What do we know about the author of this source?
Step One: Historicization
- What do we know about the author of this source?
- What do we know about the time in which it was created?
- What do we know about the place in which it was created?
Step Two: Deconstruction
- Reading with the Grain
- What messages did the author/creator of this source want to convey?
- To what audience did the author/creator intend to communicate?
- Reading against the Grain
- What assumptions lie behind the text of this source?
- What information does it communicate that its author/creator might not have intended?
cecil_rhodes__confession_of_faith___milestone_documents
Solution Preview
Historicization
Cecile Rhodes was a dominant figure in the diamond industry and also showed great interest in the political and economic aspects as explained in the Confession of Faith. Rhodes visited South African as a child for medical purposes and would later be making history as the founder of “white-dominated state of Rhodes” now referred to as Zimbabwe. He ventured into creating wealth from South African’s De Beers Diamond mines which he became the owner by 1891. He was politically active as he was once the prime minister of Cape Colony, but his love for Britain was evident (Rotberg, 2014). Rhodes scholarships ensured the sending of American students to study in England and continued to serve Britain as a lifetime goal.
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