ANTH 206 Final Analysis Assignment 2024b (Autumn 2024)

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

[a] Society RF

This is the last assignment for the Social and Cultural Theory course. Students have written a wide variety of papers, and engaged the study of social and cultural theory from several angles. Their task in this assignment is to explain something in detail...and to use "theory."

Social and Cultural Theory 

Anthropology 206

"Final Analysis" Assignment

Using Theory and Explaining Stuff

[b] Explaining RF

The Shorthand Version

1. Choose something that interests you.

2. Explain how it works (and explain the "world" around it).

3. Use theory. 

4. Show how it helps to understand the subject more deeply.

3,000 words, minimum. Preferably 3,000-5,000 words with extensive details of how that "world" works (think of Loïc Wacquant's Body and Soul and Howard Becker's various works.

Due by the end of the term (Thursday, December 14 by 5:00 p.m.)

Please drop off a hard copy at my office (MI 206)...or send a .pdf copy by email if you are off-campus.

[c] Culture RF

Possible Format A—Two Parts

1. Choose something that interests you, and that you think might make for an interesting analysis. Over the years, topics have included scuba training, EMT training, doughnut-making, coffee shop barista activities, the inner-workings of athletic teams, swimming the 50 Freestyle, and so forth.

2. In Part One, explain "the world" around that topic in detail, using “thick description” techniques (reread Geertz's essay on "thick description" in Anthropology in Theory). Think especially of the analysis in Loïc Wacquant's Body and Soul.

3. In Part Two, add a theoretical “appendix” discussing how readers might deepen their understanding with theoretical perspectives. 

4. Show how your analysis helps to understand the subject more deeply.

Possible Format B—Integration of Materials

1. Choose something that interests you (see "Format A" for examples).

2. Explain "the world" around that topic in detail, using “thick description” techniques and integrating theoretical perspectives as you proceed.

3. Add a succinct conclusion that explicitly… 

4. …shows how your theoretical perspective helps to understand the subject more deeply.

Possible Format C—New Vistas

1. Masterfully blend all elements together in a striking narrative form (previously unimagined) that will be anthologized in theory readers and read by students like you for generations. What if you knew you were writing a classic?

You have examples of anthropologists "using theory" while "explaining stuff" in many of your books this term. Perhaps the most useful ones for this assignment will be Body and Soul and Howard Becker's What About Mozart...? The key to this assignment is to use theory to explain how something works. Now read that again:

The key to this assignment is to use theory 

to explain how something works.

Loïc Wacqant's Body and Soul does this extraordinarily well, and any dozen or so pages of that book can be taken as a model for what I want you to do in this assignment. As you know, you will be thinking about this assignment from the very beginning of this course, and will be refining your explanation all semester long (on multiple quizzes and throughout the final month of the course).

Summary 

1. Choose something that interests you.
2. Explain "the world" around that topic in detail.

3. Use “theory.” 

4. Explain why it—the explanation (the "ethnographic detail") and the theory—matters.

Sorry—it’s really that straightforward.

We’ll discuss strategies in class throughout the term. This is a serious assignment, and is meant to make you reflect upon your approach to social and cultural theory. It only seems “glib” and lighthearted. I could write ten pages of detail for the assignment, but this is really all you need...without clutter.

AI

Don't. If you wish to work through ideas in the early stages of thinking, fine, but do not use Chat GPT or other tools (I use the term with mild contempt) to write. As I have said repeatedly in class, it will (1) make all sorts of sloppy writing errors that my writing guide notes (I have seen this repeatedly) and (2) I reserve the right to check it out; if you have used AI to write your paper, you will fail the assignment. The only way that you will create the kind of work success down the road that we've discussed is to learn to write (on your own). 

DO NOT take this assignment lightly. 
It is, by far, the most important assignment of the entire term. 
A great job can save a big part of the term; a mediocre one can hurt your grade a great deal (as I have been saying all term long).

Send to me (lafleur@beloit.edu) as a .pdf file (not a hard copy)! 

by Thursday, December 12.

