded it.  Simply summarizing or paraphrasing the source, without analyzing its context and meaning, will result in a low grade. 

I don’t want a criticism of the author, but rather an analysis of her thinking. You may disagree with what the author is saying, which is fine. But I want you to get beyond agreement or disagreement and begin to ask how the author shapes her argument and what the implications of her argument are. Almost all your evidence in a paper of this kind (a close reading of a single text or texts) must be drawn from the text itself.

Don’t forget: You are not trying to prove or disprove what the document’s author argues; you are developing an analysis about what the author thinks and why. The evidence for that is in his text. When you make a claim (e.g., Elena Caffarena argues this or that), you’ll need to back it up with a citation from the text. You can do this by directly quoting from the text (if it’s a particularly snappy or appropriate quote), or by simply providing the page number where your claim is supported in the text. Your task is to interpret that document by amplifying some of the issues it raises and illustrating your argument with direct quotations and references from the primary source itself. What does the source reveal about the strategies for women’s organizing?  What understanding of feminism does the author advance? On what grounds should women be granted political rights?  What kinds of rights are being advocated for?  Does your document offer insights into social and class relations in a particular country?  These are just some of the questions that your document might shed light on. 

Please see the grading rubric for more details about how your paper will be graded.

Form: The paper should be 4-6 pages long, double-spaced, with 12-point font and one-inch margins.  (4-6 pages means that, at minimum, your paper should begin on the top of page 1 and end on the bottom of page 4.  You cannot adequately interpret one of these primary sources in less than four full pages, and probably will require one to two pages more than that.) Be sure your paper has a title, that it states your name, your TA’s name, and that it is thoroughly proof-read for grammatical and spelling errors.  Papers are due both electronically via Canvas no later than 10:00 PM on Sunday, April 26

Policy on Late Papers: Papers that are submitted late will be marked down one grade step (i.e. from B+ to B) for each 24-hour period after the deadline.   

Grading Rubric for Paper #1

IDEAS and SUPPORT: 50 points: Does this paper offer a well-considered interpretation of one of the assigned primary sources? In other words, does it use the source to shed light on a particular historical moment or context? 

_____ of 10 pts.       Introduction of the Source

Does this paper provide a basic description of the kind of source under discussion, including its author, the time and place of its production, its purpose and its intended audience?

_____ of 10 pts.       Basic Explanation of the Source

Does this paper make clear the perspective of the source’s author, the circumstances of its production (i.e., why the author wrote it), and the significance of its intended audience?

_____ of 10 pts.       Historical Context of the Source  

Does the paper explain the major historical personalities, institutions, events or processes mentioned or alluded to in the source?

_____ of 10 pts.       Interpretation of Language

Does the paper note the source’s use of language and demonstrate what this reveals about its author, audience and context?

_____ of 10 pts.       Uses of Evidence

Does the paper draw appropriately from with page numbers in order to support its claims about the primary source?  Does it provide a full citation for the document?

ORGANIZATION and COHERENCE: 30 points

_____ of 6 pts.                Clear Introduction

Is there an introduction that lays out the argument early in the paper?

_____ of 6 pts.                Prominent Main Ideas

Is the argument clear and consistent throughout the paper?

_____ of 6 pts.                Unified, coherent paragraphs

Does each paragraph contain one main idea, an idea supported by the other sentences?

_____ of 6 pts.                Smooth, logical order of presentation

Is there a logical progression of ideas from one paragraph to the next and supportive transitional sentences between them?

_____ of 6 pts.                Clear Conclusion

Is there a clear conclusion that summarizes and reflects on the main ideas presented?

STYLE and MECHANICS: 20 points

_____ of  1 pt. Has an appropriate title

_____ of  5 pts.       Is free of grammatical problems

_____ of  5 pts.       Contains correct punctuation and spelling

_____ of  5 pts.       Uses appropriate and consistent diction (word choice)

_____ of  4 pts.       Is stylistically engaging to read

_____ TOTAL