For the past few weeks we have explored the rise and expansion of the Silk Road and you have read about its extensions into the Indian Ocean and those portions of the Silk Road that were also part of the Islamic world in When Asia Was the World, 1-95.  Each of you is now in one of three teams representing one of these three areas of the Silk Road.  You are not representing them as persons who lived in these regions, but rather as scholars who study these areas.  As such your interest in your assigned region is less in what will happen to your own life as it is in your precise understanding of that time and place.  In particular the accuracy of your understanding of that time and place and your effectiveness in analyzing the region to which you have been assigned as an intercultural zone should be your chief concern. 

Phase 1:  Phase 1 involves your group developing a definition of an intercultural zone that you think represents the basic ideas behind an intercultural zone (read Ways of the World, 211-239 to get a general sense for what makes an intercultural zone tick) that you think you will be able to defend successfully.  This definition needs to be submitted to the Intercultural Zone Discussion Forum (under the Discussion Board section of the course Blackboard Module) by November 15th at midnight by your team leader or someone designated by that team leader.

Phase 2:  Phase 2 involves coming up with arguments for each person to make in favor of how and why the intercultural zone to which you have been assigned fits the definition of an intercultural zone that you have arrived at by November 15th.  Each person in the group must submit at least one argument for discussion and a final winnowing of the arguments to the best 5 will occur in class on November 20th with the top five to be submitted to the Intercultural Zone Discussion Forum (under the Discussion Board section of the course Blackboard Module)  by midnight on November 21st by a designated member of the team.

Phase 3: Phase 3 involves preparation for the Oxford Union-style debate that we will have in class on November 27th.  This occurs from November 20th through November 26th and I will monitor contributions within each group so that people can receive credit for their participation as part of their final mark for paper 3.

Phase 4: The debate itself, which involves the following format: Each team chooses a member to make an opening statement for the general proposition that their intercultural zone is the most representative of what that group has decided defines an intercultural zone.  It cannot be the team leader, so be apprised of that.  Once opening statements have been made a vote will be taken by secret ballot in which each individual will vote for the position that seems the most meritorious.  This segment can take no longer than 15 minutes.  Then there will then be an evidence and debate phase in which each group will have any team members who wish to present evidence in favor of their proposition (you have no more than five minutes in which to do this, there should be no more than three persons presenting evidence, and these people cannot already have spoken) followed by a 10-minute period when the opposing teams will ask questions.  Each team will then have a 5 minutes to make a closing statement after which everyone in the room will vote again as to which position has won the day.

There you have it!  And now I say have at it and may the best team win!

Team Assignments

Team Indian Ocean	Team Islamic World	Team Silk Road
Captain: Lance (confirmed)	Captain: Juan (confirmed)	Captain: Kenneth (confirmed)
1. Tamara	1. BJ	1. Billy
2. Kevin	2. Megan	2. Kourtney
3. Jerry	3. Josh	3. Joseph
4. Raven	4. Cory	4. Garin
5. Marcus	5. Ariel	5. Brittany T.
6. Drew	6. Corbin	6. Isaac
	7. Jennifer