CHID 390 Weekly Papers

 Goals/Rationale for weekly papers:

1. To train you to actively engage with the ideas in the readings and to realize their significance and/or connection in relation to the other texts and the greater themes of the class.
2. To train you to do a “generous read” of the readings. In other words, think about what each reading has to offer you intellectually; don’t just look for the problems with the readings. For example, in the first week, focus on the value of the idea of “thick description” and not on what a sexist jerk Geertz is.
3. To ensure that you have completed the readings by class on Tuesday so that you can fully participate in the class discussions that have been organized by your peers. Remember, someday soon that will be you up there. You don’t want to face a sea of blank faces.

 Guidelines

The weekly papers should be divided into three sections:

Part 1: Summary

This section should be devoted to summarizing the main arguments of one of the readings for that week.

Part 2: Main idea of interest to you

This section is your opportunity to tease apart an idea that you found particularly interesting. For example, in “Thick Description” Geertz is applying the linguistic theory of semiotics to anthropology. What does that offer you in terms of a model for interdisciplinary academic work? Or you could pick a quote that seems particularly juicy—for example, “Believing, with Max Weber, that man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun, I take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experimental science in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning” (Geertz 5). How does the idea “webs of significance” illuminate your experience of culture?

Part 3: Application and/or integration of above idea

This final section is all about you applying the idea that you found most interesting to the other readings for this week (so in the examples above, you may want to think about how the theory Geertz provides in “Thick Description” is applied in his essay “Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight”) and the readings from previous weeks. There are connections to be drawn between the readings of different weeks—look for them!

Additional guidelines

• Papers should be 2-3 pages in length. Err on the side of longer rather than shorter.
• Do not write in bullet points. Write in complete sentences and paragraphs, using quotations and page numbers.
• For these papers, use parenthetical documentation as demonstrated in the quote given in “Part 2.” You do not need to include a bibliography unless you cite non-class materials.

 Grading

These papers are not “graded” in any traditional sense. The peer facilitators will mark each paper as either “OK” or “Do Over.” They will also provide significant written comments to help you improve your writing and to strengthen your thinking.

Amy will look at each paper marked “do over” before it is returned to you, and the rewritten papers will be turned into her.

Important: You cannot fail these assignments as long as you turn in your papers each Tuesday and re-write them if necessary. Rewritten papers will be due one week after you receive them back. Completion of these weekly papers is factored into your overall participation grade, which is 40% of your final grade.