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.

Monday, May 31, 2021

Social and Cultural Theory—Ethnography Review Essay Assignment, 2021b

 Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Assignments"

[a] Modeled RF
NOTE:
This is the penultimate writing assignment in my social and cultural theory course. All term, students have been reading theoretical essays in various anthologies and working diligently to make them make sense. The whole purpose of the course is to learn to use theoretical insights in our own work, and that means that we must position the readings in their historical context, learn what has changed, what theoretical trails have run cold, and, sometimes, find the ones that we need to travel down...again. Toward that end, I assign two sets of ethnographies for students upon which students can test their growing skills. They may choose either Renato Rosaldo's Ilongot Headhunting and Michelle Rosaldo's Knowledge and Passion—both the product of extensive, partnered fieldwork in the Philippines. The other choice is Edward Schieffelin's The Sorrow of the Lonely and the Burning of the Dancers and Steven Feld's Sound and Sentiment—the products of another kind of teamwork among the Kaluli of New Guinea. The readings take two weeks, and they culminate in this assignment.

 
Social and Cultural Theory
Anthropology 206
“Penultimate” Assignment
Ethnography, Theory, and a Sense of Place 
[b] Dance-sound RF

The Basics 
Read your two ethnographies from weeks eleven and twelve on the syllabus. Write an essay of at least 2,000 words (about six 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. You already know the drill: 2,000 words, if well-written, might get you a "B." If you wish to do better, you need to write drafts and have content in the 3,000-word range (about ten pages, after revisions).

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.

[c] Painted Totem RF
Review Essay  
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 Body and Soul, Practical ReasonAnthropology In Theory, and A History of Anthropology 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 (or Edward Scheiffelin and Steven Feld). 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, Bourdieu, and Eriksen 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 Eriksen (for context). As you know, the theoretical essays in Moore and the arguments in Becker's and Bourdieu’s works lie at the heart of the class, and I would like to see connections to them in your essays. 

—Do not 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 the other professors who have taught you in your college education…and I will be looking over their shoulders.

—Follow standard Chicago Manual of Style citation form, and use my writing guide as you proceed. 

            http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html

—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 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 14 in my office (hard copy)—MI 206

Use the word count feature of your software and put the word total at the bottom of the essay, e.g. “3,262 words.”

[e] One RF

China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 05-31

 Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
6/1..................................................................................................................................................5/25


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-solar (or "luni-solar" calendar; I call it the "lunar" calendar in order to distinguish it from the kinds of calendars most Westerners use. It has a basic translation and minimal interpretation

As for interpreting the translation, unless you have been studying calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution tha"it" doesn't "mean" any one thing (almost any "it" you will see). 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 calendarSome of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years. And do not assume that people from China understand the traditional calendar particularly well, either. I have encountered confusion and furrowed brows for countless items in the calendar. It can seem "remote," in other words, from the world we live in these days, and yet it is printed anew every single year.

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. You will likely find that several of the translations seem quite "fanciful" in English. I am simply trying to convey that they also sound fairly fanciful in Chinese.                       
                                                         Section One
                                                  Solar Calendar Date
                                              (top to bottom, right to left)
一期星
Fifth Month, Thirty-First Day
Monday, May 31
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
月進天
恩神恩
Heavenly Kindness
Entering Spirits
Lunar Kindness
————

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

申辰甲
酉巳丑
戌午寅
亥未卯
23:00-1:00 Auspicious
1:00-3:00 Inauspicious
3:00-5:00 Auspicious
5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 In-Between
9:00-11:00 In-Between
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

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

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


補動穿
垣土井
Boring Wells
Moving Soil
Patching Embankments
————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information
Twentieth Day Day (Fourth Lunar Month)
Cyclical Day: jimao (16/60)
Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Drawn Bow 
(26/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)
————

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 
竪嫁祭
柱娶祀
上裁求
樑衣嗣
安理入
牀髮學
入移出
倉徙行
至秋麥
天班地
火煞囊
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Seeking Inheritance
Entering Study
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Patterning Hair
Moving Residences
Erecting Pillars
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Entering Granaries

Grain Ripens
(the twenty-fourth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods)

Baleful Astral Influences
Earth Duffel (Dirt Bag)
Classified Balefulness
Heavenly Conflagration
————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese should be read right to left)
人 人
Person, Person
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items 
(the Chinese should be read top-to-bottom, and right-to-left;
the English translation is under the bottom of each character)
門 大
Divination
Gate, Great

