From Round to Square (and back)

For The Emperor's Teacher, scroll down (↓) to "Topics." It's the management book that will rock the world (and break the vase, as you will see). Click or paste the following link for a recent profile of the project: http://magazine.beloit.edu/?story_id=240813&issue_id=240610

A new post appears every day at 12:05* (CDT). There's more, though. Take a look at the right-hand side of the page for over four years of material (2,000 posts and growing) from Seinfeld and country music to every single day of the Chinese lunar calendar...translated. Look here ↓ and explore a little. It will take you all the way down the page...from round to square (and back again).
*Occasionally I will leave a long post up for thirty-six hours, and post a shorter entry at noon the next day.

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Confucius and Social Theory Letter Assignment 2016


[a] Text and illustration RF
Confucius and Social Theory
History 310
Autumn 2016

Preliminary Writing Assignment 
History, Theory, Text: The Letter
By choosing the letter format for your first writing assignment, I am asking you to build upon the skills you have already begun to develop in analyzing (and providing examples for) theoretical constructions and key elements of Confucius's Analects. You have already reached a point where you have some experience with “social theory” and "Confucius. Your job now will be to explain it to an intelligent non-specialist.
[b] Reaching, teaching RF

Teach it, really (think of the New York Review).

Letters from “the field” (or our modified “archive” of theoretical works on the syllabus) are a good way to refine your thoughts about ethnographic and historical study, and they are a useful medium for beginning the intellectual “framing process” that will accelerate as we move through the next two-thirds of the course. The letter writing exercise is especially useful while studying theoretical source materials, such as those in our seminar.

The nonfiction writer John McPhee explains to his Princeton students that a letter is often precisely the solution to problems of interpretation or clarity—when in doubt, write to mother, he says. In this case, it is not a plea of “send money” that the letter contains, but a reworking, rethinking, and contextualization of your work. You need not limit yourself to kinfolk, but you need to think about who the recipient will be (ideally someone who will welcome a letter about “doing theory”).

You owe it to yourself to listen to this long interview with McPhee. At the very least, listen to the first few minutes. It is the very purpose behind this assignment.

John McPhee NPR 22:40
Alas...it has been taken down or moved (working on it).

Now start writing. Toward that end, you should pay attention to the following issues.

1. The letter needs to be “long enough” to get you deeply into several issues regarding Confucius and social theory, including particular approaches and a few examples.  There is no absolute upper limit, but I am going to make an absolute lower limit of 1,000 words (about three pages). Realistically, your letter should probably be somewhere in the 1,500 word range (about five pages). 1,000 words is the bare minimum. Do not turn in an assignment shorter than that.
2. I am asking you to connect with a very specific reader, and to explain “Confucius and social theory” in a level of detail that she will find satisfying. You are the expert, and your “audience” is the person who will be reading your letter (think of my role as reading over her shoulder). I have found that this kind of assignment helps students to explain even abstruse matters, because the personal relationship they have with their readers demands an attention to patient explanation that is often lacking in more “academic” forms of writing, in which they assume that a professor already knows what they are writing about.

Your reader probably doesn't. 

Make it make sense.

3. You may approach your materials from any angle that you like, but you will need to “cover” at least the following items, no matter what order you choose.

          a. You must discuss the “what is social theory?” or "what is a 'sociological 
               imagination'" question at the heart of our course. Provide your reader with 
               at least a few ways of thinking about it.

          b. Give your reader a sense of what you have learned up to this point about 
              Confucius and the Analects. Use examples from your studies thus far.

          c. Finally, give your reader some sense of what it is like to “learn theory” while
              thinking about a classic text from China. What is it like? Explain. 

          d. You must have at least one illustration. Think about "the rhetorical role of 
               illustrations" in the New York Review of Books.
4. The best way to approach the writing process is in three parts (this is a friendly suggestion). First, jot down some notes for each of the “sections” of your letter. Second, using those notes as a guide, write a rough draft of the whole letter. Third, revise, polish, and refine.  

