The questions listed below are a guide to help direct your study. Answer them by reference to the material assigned and covered in this course (including readings, lectures, and films). As you do so, you will be able to refine your understanding of the central themes and issues we have examined in class.
The midterm will consist of one or more questions drawn directly from the list below, and will also include multiple-choice questions. (Note: Studying these questions will also help you better answer the multiple-choice questions.)
Value of Exam: 30 points and 30% of total grade
Duration: 120 minutes

1. What were the social, political, cultural, and economic processes associated with the rise of sugar as a commodity?
2. We know that sweetness is not universally desired, and yet it is consumed in such massive amounts by Europeans and North Americans that we can be excused for believing that it is. What can we say about the history of sugar as a commodity that might help explain why this happened?
3. How did sugar plantations restructure social, cultural, and economic patterns in the Caribbean and in Britain?
4. What is Sidney Mintz’s view of history, of the logics of historical process, and of humanity’s place within its grand sweep?
5. How is agrarian society different from industrial society?
6. Define and provide an example of a discourse.
7. What is “orientalism,” and what are the diverse elements that define it, according to Edward Said?
8. What was the world like in 1400, according to Eric Wolf?