Project proposal
Primary source chosen: Excerpt from the Popul Vuh, creation myth of the Maya, circa 1554-1558 CE
Thesis: The Popul Vuh can help us understand how the Mayans lived, behaved and some excerpts can help us know how chocolate was integrated in their daily lives.
Annotated Bibliography:
1- WatsonJan, Traci, Jocelyn KaiserJun, Jennifer Couzin-FrankelJun, Robin Bravender, E&E NewsJun, Jeffrey Mervis, Eric HandJun, and Adrian ChoJun. “Earliest Evidence of Chocolate in North America.” Science | AAAS. December 10, 2017. Accessed June 10, 2018. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/01/earliest-evidence-chocolate-north-america.
In 2017, the science magazine published an article about the evidence of chocolate in North America. The science magazine is one of the world’s top academic journals also peer reviewed by the American Association of the Advancement of science (AAAS). The article is critical to the research as it mentions the farming of chocolate and how Americans behaved around it.
2- Dreiss, Meredith L., and Sharon Greenhill. Chocolate: Pathway to the Gods. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2008.
Chocolate pathway to the gods is a book published by the University of Arizona talks about the history of chocolate as a religious factor too. Since the Popul Vuh is mostly a religious book so we would examine the religious relation in chocolate. It is also critical for this project is to interpret the creation of chocolate in this book. There are a couple of excerpts in the book relating chocolate to religion.
Questions:
Revised thesis
What aspects of the past would this source be most useful in illuminating?
Are there any limitations to the usefulness of this source?
Basic Identification
1. What type of source is it? (map, letter, painting etc.)
2. When was it created?
3. Who (if known) created it?
Purpose of the Source
3. Why was this source created? What was its original purpose?
5. Who is the intended audience for this source?
Historical Context
1. Under what specific historical circumstances was this source created?
2. What larger historical events, processes, or structures might have influenced this the creation of this source?
Content of the Source
1. What historical facts can we learn from this source?
2. What biases or other cultural factors might have shaped the message of this source?
4. What historical perspectives are left out of this source?
5. What questions are left unanswered by this source?