Voilà you will have something not unlike what Alexis de Tocqueville might have written about understanding a complex, foreign culture that baffled and enticed him 180 years ago. While your letter won’t be as long as Democracy in America, it is likely—if it is done well—to be much like Tocqueville’s rich and evocative letters back to his family about encountering people, texts, and institutions in a strange land called the United States. 

You get the idea. If you don't, just raise your hand and ask me (or send me an e-mail message). I'll be happy to help.
***  ***
Letters are Due (as .pdf files—attach to an e-mail to lafleur@beloit.edu)
by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 18.

Add the word count and your box number to all papers!
[e] And then you may rest RF

Monday, August 29, 2016

Social and Cultural Theory Letter 2016

On this date on Round and Square's History 

[a] Text and illustration RF
Social and Cultural Theory 
Anthropology 206 
Autumn 2016

Preliminary Writing Assignment 
Theory: The Letter
By choosing the letter format for your first writing assignment, I am asking you to build upon the skills you have already begun to develop in analyzing (and providing examples for) theoretical constructions. You have already reached a point where you have some experience with “theory,” and your job will be to explain it to an intelligent non-specialist.
[b] Reaching, teaching RF

Teach it, really.

Letters from “the field” (or our modified “archive” of theoretical works in Moore) are a good way to refine your thoughts about ethnographic and historical study, and they are a useful medium for beginning the intellectual “framing process” that will accelerate as we move through the next two-thirds of the course. The letter writing exercise is especially useful while studying theoretical source materials. 

The nonfiction writer John McPhee explains to his students that a letter is often precisely the solution to problems of interpretation or clarity—when in doubt, write to mother, he says. In this case, it is not a plea of “send money” that the letter contains, but a reworking, rethinking, and contextualization of your work. You need not limit yourself to kinfolk, but you need to think about who the recipient will be (ideally someone who will welcome a letter about “doing theory”).

You owe it to yourself to listen to this long interview with McPhee. At the very least, listen to the first few minutes. It is the very purpose behind this assignment.

Alas...it has been taken down or moved (working on it).

Now start writing. Toward that end, you should pay attention to the following issues.

1. The letter needs to be “long enough” to get you deeply into several issues regarding Confucius and social theory, including particular approaches and a few examples.  There is no absolute upper limit, but I am going to make an absolute lower limit of 1,000 words (about three pages). Realistically, your letter should probably be somewhere in the 1,500 word range (about five pages). 1,000 words is the bare minimum. Do not turn in an assignment shorter than that.
2. I am asking you to connect with a very specific reader, and to explain “social and cultural theory” in a level of detail that she will find satisfying. You are the expert, and your “audience” is the person who will be reading your letter (think of my role as reading over her shoulder). I have found that this kind of assignment helps students to explain even abstruse matters, because the personal relationship they have with their readers demands an attention to patient explanation that is often lacking in more “academic” forms of writing, in which they assume that a professor already knows what they are writing about.

Your reader probably doesn't. 

Make it make sense.

3. You may approach your materials from any angle that you like, but you will need to “cover” at least the following items, no matter what order you choose.

          a. You must discuss the “what is theory?” question. Provide your reader with 
              at least a few ways of thinking about it.

          b. Give your reader a sense of what you have learned up to this point about 
              how to “apply” theory. Use examples, either from the course or your own work.

          c. Finally, give your reader some sense of what it is like to “learn theory” by 
              discussing the literary and historical dimensions of some of our texts.  It 
              might be useful to think of the “pragmatic/historical” dimensions that are 
              explained on the syllabus.

          d. You must have at least one illustration. Think about "the rhetorical role of 
               illustrations" in the New York Review of Books.
4. The best way to approach the writing process is in three parts (this is a friendly suggestion). First, jot down some notes for each of the “sections” of your letter. Second, using those notes as a guide, write a rough draft of the whole letter. Third, revise, polish, and refine.  

Voilà you will have something not unlike what Alexis de Tocqueville might have written about understanding a complex, foreign culture that baffled and enticed him 180 years ago. While your letter won’t be as long as Democracy in America, it is likely—if it is done well—to be much like Tocqueville’s rich and evocative letters back to his family about encountering people, texts, and institutions in a strange land called the United States. 

