Course Format and Requirements
The format of this course is participatory seminar, and therefore carries with it certain opportunities and obligations. Although we will periodically have lectures, films, and guests, the in-class portions of this course are organized primarily around discussion of the readings and the broader themes raised by course materials. Therefore, it is essential that each of you comes to class prepared this means having done the assigned readings before every class session and considered the issues you would like to contribute to discussion. Needless to say, attendance is mandatory at all course activities, and the only excused absences are for family or health emergencies (with proof).
You will be graded on the following:
In this course, you will write two related papers: one a midterm essay and the second an expansion or redirection of your midterm paper. There will be several steps involved in producing this essay:
You should work steadily on this research throughout the semester. We will discuss the requirements and subtleties of each step throughout the semester.
The midterm essay assignment is to take an ethnographic monograph or other major work by an anthropologist on a topic that interests you, and to write a critical commentary on it. Edited volumes and single essays do not count. In this writing, you should engage other commentators and perspectives, and therefore I expect you to draw from at least three commentary sources on your chosen work (critical reviews, discussions of it in other works, etc.). You should deal with the following questions: what is the major argument of this text, and what kinds of examples does the author draw on to illustrate his or her argument? With what and whom is this text arguing, and what are the major outlines of the debate? What are some of the limitations of this theoretical stance? It should be between eight and twelve-pages in length.
The final research paper for this course is an expansion or redirection of
your midterm paper. Your options for this assignment are quite open and flexible,
but keep in mind that the intention of this assignment is for you to build
upon what you've already written in your midterm essay, so please don't
plan on totally changing your topic. Possibilities include exploring in greater
detail a debate in which your author has been engaged;; expanding upon and
deepening your discussion of a particular theme your author writes about;
comparing and contrasting your author's approach with another major author
or approach; exploring the intellectual history and/or socio-political context
of this author's general approach; assessing the broader impact of his or
her ideas in and/or beyond the discipline; using his or her approach to explain
a contemporary event or situation; showing the limitations of this author's
approach for a certain issue; elaborating on a theme or theoretical issue
this author raises somewhere in his or her works; or to apply a particular
critique to their works (for example, a feminist critique of Geertz, a Marxist
critique of Schneider, etc.). It should be between eighteen and twenty-two-pages
in length.
The other assignment in this course is to jointly write an eight-page fictional "ethnographic dialogue" with one other student related to a course reading or theme. You and your partner will then perform this dialogue, providing a dramatic reading of the script to the rest of the class. The goal of these dialogues is to provide us with a fuller sense of ethnography as lived phenomenon, experiencing it as an oral, aural, even kinesthetic encounter. After your performance, you and your partner will each - independently of each other - write a 5-page process paper that explains how the plot, characters, and dialogue relate to the basic thesis and central concepts presented in the book, chapter, or article that is the basis for this dialogue and performance. You will not be graded on the artistic qualities of the dialogue and performance per se (although I will take them into account, especially if they are creative). Rather, you will be assessed on how well you: 1) in your performance as a duo, engage in the important thematic and conceptual elements of the reading or theme in question; 2) summarize the reading in the process paper; and 3) explain in your process paper the goals of the dialogue in relation to the central issues raised in the original reading or course themes. Your process papers will be due one week after you have performed your dialogue. Please bring a copy of your performance dialogue for me on the day you perform in class.
A note on writing assignments:
In these days of computer-mediated writing, there are no excuses for the two following problems: 1) late papers due to 'computer crashes,' and 2) poor spelling. Regarding the former, claiming a 'computer crash' is the basically the same as telling me that your dog ate your homework. This is not a valid excuse if you are backing up your materials on diskettes. If indeed this has happened, I expect you to provide a note from a computer specialist explaining the problem; otherwise your late paper will be evaluated in terms of my late paper policy. Regarding the latter problem, use your spellcheck option and proofread - I will mark you down for poor spelling and grammar.
My policy on late papers is that I do not accept them, although I will make an exception if you are willing to receive a lower grade. For every 24 hour period your paper is late, you drop a full grade from the grade I feel your paper would receive if it were not late. For example, if your 'A' paper is not turned in on time, you will receive a 'B' if it is turned in within the next 24 hours. The next day, your grade drops to a 'C.' The day after that, it is a 'D.' If you turn in a paper late and expect to receive a non-reduced grade, you must provide evidence of an emergency.
If you have not already, you should familiarize yourself with the UVM Writing Center. Tutors will not write or edit your papers for you. However, they will offer advice on developing ideas, finding a thesis, seeing a draft from a reader's point of view, strengthening an argument, and advise on style and correctness. It is located in Room 244 Commons of Living/Learning, and their phone is 656-4075.