Round and Square

China, East Asia, and the Pacific World

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) historical thinking and the use of source materials. 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.

Teach it, really.

Letters from “the field” (or our modified “archive” of source materials from Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook, The Columbia Anthology of Chinese Literature, 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 historical 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 “historical thinking”).

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 John 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). If it is well written, 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, follow 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 “historical thinking" 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 historical thinking?” question. Provide your reader
with at least a few ways of thinking about it. Think about the Collingwood and

Cohen readings from Week II, in particular.

b. Give your reader a sense of what you have learned up to this point about

how to "do" history and think historically. Use specific examples from our
course materials so far, especially the sources from Ebrey and Mair.

c. Finally, give your reader some sense of what it is like to learn history by reading

fewer overviews (the textbook history that Collingwood despises)and more

primary sources. 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!

29 August 2013—Syllabic Cycles: Mountains Syllabus (b)

Saturday, May 29, 2021

Social and Cultural Theory—Letter Assignment, 2021b

On this date on Round and Square's History

29 August 2012—The New Yorker and the World: Course Description (h)

29 August 2011—Annals of Ostracism: Discovered Notes

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.

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, follow 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).

*** ***

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!

Friday, January 11, 2019

HIST 210: Japan, East Asia, and the Pacific World Letter Assignment, Spring 2019

On this date on Round and Square's History

Japan, East Asia, and the Pacific World

History 210

Spring 2019

Preliminary Writing Assignment

Japanese Sources: 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) Japanese source materials. You have already reached a point where you have some experience with Japanese source materials, 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 source materials on the syllabus) are a good way to refine your thoughts about 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 primary 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 (but I know that you are pressed for time). 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 needs to be “long enough” to get you deeply into several issues regarding historical research methods, including particular approaches and a few examples. There is no absolute upper limit, but I am going to make an absolute lower limit of 2,000 words (about six pages). Realistically, your letter should probably be somewhere in the 3,000 word range (about ten pages). 2,000 words (about six pages) is the bare minimum. Do not turn in an assignment shorter than that.

2. Just in case you think that writing 8-10 pages is a matter of spilling your random thoughts onto the page and turning it in, pay very close attention to my writing guide and our class discussions. I expect this to be a well-written essay in letter form (we'll discuss the genre in class).

3. I am asking you to connect with a very specific reader, and to explain “Japanese historical sources" 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 (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.

Make it make sense.

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 a primary source?” 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 read primary sources. Use specific examples from our course materials,
including Lu, McCullough, Stalker, and others..

c. Finally, give your reader some sense of what it is like to “learn through sources”

by discussing the details of some of our texts. Again, use specific examples.

d. You must have at least one illustration. Think about "the rhetorical role of
illustrations" in the New York Review of Books.

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, 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 (as stapled hard-copies outside my office, MI 206)

by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 24.

Add the word count and your box number to all papers!

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Japanese Source Letter Assignment, Autumn 2017

On this date on Round and Square's History

31 August 2015—China's Lunar Calendar 2015 08-29
31 August 2015—New York Review of Books Questions: Autumn 2015
31 August 2014—China's Lunar Calendar 2014 08-29
31 August 2014—New York Review of Books Questions: Autumn 2014
31 August 2013—China's Lunar Calendar 2013 08-29

31 August 2013—Syllabic Cycles: Mountains Syllabus (b)

31 August 2012—The New Yorker and the World: Course Description (h)

31 August 2011—Annals of Ostracism: Discovered Notes

Japan, East Asia, and the Pacific World

History 210

Autumn 2017

Preliminary Writing Assignment

Japanese Sources: The Letter

Teach it, really.

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 needs to be “long enough” to get you deeply into several issues regarding historical research methods, including particular approaches and a few examples. There is no absolute upper limit, but I am going to make an absolute lower limit of 2,000 words (about three pages). Realistically, your letter should probably be somewhere in the 3,000 word range (about ten pages). 2,000 words (about six pages) is the bare minimum. Do not turn in an assignment shorter than that.

2. I am asking you to connect with a very specific reader, and to explain “historical research methods” 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 (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.

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 a primary source?” 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 read primary sources. Use examples from our course materials.

c. Finally, give your reader some sense of what it is like to “learn through sources”

by discussing the details 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 have 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 (as stapled hard-copies outside my office, MI 206)

by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 1

Add the word count and your box number to all papers!

29 August 2013—Syllabic Cycles: Mountains Syllabus (b)

Sunday, June 11, 2017

Social and Cultural Theory Letter Assignment, Autumn 2017

On this date on Round and Square's History

29 August 2012—The New Yorker and the World: Course Description (h)

29 August 2011—Annals of Ostracism: Discovered Notes

Social and Cultural Theory

Anthropology 206

Autumn 2017

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 (but I know that you are pressed for time). 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 needs to be “long enough” to get you deeply into several issues regarding social and cultural theory, including particular approaches and a few examples. There is no absolute upper limit, but I am going to make an absolute lower limit of 2,000 words (about three pages). Realistically, your letter should probably be somewhere in the 3,000 word range (about ten pages). 2,000 words (about six pages) is the bare minimum. Do not turn in an assignment shorter than that.

2. 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. 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.

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 have at least one illustration. Think about "the rhetorical role of
illustrations" in the New York Review of Books.

*** ***

Letters are Due (as stapled hard-copies outside my office, MI 206)

by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 1

Add the word count and your box number to all papers!