On this date on Round and Square's History
1 September 2013—China's Lunar Calendar 2013 09-011 September 2013—Syllabic Cycles: Attendance Policy 2013
1 September 2012—Just Do It Over: Soliloquy, With Chair
1 September 2011—Styling Culture: Revise, Revise, Revise
HIST 310 / ANTH 375
Autumn 2014
Preliminary Writing
Assignment
Reflexivity: 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) reflexive practices (positive and negative) in history, anthropology, and beyond. You have already reached
a point where you have some experience with thinking about "reflexivity," as well as several books that you may wish to use as examples. Your
job will be to
explain some of this to an intelligent non-specialist.
Teach it, really.
Teach it, really.
Letters from “the field” (or our
modified “archive” of reflexivity texts) 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 seminar.
The letter writing exercise is especially useful while studying mountain 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 “studying reflexivity”).
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.
The letter writing exercise is especially useful while studying mountain 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 “studying reflexivity”).
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 ethnography, history, and reflexivity. You will also want to provide your reader with some particular
examples that are resonant for you. 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, you will need this much “space”
to
give your reader a good picture of your work. Somewhere between 3,000
and 3,500
words (ten to twelve pages) is just about right. Include a word count at
the end
of your paper (e.g. “3,377 words” or Word Count: 3,377).
2. I am asking you to connect with a very specific
reader, and to explain "reflexivity” 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.
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 reflexivity?"question—what is "it," anyway?
Provide your reader with at least a few ways of thinking about it, using examples
drawn from both your texts and your own experience.
Provide your reader with at least a few ways of thinking about it, using examples
drawn from both your texts and your own experience.
b. Give your reader a sense of what you have learned up
to this point about
how to think about reflexivity. Again, use examples, either from the course
or your
own experience.
own experience.
c. Finally, give your reader some sense of what it is
like to “study reflexivity”
by discussing the literary and historical dimensions of
some of our texts. It
might be useful to
think of both the pragmatic ("I am part of the knowledge")
and "risky" (my peers might find me shallow) parts of the reflexive operation.
d. You must include at least one illustration in your letter. Think of the rhetorical role
of illustrations in the New York Review of Books.
and "risky" (my peers might find me shallow) parts of the reflexive operation.
d. You must include at least one illustration in your letter. Think of 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.
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.
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| [e] And then you may rest RF |