Sunday, May 30, 2021

Social and Cultural Theory—"Bridges to Theory" Assignment, 2021b

 On this date on Round and Square's History 

[a] A Bridge(d) RF
The midterm assignment in all of my classes is pivotal in several senses of the term. Of course, the first thing students realize is that it is important—pivotal.  A solid chunk of the grade turns (pivots) on it. The next sense is even more significant, though. The midterm assignment is designed to encourage students to consider all of the work they have done in the first half of the course and to put it together in a midterm assignment that helps them to pivot to the second half of the course. The results of this assignment are especially enjoyable for me to read, since students have engaged the fascinating and surprisingly complex novels Mrs. Bridge (1959) and Mr. Bridge (1969). These were written by the extraordinarily versatile writer Evan S. Connell, and told in a "polished fieldnote" sort of vignette style that works beautifully in a social and cultural theory course.
 

Social and Cultural Theory
Anthropology 206
"Midterm Assignment"“Bridges to Theory” 

[b] Too-too RF
The Basics 
Review Mrs. Bridge and Mr. Bridge, then watch the film (TBA). Write a review essay of at least 2,000 words (about six pages) commenting upon some of the many themes found in Evan Connell’s vignettes on the Bridges. As with the letter assignment a few weeks ago, you will really need to write something more along the lines of 3,000 words (ten pages) to do a high quality job. You have more than enough material to do so. 

Note the assignment title above, and show some of the many connections to the theoretical materials we have studied up to this point in the course. Because this is a review essay, you will be evaluating the examples in both the film and the two novels. 

 Preparation
Although this assignment is deliberately open-ended (allowing you to use any number of interpretive strategies), do not forget its role as a “pivot” in our course. Your work should engage, on some level, the full range of our materials from the first half 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 second half of the course. 
[c] Ostentation RF

Review Essay 
You have been reading a few good review essays from the New York Review of Books for several weeks. Now, is the time to write one of your own that has a distinctly “theoretical” focus. 

The basic idea is as follows. A good review essay has a two-pronged approach. It is, on the one hand, a “review” of the books and the film. By this, I mean that you need to engage examples from the lives of the Bridges. This should not be at all difficult, given the immediacy of much of the material. In the “rest” of the essay you should show how the themes in the novels 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 other texts connect to the specific issues in the novels you have read (or, from another perspective, the pile of Evan Connell's “fieldnotes” you have been studying)? To be sure, you will blend these approaches, but how you do so will be part of your writing strategy. We’ll discuss this in class.

[d] Pineapple Bread RF
Additional Notes 
This assignment asks you to engage the two novels and to review all of the work you have done thus far in the course (the exam you just finished is good preparation for this). It does not require you to do “research” beyond the significant labor you have already invested in your course reading and writing. In fact, substantial outside work will almost certainly be counterproductive. For example, spending two or three pages on the history of 1930s Kansas City will be far less productive than spending those pages examining the world of the Bridges or theoretical perspectives that might help us understand them better. Background information is occasionally useful (and you may possibly 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. Again, with novels as “up front” as these, this should not be a problem.
[e] Tower RF

The greater challenge is to “use” our theoretical materials well. Plot out some of the themes (or scenes) in the novels and take notes to make sure you have dealt with the full range of possibilities in the theoretical materials. Your skills in spotting themes in the Moore, Bourdieu, Wacquant, and other readings will pay off a great deal in this assignment, as will the general contextual and theoretical knowledge you have gained in our discussions. 

Reminders 
1. This assignment is meant to “tie together” much of the work you have done this semester. Just as on weekly quizzes, be sure to use the full range of your “sources” in your interpretations—classroom analyses, Moore, Bourdieu, Eriksen and others.  As you know, the theoretical essays in Moore are the heart of the class, and I would like to see connections to them in your essays.
[f] Tarquin Plan RF

2. 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 who is intelligent, and certainly able to follow a complex argument. Imagine, for example, that you are writing for the professors you have in other classes this term, with moi looking over their shoulders. Keep your letter reader in mind, too. It will serve you well. While this is an essay (not a letter), audience still matters. Think about the readers of the New York Review of Books—very intelligent people who have not done the work we've done over the last two months.

3. Follow standard Chicago Manual of Style citation form, and use my writing guide as you proceed. This is a “formal” review essay, and the second section of the guide (grammar and style) guidelines should be followed closely.  

4. There should be a short bibliography of sources (class books and any outside materials that you have consulted) at the end of your document.

5. Good luck. There is more than enough material to write any number of essays. Choose several good points, scenes, or themes. Then write an essay.

6. Put in an illustration. By now, you should know why.

Due by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 24 at 5:00 p.m. (hard copy in MI 206).

