China, East Asia, and the Pacific World—Ethnography Review Essay Assignment, Autumn 2021b

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

On this day in Round and Square History 
2 November 2014—China's Lunar Calendar: 2014 11-02
2 November 2013—China's Lunar Calendar: 2013 11-02
2 November 2012—Rural Religion in China (33)
2 November 2011—Seinfeld Ethnography: Jerry's Haircut

[a] Modeled RF

 

China, East Asia, and the Pacific World

History 210

Anthropology, Ethnography, and 

the Study of Modern China

[b] Dance-sound RF

The Basics 

Read James Peacock's The Anthropological Lens (Week 9), as well as  ethnographies from weeks twelve through fifteen 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 final writing assignment in our course. Your work should engage, on some level, the full range of our materials throughout the course (your class notes, reading notes, abstracts, and even quizzes will be useful as you proceed). We have taken an "ethnographic" approach to modern China, and you job is to write a compelling review essay that guides the reader through not only the books themselves, but also the ways that ethnographies can help us to understand the modern world.

[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 Chinese civilization. In other words, how might the source materials (poems, essays, treatises) in the Ebrey and Mair readers, as well as the analytical books by Brook, Kuhn, Mann, and Cohen connect to the specific issues in the ethnographies you have read?

Additional Notes 

This assignment asks you to engage your four books (Peacock and the three ethnographies) and to review all of the work you have done thus far in the course. It does not require you to do outside research, and substantial outside work will almost certainly be counter-productive. For example, spending two or three pages on general narratives of modern China will be far less productive than spending those pages examining the arguments made by the various anthropologists we have read. 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 Ebrey and Mair books will pay off a great deal in this assignment, as will the general contextual and theoretical knowledge you have gained in our discussion.

[d] Pairs RF

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, Ebrey, and Mair (for context). As you know, historical source materials in this course are invaluable for sensing continuity (and change) in modern China, as seen in our ethnographies. 

—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 or modern Chinese history, 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 10:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 8 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