[d] Pathways RF

Confucius and the World Final Assignment 2026b

 

[a] Discussion RF

Confucius and the World

Final Assignment

I am giving you six different options for your final assignment for this course. Keeping in mind the "flipped classroom" nature of our seminar (the lectures are outside of class, leaving more time for discussion), and hoping to make you bring what you have learned into your ongoing life, I have tried to make it "real" for you.

I have not been especially "prescriptive" with this assignment. In other words, I would like you to take the freedom I am giving you and make the most of it. 

Here are the six options. For every one of them, focus on the text of the Analects. The only way that you could do badly on this assignment (other than giving inadequate effort) is to ignore the close study that you have done on the Analects, the lectures, and the accompanying books in this class. Stick to the text, and then move outward from there.

[b] Confucius-Centered RF

[1]  Write about an event in our world (or, if you wish, one in world history), and analyze how Confucius or his students might have approached it. In other words, ask yourself how Confucius might perceive climate change, immigration, or even voting rights. In other words, if (as we have discussed every week) the Analects might be useful in our lives, we have to imagine ways in which the text can teach us about situations far beyond those in Confucius's own world. Be careful not to (simply) state your own views with a light smattering of Confucian quotations. Engage your topic with the deep understanding of the Analects that you have developed.

[2] Write a piece of historical fiction. Take a theme from the Analects and (using the historical thinking that you have learned this semester) write a story around it. Keep it grounded in the text of the Analects (and avoid making it just a stream-of-consciousness effort); the best historical fiction balances always balances story with sources.

[3] Expand one lecture from the Great Courses. Each lecture is about 5,000 words long (fifteen pages). Imagine that you have been asked to make it 2,000-3,000 words longer. What would you add? Keep it grounded in the text of the Analects.

[4] The Great Courses lectures focus upon four students of Confucius. Add one more. Write a 3,000 word essay about one more student (or figure in the text) or expand the profile of one of the students already covered. You already have chosen one a few weeks ago. Now write about the passages in which (he) figures.

[5] Write an introductory essay to a new translation of the Analects. Imagine that you are working (as a recent Beloit College graduate) at a publishing house, and you have been asked by the senior editor to draft key ideas (in well-written prose) for the introductory material for the eagerly-awaited new translation. Your job is not to discuss the particular translation itself (you have to imagine the task), but rather to make an argument for why the Analects actually matter in our lives today, and how readers might make use of it to guide their lives.

[6] Do something else that you really want to do. You need to discuss the plan with me first. But...keep it grounded in the text of the Analects.

 ***  ***

Papers must be 3,000 words long (about ten pages) and focus upon the Analects and what you have learned in this class. You have six weeks: get started early. There is no excuse for leaving this assignment to the last minute. Please write at least two real drafts, and please do not turn in the first thing you write (see part one of my writing guide).

Send to me (lafleur@beloit.edu) as a .pdf file (not a hard copy)! 

by Thursday, December 10.

[c] Followers RF

ANTH 206 Final Analysis Assignment 2026b

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

[a] Society RF

This is the last assignment for the Social and Cultural Theory course. Students have written a wide variety of papers, and engaged the study of social and cultural theory from several angles. Their task in this assignment is to explain something in detail...and to use "theory."

Social and Cultural Theory 

Anthropology 206

"Final Analysis" Assignment

Using Theory and Explaining Stuff

[b] Explaining RF

The Shorthand Version

1. Choose something that interests you.

2. Explain how it works (and explain the "world" around it).

3. Use theory. 

4. Show how it helps to understand the subject more deeply.

3,000 words, minimum. Preferably 3,000-5,000 words with extensive details of how that "world" works (think of Loïc Wacquant's Body and Soul and Howard Becker's various works.

Due by the end of the term (Thursday, December 10 by 5:00 p.m.)

Please send a .pdf copy by email (lafleur@beloit.edu).

[c] Culture RF

Possible Format A—Two Parts

1. Choose something that interests you, and that you think might make for an interesting analysis. Over the years, topics have included scuba training, EMT training, doughnut-making, coffee shop barista activities, the inner-workings of athletic teams, swimming the 50 Freestyle, and so forth.

2. In Part One, explain "the world" around that topic in detail, using “thick description” techniques (reread Geertz's essay on "thick description" in Anthropology in Theory). Think especially of the analysis in Loïc Wacquant's Body and Soul.