Use the word count feature of your software and put the word total at the bottom of the essay, e.g. “2,562 words."

China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 05-30

  Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
6/1..................................................................................................................................................5/25


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-solar (or "luni-solar" calendar; I call it the "lunar" calendar in order to distinguish it from the kinds of calendars most Westerners use. It has a basic translation and minimal interpretation

As for interpreting the translation, unless you have been studying calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution tha"it" doesn't "mean" any one thing (almost any "it" you will see). 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 calendarSome of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years. And do not assume that people from China understand the traditional calendar particularly well, either. I have encountered confusion and furrowed brows for countless items in the calendar. It can seem "remote," in other words, from the world we live in these days, and yet it is printed anew every single year.

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. You will likely find that several of the translations seem quite "fanciful" in English. I am simply trying to convey that they also sound fairly fanciful in Chinese.                       
                                                         Section One
                                                  Solar Calendar Date
                                              (top to bottom, right to left)
期星
Fifth Month, Thirtieth Day
Sunday, May 30
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
敬母
安倉
Maternal Granary
Reverential Peace
————

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

申辰甲
酉巳丑
戌午寅
亥未卯
23:00-1:00 In-Between
1:00-3:00 Auspicious
3:00-5:00 Inauspicious
5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 Auspicious
9:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

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

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


動祭
土祀
Venerating Ancestors
Moving Soil
————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information
Nineteenth Day Day (Fourth Lunar Month)
Cyclical Day: wuyin (15/60)
Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Asterism 
(25/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Receive (10/12)
————

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 
陽土
將符
月劫
害煞
Appropriate Activities
Establishing Rooms
Seizing and Capturing
Binding Nets
Garnering Piscinity (Fishing)

Baleful Astral Influences
Soil Charm
Plundered Balefulness
Yang General
Lunar Harm
————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese should be read right to left)
白 鬼
White, Ghost
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items 
(the Chinese should be read top-to-bottom, and right-to-left;
the English translation is under the bottom of each character)
爐 牀
Edifice
Furnace, Bed

Saturday, May 29, 2021

Social and Cultural Theory—Letter Assignment, 2021b

 On this date on Round and Square's History 


[a] Text and illustration RF
Social and Cultural Theory 
Anthropology 206 
Autumn 2021

Writing Assignment 
Theory: The Letter

By choosing the letter format for your first full 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 now 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 Anthropology and Theory and other works) 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, as we are in this course.

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 rather a reworking, rethinking, and re-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”).  

It needs to be a real person, and the letter will really be sent (arranged and paid for by the Beloit College history department). Let me repeat: it is a real letter to a real person. Do not treat this as an "exercise." In fact, the one way to "blow it" is to write a fake letter. One excellent student who did not believe me, actually wrote a "To whom it may concern" letter.

Don't. Do. That. I mean it.

Now that you are going to write a real letter, you owe it to yourself to listen to this long interview with McPhee. Take the time to do it. You'll learn a great deal about writing (and remember, this is a writing course, with "W" credit on your transcript). At the very least, though, listen to the first few minutes. It is the very purpose that lies behind this assignment.

John McPhee NPR (1978) 22:40
Click on the second blue circle on the right side of the page (it is worth it)

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

1. The letter should be and absolute minimum of 2,000 words (about six pages). That might get you a B (maybe). You really will need between 2,000 and 3,000 words (six-to-ten pages) to do it justice. I am looking for high-quality writing, and simply dashing off ta few pages will likely result in a C (or worse). A good job will require a good deal of careful work. 

2. Just in case you are used to writing three or four pages—spilling words onto the page and turning it in—pay very close attention to my writing guide and our class discussions about writing. I expect this to be a well-written essay in letter form (we'll discuss the letter genre in class). Again, f
ollow my writing guide. It will give you the tools to write drafts and to do this write (er, right).

3. 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. Even now, 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, and I want you to explain it.

Make it make sense to your reader.

4. 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 "do" theory and think theoretically. Use specific examples from our 
              course materials so far.

          c. Finally, give your reader some sense of what it is like to “learn theory”
              by discussing the details of some of your reading. Again, use specific examples.

          d. You must have at least one illustration. Trust me. I know what I'm doing. It can be anything (and you won't be publishing this, so permissions won't be required, although you should cite anything that is not your own drawing with a footnote or endnote).
5. The best way to approach the writing process is in three parts (this is a friendly suggestion). First, create a structure (we'll discuss this in class), and 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, redraft, ,revise, polish, and refine (read my writing guide)

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 Tocqueville's 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 copies sent to me by email)
by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 26

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