As we discussed in class, I’m trying to find ways to reward you for following things that interest you, for being the creative and pro-active thinkers and learners that I know you are. This has become the “plus alpha” project.

In addition to the discussion questions, I am asking you to complete 12 “plus alpha” explorations over the course of the semester. That means slightly less than one per week remaining in the semester. Plus alpha can be anything that you want to explore further based (even loosely) on something in the course materials. To give examples based on the “Travels in West Africa” reading, you could look up who the “Fan” people are (that Kingsley meets and apparently likes), investigate maps to see how the region has been re-divided after colonialism, look at contemporary travel blogs, or many other possibilities.

Please email me whatever you do and I will add it to the course website so other students can see it as well. Write at least three sentences about what you did or found.