Group Assignment Round 2

For your second group assignment in the course, you and three other students will adopt some
contextual issue that will facilitate our understanding of Marjane Satrapis Persepolis: The Story of a
Childhood. A list of these contextual issues, in presentation order, is produced below.
Beginning on Monday, September 26, five groups of four each will be presenting to the class a 20-25
minute talk on one of the contextual issues outlined below. Because context is so important to
understanding any kind of rhetorical argument, and because the context of Persepolis (including issues
of the Iranian Revolution) is likely foreign to students, these brief talks will be vitally central to how we
work with the graphic novel for the subsequent weeks.
As the semester advances, so too do your instructors expectations. Ideally, the lessons you learned
while preparing the first group leadership will help you while creating this second group presentation;
these lessons may influence your presentation style, how you divide the labor among yourselves, or
even with whom you want to work on this second presentation. Again, overall format will be left to the
discretion of the group, but some important highlights:
Be thorough. These issues are weighty, and whole semesters can be spent on them. Your job,
then, will be to distill the most important facts/issues into a detailed presentation without
overloading your peers with an excruciating infodump.
Unity. Unlike with the EA chapter discussions, these issues may be more difficult to divide
between four people. Therefore, greater teamwork will be needed here to create a cohesive
presentation that does not vacillate wildly between voices. Each group member should
participate in some way, but the division will again be left to the groups judgment.
Technology. Note that this is not a requirement but rather a strong recommendation. When it
comes to new material, visual learning often works best, and some of the most successful
presentations in Round One included some manner of visual aid (often a PowerPoint). A video
may be appropriate here, or simply projecting information may help. One other advantage to
visual aids: they can be posted to ICON for future reference throughout the semester.
Projects will be graded as in Round One: on a scale of 0 to 10, based on individual contributions to
discussion leadership, factoring in student feedback via the e-mail debrief. Students must, however,
submit a Works Consulted page after their presentation. (See EA pp. 566-598.).
Contextual Issues
Group 1 Iran before the Revolution
Group 2 The Iranian Revolution
Group 3 Iran after the Revolution
Group 4 The Shah and the Veil
Group 5 Marjane Satrapi -&- the city of Persepolis
Instructor A Helpful History of Comics and a Handy How-To
Presentations begin September 26 and will continue September 27 & 28 as needed.