Project

Table of Contents ECON 321 Research Project, Step 3 1 0. Basic information [No marks] 2 1. Rough draft of your narrative [Regular] 3 1.a. 3 2. Self-critique of your narrative [Regular] 4 2.a. 4 2.b. 5 3. The Story Circle [Challenge] 8 3.a. 10 3.b. 10

What’s your topic?

The Contribution of Women in the Civil War.

What was the ‘main economic point’ you listed in Research Project Step 2?

During and before the First World War, women were not allowed to go out to work, and their usual jobs were women's affairs.

Women's daily role was just cleaning up housework, washing clothes, cooking, cleaning up housework, taking care of children, etc.

(No marks – this is just to make it easier for the TA to know what they’re looking at.)

In the previous research step, you were asked to come up with a beginning, middle and end for your story. You were also asked to come up with the ‘main economic point’ of your story. For this question, put them together. Put together your beginning, middle and end into a single narrative (which should be no longer than 1.5 pages). Edit it slightly to make sure that the main economic point comes through clearly.

The TA will NOT give detailed feedback on this draft (except as part of the feedback on Question 2). Detailed feedback on your essay is reserved for the final draft, with is the “final exam” for this course. For this question, the TA will be checking that there’s a complete story, with a beginning, middle and end, not longer than 1.5 pages, about the topic you listed, where the main economic point is easy to spot.

[Insert your narrative here – no minimum length, maximum length 1.5 pages]

During and before the First World War, women were not allowed to go out to work, and their usual jobs were women's affairs. Men left them in the house to go to war in the fields. Women were expected to take care of the children and the home while men actively participated in the war. Women's daily role was just cleaning up housework, washing clothes, cooking, cleaning up housework, taking care of children, etc. The distinction was a culturally established practice acceptable to all members of the society.

World War I came to the Canadians as an eye-opener, helping women realize their potential in times of war and the different roles they can play in battle. The experiences of the world war inspired women to begin performing some roles initially set apart for men. Women managed families and entire households and ensured security for the children against external threats when the men were in the field. Eventually, they also joined warriors in the field. Men began understanding the power of women and gradually allowed them to participate in the war. Women were formally employed as nurses while others, disguising themselves as men, entered the battlefield to fight.

The 20th century saw the role of women redefined further as they began participating in security and military operations, this time not as nurses but as soldiers. Along the way, some have joined the army, scaling up to top leadership capacities after training and education. For example, 1941 saw the first women join the military and the air force, and the number has kept growing to date.

This question is very similar to the first two questions of a regular 3-2-1 report, with slight tweaks (since presumably you understand all of what you wrote), and omitting the final ‘main economic point’ question, since we did that last time.

What are the three main points of your narrative?

i. First point

The first key point in my narrative is women's cultural view in society as subordinate to men. Women were treated as inferior and unable to do the things men could do. Being a culturally accepted practice in society, women had no choice but to live and act under that obligation. Women did not make much effort to liberate themselves from the burden placed upon them by men and society. Therefore, they needed a breakthrough that would open their eyes to rediscover their potential and realize that they could participate in the activities men did.

ii. Second point

The second key point is that women can do many things as well as men do. Although they are often despised, women have the ability to do and excel in responsibilities outside home chores. However, to achieve this, they need to be empowered and educated to realize they can also lead, fight and protect. In Canada, women were challenged by the war and the different needs soldiers had on the battlefield. As they took them food and medical supplies, they discovered there was something they could do to support the men's efforts.

iii. Third point

The third point is that cultures can be changed, especially those that discriminate against gender. A culture that placed women in the house and did not allow them to do what men could do was changed by realizing the potential of a woman. Besides, deliberate efforts can be developed to change such discriminatory cultures, and this requires acceptance by society.

What are two things you think are missing from your narrative? (Maybe you need more information on a particular person or thing, or you need to find the source of a number, or there’s important context about the time period that you should communicate to your readers…) Take the first few steps toward fixing that. Just like you would in a regular 3-2-1 report, find a source (or multiple sources) that will provide the missing information, and briefly let us know what you found. You’ll be expected to incorporate this information fully into your final draft. Site sources used in APA format.

2.b.i

i. First thing missing from your narrative:

Missing in the narrative is the role played by men in women's empowerment during the world war. However, most of the men were against the empowerment of women, there were some nations where the men recruited women to different sectors.

Why this missing information is important:

Women could not develop on their own since they were under the headship of men. In any case, they needed the consent of men to be able to participate in the war. Similarly, the information is essential in establishing the long journey of struggle underwent by women in their growth and development in the economic sector.

Source(s) you used to find this missing information (APA citations):

Spark, C., Sharp, T. L., & Koczberski, G. (2020). Relationality and Economic Empowerment: The Role of Men in Supporting and Undermining Women’s Pathways. The Journal of Development Studies, 1-16. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2020.1850697

What you found out from the sources (briefly):

Changes in gender equality and gender-based issues require men to participate and work as role models in elevating women's efforts to improve. Similarly, the article introduced the importance of facilitating the growth of women in society.

2.b.ii

ii. Second thing missing from your narrative:

Another thing missing in the narrative is the struggles women had to go through to find a place among the warriors in the field. Most of the slots were reserved for men since they required physical strength which was not considered available in women.