3. In Part Two, add a theoretical “appendix” discussing how readers might deepen their understanding with theoretical perspectives. 

4. Show how your analysis helps to understand the subject more deeply.

Possible Format B—Integration of Materials

1. Choose something that interests you (see "Format A" for examples).

2. Explain "the world" around that topic in detail, using “thick description” techniques and integrating theoretical perspectives as you proceed.

3. Add a succinct conclusion that explicitly… 

4. …shows how your theoretical perspective helps to understand the subject more deeply.

Possible Format C—New Vistas

1. Masterfully blend all elements together in a striking narrative form (previously unimagined) that will be anthologized in theory readers and read by students like you for generations. What if you knew you were writing a classic?

You have examples of anthropologists "using theory" while "explaining stuff" in many of your books this term. Perhaps the most useful ones for this assignment will be Body and Soul and Howard Becker's What About Mozart...? The key to this assignment is to use theory to explain how something works. Now read that again:

The key to this assignment is to use theory 

to explain how something works.

Loïc Wacqant's Body and Soul does this extraordinarily well, and any dozen or so pages of that book can be taken as a model for what I want you to do in this assignment. As you know, you will be thinking about this assignment from the very beginning of this course, and will be refining your explanation all semester long (on multiple quizzes and throughout the final month of the course).

Summary 

1. Choose something that interests you.
2. Explain "the world" around that topic in detail.

3. Use “theory.” 

4. Explain why it—the explanation (the "ethnographic detail") and the theory—matters.

Sorry—it’s really that straightforward.

We’ll discuss strategies in class throughout the term. This is a serious assignment, and is meant to make you reflect upon your approach to social and cultural theory. It only seems “glib” and lighthearted. I could write ten pages of detail for the assignment, but this is really all you need...without clutter.

DO NOT take this assignment lightly. 
It is, by far, the most important assignment of the entire term. 
A great job can save a big part of the term; a mediocre one can hurt your grade a great deal (as I have been saying all term long).

Send to me (lafleur@beloit.edu) as a .pdf file (not a hard copy)! 

by Thursday, December 10.

[d] Pathways RF

Social and Cultural Theory Final Analysis Assignment 2022b

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

On this date on Round and Square's History 

xxx

[a] Society RF

This is the last assignment for the Social and Cultural Theory course. Students have written a wide variety of papers, and engaged the study of social and cultural theory from several angles. Their task in this assignment is to explain something in detail...and to use "theory."

Social and Cultural Theory 

Anthropology 206

"Final Analysis" Assignment

Using Theory and Explaining Stuff

[b] Explaining RF

The Shorthand Version

1. Choose something that interests you.

2. Explain how it works (and explain the "world" around it).

3. Use theory. 

4. Show how it helps to understand the subject more deeply.

3,000 words, minimum. Preferably 3,000-5,000 words with extensive details of how that "world" works (think of Loïc Wacquant's Body and Soul and Howard Becker's various works.

Due by the end of the term (Thursday, December 15 by 5:00 p.m.)

Please drop off a hard copy at my office (MI 206)...or send a .pdf copy by email if you are off-campus.

[c] Culture RF

Possible Format A—Two Parts

1. Choose something that interests you, and that you think might make for an interesting analysis. Over the years, topics have included scuba training, EMT training, doughnut-making, coffee shop barista activities, the inner-workings of athletic teams, swimming the 50 Freestyle, and so forth.

2. In Part One, explain "the world" around that topic in detail, using “thick description” techniques (reread Geertz's essay on "thick description" in Anthropology in Theory). Think especially of the analysis in Loïc Wacquant's Body and Soul.

3. In Part Two, add a theoretical “appendix” discussing how readers might deepen their understanding with theoretical perspectives. 

4. Show how your analysis helps to understand the subject more deeply.

Possible Format B—Integration of Materials

1. Choose something that interests you (see "Format A" for examples).

2. Explain "the world" around that topic in detail, using “thick description” techniques and integrating theoretical perspectives as you proceed.

