On this date on Round and Square's History
Social and Cultural Theory
Anthropology 206
Autumn 2014
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.
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 two minutes. It is the very purpose
behind this assignment.
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 theory itself, particular approaches, and a few
examples. There is no absolute upper
limit, but I am going to make a lower limit of 3,000 words (about ten pages).
Even if you are a very efficient writer (3,000 words is barely adequate), you will need this much “space” to
give your reader a good picture of your work. 3,000 words (or a few more) is just about right. Include a word count at the end
of our paper (e.g. “3,245 words” or Word Count: 3,245).
2. I am asking you to connect with a very specific
reader, and to explain “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 (I will, of course, be
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 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 had 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 (in hard copy form) outside my door
by
10:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 28
Add the word count and your box number to all papers!