Why this missing information is important:

The efforts made by women were crucial to their empowerment and should form a significant part of the narrative. The women’s contribution ought to be felt in the war since they assisted in ensuring the stability of the world's economy through different economic activities.

Source(s) you used to find this missing information (APA citations):

Erenrich, S. (2020). The Cost of Freedom: Voicing a Movement after Kent State 1970. The Kent State University Press. Retrieved from https://www.kentstateuniversitypress.com/2019/the-cost-of-freedom/

What you found out from the sources (briefly):

The purchase of any freedom comes amidst numerous challenges and opposition, mainly because it threatens others. Further, the source introduced the need for a different party to gain a voice in decision-making.

“Emotion matters in the structure of narratives, economic and otherwise, and it reveals itself in stories.” -Robert J. Shiller, in Narrative Economics[footnoteRef:0] (2019) [0: The book, not the article.]

In the late 1960s, Joseph Campbell pointed out that many of humanity’s most popular stories share very similar structures[footnoteRef:1] - that in each of them, a protagonist goes on a specific ‘hero’s journey’ with multiple stages. Since then, novelists, screenwriters, motivational speakers, marketers and more have used variations on Campbell’s ‘hero’s journey’ to create relatable, effective narratives. [1: For a full discussion, see his famous book, The hero with a thousand faces (1968). This book was an inspiration for George Lucas when writing Star Wars.]

Now it’s your turn.

In this question, you’re going to use a simplified, streamlined version of Campbell’s “hero’s journey” called the Harmon Story Circle. It was originally developed by screenwriter Dan Harmon for use in plotting episodes of Community, Rick and Morty, and more, but has since become a very popular tool for writers of all types.

Instead of dividing a story into beginning, middle, and end, the Harmon story circle divides a story into 8 sections. Quoting directly from Harmon’s own discussion of the circle[footnoteRef:2]: [2: Harmon, D. (n.d.). Story Structure 101: Super Basic Shit [Web Page]. https://channel101.fandom.com/wiki/Story_Structure_101:_Super_Basic_Shit ]

“1. A character is in a zone of comfort

2. But they want something

3. They enter an unfamiliar situation

4. Adapt to it.

5. Get what they wanted

6. Pay a heavy price for it

7. Then return to their familiar situation

8. Having changed”

While developed for fiction, this tool can also help tell economic stories. Think, for example, of the story of the merger between the Northwest Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company (this example is based on information from Lecture 7):

1. The Northwest company is making profits off the fur trade, with a home territory in Athabasca and marketing based out of Montreal.

2. But they want to lower their transport costs.

3. They contact their rivals, the Hudson’s Bay Company, and try to negotiate for free passage through Hudson’s Bay Company territory. The HBC’s demands for cash or a buyout prove too high.

4. The NWC and HBC have a period of informal cooperation, but the Napoleonic wars and over-hunting bring this to an end. The NWC’s plan to buy HBC shares backfires and ends in their main supply territory at Red River being taken over by the HBC. Violence and deaths ensue.

5. Talks re-open. The NWC finally gets its free passage through Hudson’s Bay by becoming part of the Hudson’s Bay Company via merger.

6. Lives have been lost, half the trading posts are shut down, the NWC lost its name, and after the NWC’s attacks on the legitimacy of the HBC charter, the HBC’s powers within Rupert’s land are weakened.

7. The merged HBC goes back to focusing on making profits in the fur trade

8. But things are different: Indigenous and mixed-race employees have lost status, the HBC’s authority in Rupert’s land is weakened, and the Company is more highly scrutinized by the British government.

This is not the only way the story of the NWC & HBC merger can be split into those 8 points – it’s not even the most effective way this division could be made (see the Schroder video linked below for ideas about emphasizing the crossing of thresholds) – but just by imposing a familiar structure on the narrative, it makes it easier to understand and access.

If you’d like to learn more about Harmon’s story circle, I recommend the following resources (and accessing them in this order for maximum clarity):

· Harmon, D. (n.d.). Story Structure 101: Super Basic Shit [Web Page]. https://channel101.fandom.com/wiki/Story_Structure_101:_Super_Basic_Shit

· The Dan Harmon Story Circle: What Authors Can Learn from Rick and Morty [Blog Post]. (2018, July 22). https://blog.reedsy.com/dan-harmon-story-circle/

· Schoder, W. (2016, November 23). Every Story is the Same [Video File]. https://youtu.be/LuD2Aa0zFiA

· Cloud Kitten Chronicles. (2019, November 19). Dan Harmon Story Circle | A Simplified Plot Structure [Video File]. https://youtu.be/CoUSX4Y_WS0

Re-write your narrative in terms of the 8 points of the Harmon Story Circle, as I did in the example above for the NWC & HBC merger. I am not looking for another essay – just a bullet point, sentence or phrase is enough (again, like the example I gave). One mark per point, and note that for this question, I am allowing the TA to give half-marks where appropriate (so the possible marks for each point are 0, 0.5, 1).

Briefly answer the following question:

(2 marks) Do you think using the Harmon Story Circle improved your narrative, and made it so that general readers can more easily understand the economic point? Why or why not?

The Harmon Story Circle improved the structure of the story making it easier for the readers to follow through. However, the structure produced more historical events and not necessarily a focus on economic characteristics. The presence of the more historical events in the Harmon Story Circle made it a hand for the readers to follow. However, the Harmon Story Circle was essential in giving the readers an understanding of different economic activities undertaken by women.

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