You get the idea. If you don't, just raise your hand and ask me (or send me an e-mail message). I'll be happy to help.
***  ***
Letters are Due (as .pdf files—attach to an e-mail to lafleur@beloit.edu)
by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 18.

Add the word count and your box number to all papers!
[e] And then you may rest RF

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Round and Square Syllabus: Autumn 2016

[a] Round RF
Round and Square Syllabus
All Classes
Autumn 2016
Robert André LaFleur                                                             Office Hours:
Morse Ingersoll 111                                                                 Monday           12:05-1:35
363-2005                                                                                   Wednesday         12:05-1:35
lafleur@beloit.edu                                                                    …or by appointment

NYRB and Round and Square readings are due on Mondays, and will be a part of both the quiz and class discussion on those days.

Week One—August 24
Syllabic Cycles—Introduction, a-d (read all four posts, not just the first one). 
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Two—August 29
Quotidian Quizzes—Introduction, a-h (skim the first four posts, but read the last four carefully (they get to the heart of our course).
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week ThreeSeptember 5
Writing and Time—Introduction
Writing and Time—Reading Logs, a-b (read both posts, not just the first one)  
(Filling out "reading logs" is voluntary, but reading all posts is mandatory!)
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Four—September 12
Theory Corner—Bricolage, a-c (read all three posts, not just the first one).
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Five—September 19
Styling Culture: Chicago-style Footnotes and Endnotes
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Six—September 26
LaFleur, "Divine Entrepreneurs" (handout/.pdf)
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Seven—October 3
LaFleur, "Religiosity Spent" (handout/.pdf)
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Ten—October 24
Prairie Ethnography—The Thousand Ask Question, a-c (read all three posts)
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Eleven—October 31
Structure, History, and Culture (it is important this week that you read both posts. Please understand that the perspective in these posts will play key roles in the rest of our work.
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Twelve—November 7
Structure, History and Culture—Packing the Car
Structure, History, and Culture—Interstate Highways
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Thirteen—November 14
Structure, History, and Culture—NCAA Basketball
Structure, History, and Culture—Electoral College
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week FourteenNovember 21
The Philosophy of History of Philosophy: A History (Introduction)
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!
[b] Square RF

China's Lunar Calendar 2016 08-28

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/31...............................................................................................................8/24
This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar calendar, along with basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying lunar calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing. There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years.

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar.
Section One
Solar Calendar Date
廿
Eighth Month, Twenty-Eighth Day
Astral Period Sun
Sunday, August 28
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
不月生月
將恩氣德
Lunar Virtue
Engendered Vapor
Lunar Kindness
Not General
————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left
申辰

酉己丑
中吉吉
戌午寅 
中中
亥未卯
吉吉
23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 Inauspicious
05:00-07:00 Auspicious

07:00-09:00 In-Between
9:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 In-Between
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 In-Between
21:00-23:00 Auspicious

The hours above are for Hong Kong. It is up to you if you want to recalibrate or to assume that the cyclicality of the calendar "covers" the rest of the world. This is a greater interpretive challenge than you might think.
                             —————————————————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

搭苫放開
厠蓋水渠
Opening Sluices
Putting-into Water
Thatched Coverings
Building Toilets
————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information
廿






Twenty-Sixth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: renwu (19/60)
Phase (element): Wood
Constellation: Asterism (25/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)
————

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information  
(top-to-bottom; right to left)

開移出祭
倉徙行祀
置修嫁祈
產造娶福
栽動納入
種土采學
納上裁會
畜樑衣友
肅始地天
天班水債
火煞痕不
————
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Households
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Opening Granaries
Setting-up Production
Livestock Payments  

Heaven and Earth Turn Strict
(the forty-first of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the lunar calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences
Debt Not
Water Scar
Classified Balefulness
Heavenly Fire

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
Bifurcation, Fire
———— 

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities
碓 庫 倉
Pestle, Storehouse, Granary