[a] Modeled RF |
Social and Cultural Theory
Anthropology 206
“Penultimate” Assignment
Ethnography, Theory, and a Sense of Place
Read your two ethnographies from weeks thirteen and fourteen
on the syllabus. Write an essay of at
least 3,000 words (about ten pages) commenting upon some of the many themes
found in these ethnographies (noting the assignment title above) and showing
their connections to the materials we have studied up to this point in the
course.
Preparation
Although this assignment is deliberately open-ended
(allowing you to use any number of interpretive strategies), do not forget its
role as the penultimate (next to last) assignment in our course. Your work should engage, on some level, the
full range of our materials from the first twelve weeks of the course (your
class notes, reading notes, abstracts, and even quizzes will be useful as you
proceed). If you take the assignment
seriously, it will give you a solid foundation—and significant momentum—for the
last “month” of the course.
A good way to approach the assignment is to write a “review
essay.” This is precisely why I have
assigned the New York Review of Books throughout the term. As you have surely
noted by now, a good review essay has a two-pronged approach. It is, on the one hand, a “review” of the
books (not unlike an “embedded book report” in a larger and much more
sophisticated essay). Imagine that your ten-page essay, then, contains an
“embedded set of reviews totaling about four pages—maybe five. In the “rest” of the essay you should show
how the themes in the ethnographies can be seen in the wider perspective of
social and cultural theory. In other
words, how might the essays and lectures we have read in Anthropology and
Theory and Social Theory connect to the specific issues in the ethnographies
you have read?
Additional Notes
This assignment asks you to engage your two ethnographies
and to review all of the work you have done thus far in the course. It does not require you to do “research,” and
substantial outside work will almost certainly be counter-productive. For example, spending two or three pages on
the political history of the Philippines will be far less productive than
spending those pages examining the arguments made by Renato and Michelle
Rosaldo. Background information is occasionally
useful (and you may have some from previous reading or coursework), but do not
make the mistake of providing so much “background” that you don’t deal fully
with the assignment itself. Plot out
some of the themes and take notes to make sure you have dealt with the full
range of possibilities in the materials. Your skills in spotting themes in the Moore and Moberg books will pay
off a great deal in this assignment, as will the general contextual and
theoretical knowledge you have gained in our discussion.
Reminders
—This assignment is meant to “tie together” much of the work
you have done this semester. Just as you
must do on weekly quizzes, be sure to use the full range of your “sources” in
your interpretations—classroom analyses, Moore, and Moberg (for context). As you know, the theoretical essays in Moore
and the arguments in Bourdieu’s book lie at the heart of the class, and I would like
to see connections to them in your essays.
—Don’t forget that I will be evaluating this assignment with
the assumption that you are trying to explain these matters to “intelligent
non-specialists.” That means that I do
not want you to “skip” those portions that you know I know. I want you to explain them. I want you to be the expert who is explaining
these matters to someone who does not know much about cultural anthropology,
but is certainly able to follow a complex argument. Imagine, for example, that you are writing
for your FYI professor…and I will be looking over her shoulder.
—Follow standard Chicago Manual of Style citation form, and use the style sheet as you proceed.
—Follow standard Chicago Manual of Style citation form, and use the style sheet as you proceed.
—There should be a short bibliography of sources (class books and any outside materials that you happen to have consulted) at the end of your document.
—Be sure that you fill out a “paper checklist” and attach it to your essay.
—Good luck. There is more than enough material to write any number of essays. Choose several good points, scenes, or themes. Then write one.
Due by 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 21st. (Put a hard copy outside my door).
Use the word count feature of your software and put the word total at the bottom of the essay, e.g. “3,262 words.”
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