Alphonse the Camel – Asynchronous

Part 1: Process

Start by reading the following story: Alphonse the Camel

Once upon a time, there was a camel (called Alphonse). For various reasons (relating to an unfortunate accident during his birth) the camel had severe back problems. This was not the end of his misfortune, however, because he also had an evil, exploitative owner (called Frank the Camel Killer).

Frank had hated camels ever since he experienced a nasty incident in his childhood involving a camel’s hoof and his rear end. He was very bitter and hadn’t trusted camels since. Frank regularly overloaded his camels prior to taking them on grueling and totally unnecessary round trips up and down mountains on his way to deliver goods to his customers. These customers, shockingly, were completely indifferent to these frequent and gross violations of the rights of camels and even found Frank and his antics vaguely endearing. On top of it all, Alphonse was sometimes his own worst enemy. Camels are very proud creatures, and he would act tough in front of his camel friends, and on his rare breaks he would show off how much he could carry.

Plenty of camels had died doing similar work to Alphonse and his friends. After a particularly nasty few weeks when camels were keeling over left, right, and center, the camels decided to form a union to defend their rights and protect them from evil owners. However, when it comes down to it, camels are selfish creatures who don’t trust each other. They were more worried about looking after themselves than about working together, and the union soon fizzled out.

One Friday, Frank had just finished loading up Alphonse and his poor exploited fellow creatures for yet another grueling and totally unnecessary round trip up and down the mountains. He had piled and piled and piled up the goods onto Alphonse’s back and was taking a break, chewing a straw while thinking smugly about his handiwork. On a whim, he decided to add the bedraggled straw he had been chewing to Alphonse’s load. Alphonse groaned obligingly. He eyed his owner with disgust. He keeled over and died of radical and irreversible back collapse.

Part 2: Now, list all the reasons you can think of for why Alphonse died.

Part 3: Now it’s time for the final rearrangement and categorization of cards.

Download the Causation Tool for this part.

• This time, you’ll use the frames of the course to sort your cards.
  • As you are likely aware, the frames are used throughout this course for different types of analysis, including causal.
  • The three frames are production and distribution, communities, and networks. 
    • The Production and Distribution frame looks at how we make and move the things we use every day.
      • Question: How has the way we make and distribute the things we use every day changed, and how has it stayed the same?
    • The communities frame looks at how humans gather and organize the people around them.
      • Question: How has the way we organize our communities changed, and what hasn’t?
    • The Networks frame looks at how ideas and information are shared and move.
      • Question: How has the way we share ideas and information changed, and how has it stayed the same?
  • Now, look at your sticky notes and think about how you would sort them using the frames as categories. Re-arrange your Stickie Notes or cards by frame and enter them using the Causation Tool (which is meant to help you categorize causes and consequences.)
  • You will upload the completed Causation Tool and Part 3 on Blackboard:
    • Answer questions via Blackboard – Section 002
    • Answer questions via Blackboard – Section 008
    • Answer questions via Blackboard – Section 025

Now that you’ve rearranged your causal cards a few different ways, keep in mind throughout the course when reading and analyzing different accounts of history, you will begin making your own assertions about history.

You will revisit the frames throughout this course as a way to make sense of and explain different historical events from a variety of perspectives.

While you haven’t been introduced to everything on the Causation Tool quite yet, you will become familiar with Role, Significance, and Type, soon enough! Eventually, you will probably get so used to the tool that you won’t need it anymore. But for now, it will help as you get used to this type of historical analysis.