Anthro 3 Essay Prompt PDF

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Ethnographic Assignment Anthro 3 Prof. Yunxiang Yan Due Feb 28th at the start of class 1 points will be deducted per day after 11:15am Contact the teaching staff with any questions regarding academic honesty See formatting requirements at the end of this document Assignment: ethnographic observation plus analysis Option 1: In five pages, write a field report and analysis focused on the John Wooden Center gym. 1. Ethnographic observation. Spend approximately one hour conducting ethnographic observations at the John Wooden Center gym. Make sure to budget time to observe its relationship to the larger university context. At the gym, take jottings or “in situ” fieldnotes related to the actions and behaviors of community members (i.e. staff, patrons, et al.). Also take jottings on the setting (e.g. time of day, persons, proxemics, social categories, social organization, spatial organization or “layout”, material culture, interactional norms, etc). Later, upon returning home, sit down at the computer and build these jottings out into more complete field notes. You are encouraged but not required to take up to two pictures (please observe gym rules and obtain explicit permission before photographing individuals). If you do so, you will submit them as an appendix to your paper (i.e., as pages 6-7 in addition to the 5 pages of text). You are allowed to observe how visitors and staff use this space; if someone approaches you, though, you will need to account for your presence (i.e. engage in a “telling practice”). We recommend that you tell them the truth: that you are enrolled in an introductory anthropology course, that you are taking general (i.e. non-personal and non-identifying) notes on the John Wooden Center for a class assignment, and that all of the information gathered will remain anonymous. Please do not approach anyone for an interview and please do not use additional web materials related to the gym in your paper. Option 2: In five pages, write a field report and analysis on the Westwood Village Farmers’ Market, which is located at 1031 Broxton Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024 and open from 12 to 6pm on Thursdays.* 1. Ethnographic observation. Spend approximately one hour conducting ethnographic observations at the Westwood Village Farmers Market. Make sure to budget time to observe its relationship to the larger municipal context (e.g. other stores and restaurants, infrastructure, etc). At the farmer’s market, take jottings or “in situ” fieldnotes related to the actions and behaviors of community members (i.e. staff, vendors, customers, browsers, buskers, et al.). Also take jottings on the setting (e.g. time of day, persons, proxemics, social categories, social organization, spatial organization or “layout”, material culture, interactional and transactional norms, etc). Later, upon returning home, sit down at the computer and build these jottings out into more complete field notes. You are encouraged but not required to take up to two pictures where permitted (please observe market rules and obtain explicit permission before photographing individuals). If you do so, you will submit them as an appendix to your paper (i.e., as pages 6-7 in addition to the 5

pages of text). You may observe any aspect of the Farmer’s Market sales areas (e.g. produce, merchandise, layout) as this is permitted by law; if someone approaches you, though, you will need to account for your presence and actions (i.e. engage in a “telling practice”). We recommend that you tell them the truth: that you are enrolled in an introductory anthropology course at UCLA, that you are taking general (i.e. non-personal and non-identifying) notes on the Westwood Village Farmers Market for a class assignment, and that all of the information gathered will remain anonymous. Please do not approach anyone to initiate an interview and please do not use additional information on the Market gathered from the internet. *Due to the large amounts of rain over the last few Thursdays, you may also go to the Trader Joe’s located in Westwood (1000 Glendon Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024). You should focus your observations on the produce section, the cash registers and the free sample section. Think about social interactions, merchandise, layout, etc.

For both prompt options: 1. Do not go to the market or gym in groups. Do not disrupt workers’ jobs, patrons’ activities, or customers’ shopping in any way. 2. The essay: provide a description and analysis of your site in five pages that engages the texts assigned and themes addressed in the course. Any number of texts might be relevant. Your essay should include a theme, a thesis, and an argument. In each paragraph of the body of the paper you should draw upon material from your fieldwork and the course readings. You should include a brief general description of the market or gym, but you are welcome to focus on more specific elements related to your argument. Careful selection of ethnographic details and quotations from assigned texts should be sustained throughout the essay.

Assignment Format: · Select a theme to focus on in your paper. The paper is so short that you only have space to address one major theme. · Possible themes include – but are not limited to – ways of making a living (e.g. mode of subsistence, progress / change in the social formation, social structure, social categories and their interrelation, etc), ways of cooperation (e.g. membership, kinship, kithship, etc), ways of distribution and exchange (e.g. age and gender-based division of labor, types of reciprocity, etc), and more. You are welcome to use concepts from lecture. · Develop an argument: In social scientific writing, an “argument” does not usually refer to the act of pronouncing judgment upon a social fact, be it in favor thereof (“it’s good”) or in opposition thereto (“it’s bad”). Rather, it refers to the act of “building a case” for a certain interpretation of these facts, that is, stating what you believe to be the case (e.g. “All the women at the Westwood Farmer’s Market belong to one of two descent groups”), defining your terms (e.g. “descent group”) and providing the reader with the most persuasive evidence at your disposal so that s/he comes away from your essay convinced that your initial “thesis” statement is “true” (i.e. correct or plausible). Develop that argument, which should be stated in bold font as a thesis statement in the first paragraph, using ideas from the course and evidence from fieldwork.

You should assume that the reader is familiar with Los Angeles, the Farmer’s Market, the Wooden Center and the assigned texts. However, you should still provide a brief description of your fieldwork as it is relevant to your thesis/argument. You do not need to create a bibliography. Instead, indicate citations parenthetically, e.g. (Haviland 309). Thereafter, just include page numbers – (310) – until you cite another author. Your essay will be evaluated for reading/viewing comprehension, fieldwork accuracy and attention to meaningful and relevant detail, clear and reasonable thesis, development of argument/theme, ability to analyze ethnographic data using concepts from course readings, clarity and style, and fulfillment of the assignment’s requirements (formatting, etc.). Papers should be 5 pages (plus cover page – see below), double-spaced, using 12-point font (Times New Roman), with 1” margins. You may print double-sided or use the clean side of white scrap paper in order to save paper. Make sure to give your paper a title. This should not be written on a separate cover sheet, but rather placed at the top of the first page of text. Your title should be centered and not larger than 24-point font (Times New Roman). Paginate the document. Graders will stop reading at the bottom of the fifth page and will evaluate the paper based upon the elements supplied theretofore. DO NOT include your name anywhere on the five pages of the paper’s text (no name in header, etc.). Your paper will be graded blind. Please staple your paper in the upper left corner. Include a cover sheet that contains your name, student ID number, section number, and name of your TA. Your paper must include a thesis, indicated in bold. Have fun with this!...