3. Add a succinct conclusion that explicitly… 

4. …shows how your theoretical perspective helps to understand the subject more deeply.

Possible Format C—New Vistas

1. Masterfully blend all elements together in a striking narrative form (previously unimagined) that will be anthologized in theory readers and read by students like you for generations. What if you knew you were writing a classic?

You have examples of anthropologists "using theory" while "explaining stuff" in many of your books this term. Perhaps the most useful ones for this assignment will be Body and Soul and Howard Becker's What About Mozart...? The key to this assignment is to use theory to explain how something works. Now read that again:

The key to this assignment is to use theory 

to explain how something works.

Loïc Wacqant's Body and Soul does this extraordinarily well, and any dozen or so pages of that book can be taken as a model for what I want you to do in this assignment. As you know, you will be thinking about this assignment from the very beginning of this course, and will be refining your explanation all semester long (on multiple quizzes and throughout the final month of the course).

Summary 

1. Choose something that interests you.
2. Explain "the world" around that topic in detail.

3. Use “theory.” 

4. Explain why it—the explanation (the "ethnographic detail") and the theory—matters.

Sorry—it’s really that straightforward.

We’ll discuss strategies in class throughout the term. This is a serious assignment, and is meant to make you reflect upon your approach to social and cultural theory. It only seems “glib” and lighthearted. I could write ten pages of detail for the assignment, but this is really all you need...without clutter.

DO NOT take this assignment lightly. 
It is, by far, the most important assignment of the entire term. 
A great job can save a big part of the term; a mediocre one can hurt your grade a great deal (as I have been saying all term long).

Send to me (lafleur@beloit.edu) as a .pdf file (not a hard copy)! 

by Thursday, December 15.

[d] Pathways RF

Social and Cultural Theory—Final Analysis Assignment, Autumn 2021b

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

On this date on Round and Square's History 

xxx

[a] Society RF

This is the last assignment for the Social and Cultural Theory course. Students have written a wide variety of papers, and engaged the study of social and cultural theory from several angles. Their task in this assignment is to explain something in detail...and to use "theory."

Social and Cultural Theory 

Anthropology 206

"Final Analysis" Assignment

Using Theory and Explaining Stuff

[b] Explaining RF

The Shorthand Version

1. Choose something that interests you.

2. Explain how it works (and explain the "world" around it).

3. Use theory. 

4. Show how it helps to understand the subject more deeply.

3,000 words, minimum. Preferably 3,000-5,000 words with extensive details of how that "world" works (think of Loïc Wacquant's Body and Soul and Howard Becker's various works.

Due by the end of the term (actual date TBA).

Please send a .pdf copy to me through email.

[c] Culture RF

Possible Format A—Two Parts

1. Choose something that interests you, and that you think might make for an interesting analysis. Over the years, topics have included scuba training, EMT training, doughnut-making, coffee shop barista activities, the inner-workings of athletic teams, swimming the 50 Freestyle, and so forth.

2. In Part One, explain "the world" around that topic in detail, using “thick description” techniques (reread Geertz's essay on "thick description" in Anthropology in Theory). Think especially of the analysis in Loïc Wacquant's Body and Soul.

3. In Part Two, add a theoretical “appendix” discussing how the reader might deepen her understanding with theoretical perspectives. 

4. Show how your analysis helps to understand the subject more deeply.

Possible Format B—Integration of Materials

1. Choose something that interests you (see "Format A" for examples).

2. Explain "the world" around that topic in detail, using “thick description” techniques and integrating theoretical perspectives as you proceed. 

3. Add a succinct conclusion that explicitly… 

4. …shows how your theoretical perspective helps to understand the subject more deeply.

Possible Format C—New Vistas

1. Masterfully blend all elements together in a striking narrative form (previously unimagined) that will be anthologized in theory readers and read by students like you for generations. What if you knew you were writing a classic?

You have examples of anthropologists "using theory" while "explaining stuff" in many of your books this term. Perhaps the most useful ones for this assignment will be Body and Soul and Howard Becker's What About Mozart...? The key to this assignment is to use theory to explain how something works. Now read that again:

The key to this assignment is to use theory 

to explain how something works.

