On The Day That I Was Born

Using library resources, go back and read contemporary newspaper and other accounts from around the day (or month) you were born. Describe what was happening in the world from the perspective of the field you selected, focusing on applying one or more ideas from that field that would help you to understand that historical moment. Report back on what you learned about that day.

The Day you were Born (My birthday is in February 2000. ) Paper Disciplinary Areas: You have the option to write paper on any of these disciplinary areas. — Psychology — Cognitive Psychology — Sociology — Anthropology — Economics — Political Science — International Studies — Chicanx/Latinx Studies Summary: Using library resources, go back and read contemporary newspaper and other accounts from around the day (or month) you were born. Describe what was happening in the world from the perspective of the field you selected, focusing on applying one or more ideas from that field that would help you to understand that historical moment. Report back on what you learned about that day. Specific Tasks and Questions: Task: Interpret one of more major events that took place on or around the day you were born through the "lens" or perspective of a specific field. To begin, use contemporaneous sources - newspapers, magazines, and other accounts - to identify an important cultural, political, social, economic or other event that took place near to the day you were born. Read a few articles about the event, if possible, then consider the implications of that event with a special focus on the aspects of the event that would interest researchers in your chosen field. So, for example, had you been born on or near the date of November 9, 1989, you might choose the "Fall" of the Berlin Wall that had divided East and West Germany during the Cold War. If you opted to write about this event from a "Political Science" perspective, your insights and reflections would likely be different than if you wrote about it from an "Economics" perspective. Specific Questions: —Describe the historical event in detail. What happened, where did it happen, who was impacted. Say at least a bit about why and how it occurred, if there are well-developed explanations or theories. Most importantly, don't forget to say when it happened. —Note which perspective you are taking as you talk about the importance of the event. What types of research would likely be initiated in response to the event? What role would folks in the field you chose possibly have played in the run up to the event or the reaction to it? —While not necessary, if you can find examples of practitioners in your selected field reacting to the event after the fact, describe and summarize those reactions. Otherwise, try to speculate or predict how researchers in your field would respond to news of the event. What would they focus on? What would they say? —Lastly, in a more general sense, how might this event have impacted the world into which you were born and grew up? How has this broader historical event directly intersected with your personal biography? General Reflection: All individual investigation papers should conclude with a paragraph that addresses the following three questions. These are to be answered after you have completed the rest of the tasks for a given prompt. Please do not include the questions in your paper - just answer them and connect the answers together in writing. — Why did you choose the prompt and the field that you did for this investigation? — What surprised you the most as you attempted to complete the short investigation? — How have your attitudes and opinions toward the specific discipline you researched changed as a result of carrying out this further investigation?