Loïc Wacqant's Body and Soul does this extraordinarily well, and any dozen or so pages of that book can be taken as a model for what I want you to do in this assignment. As you know, you will be thinking about this assignment from the very beginning of this course, and will be refining your explanation all semester long (on multiple quizzes and throughout the final month of the course).

Summary 

1. Choose something that interests you.
2. Explain "the world" around that topic in detail.

3. Use “theory.” 

4. Explain why it—the explanation (the "ethnographic detail") and the theory—matters.

Sorry—it’s really that straightforward.

We’ll discuss strategies in class thoughout the term. This is a serious assignment, and is meant to make you reflect upon your approach to social and cultural theory. It only seems “glib” and lighthearted. I could write ten pages of detail for the assignment, but this is really all you need...without clutter.

DO NOT take this assignment lightly. 
It is, by far, the most important assignment of the entire term. 
A great job can save a big part of the term; a mediocre one can hurt your grade a great deal (as I have been saying all term long).

Hard copy due in my office (MI 206) by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 9.

Feel free to also send a .pdf file, as well,  just to be sure that there are no mixups.

[d] Pathways RF

ANTH 206 Final Analysis Assignment 2020b

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

On this date on Round and Square's History 

xxx

[a] Society RF

This is the last assignment for the Social and Cultural Theory course. Students have written a wide variety of papers, and engaged the study of social and cultural theory from several angles. Their task in this assignment is to explain something in detail...and to use "theory."

Social and Cultural Theory 

Anthropology 206

"Final Analysis" Assignment

Using Theory and Explaining Stuff

[b] Explaining RF

The Shorthand Version

1. Choose something that interests you.

2. Explain how it works (and the "world" around it).

3. Use theory. 

4. Show how it helps to understand the subject more deeply.

3,000 words, minimum. Preferably 3,000-5,000 words with extensive details of how that "world" works (think of Loïc Wacquant's Body and Soul).

Due by the end of the term (actual date TBA).

Please send a .pdf copy to me through email.

[c] Culture RF

Possible Format A—Appendix

1. Choose something that interests you, and that you think might make for an interesting analysis. Over the years, topics have included scuba training, EMT training, doughnut-making, coffee shop barista activities, the inner-workings of athletic teams, and so forth.

2. Explain "the world" around that topic in detail, using “thick description” techniques (reread Geertz's essay in Anthropology in Theory). Think especially of the analysis in Loïc Wacquant's Body and Soul.

3. Add a theoretical “appendix” discussing how the reader might deepen her understanding with theoretical perspectives. 

4. Show how it helps to understand the subject more deeply.

Possible Format B—Integration

1. Choose something that interests you (see "Format A" for examples).

2. Explain "the world" around that topic in detail, using “thick description” techniques and integrating theoretical perspectives as you proceed. 

3. Add a succinct conclusion that explicitly… 

4. …shows how your theoretical perspective helps to understand the subject more deeply.

Possible Format C—New Vistas

1. Masterfully blend all elements together in a striking narrative form (previously unimagined) that will be anthologized in theory readers and read by students like you for generations. What if you knew you were writing a classic?

You have examples of anthropologists "using theory" while "explaining stuff" in many of your books this term. Perhaps the most useful ones for this assignment will be Body and Soul and Howard Becker's What About Mozart...? The key to this assignment is to use theory to explain how something works. Loïc Wacqant's Body and Soul does this extraordinarily well, and any dozen or so pages of that book can be taken as a model for what I want you to do in this assignment.

Summary 

1. Choose something that interests you.
2. Explain "the world" around that topic in detail.

3. Use “theory.” 

4. Explain why it—the explanation (the "ethnographic detail") and the theory—matters.

Sorry—it’s really that straightforward.

We’ll discuss strategies in class, but this is a serious assignment, and is meant to make you reflect upon your approach to social and cultural theory. It only seems “glib” and lighthearted. I could write ten pages of detail for the assignment, but this is really all you need...without clutter.

DO NOT take this assignment lightly. 
It is, by far, the most important assignment of the entire term. 
A great job can save a big part of the term; a mediocre one can hurt more than you want (as I have been saying all term long).

Due...TBA

[d] Pathways RF