Cultural Anthropology

REQUIREMENTS:

1. Your assignment is to produce an original piece of research on a topic of your choosing. The end product of this assignment will be no less than a five (5) page paper on this topic.
2. Your research will include the analysis of at least four (4) reputable (i.e. peer reviewed) academic sources for this paper.
3. You will create a finished work with four basic sections: 1) an introduction asking a research question or posing a thesis; 2) a data/analysis that provides data to document your point of view and analyzes or ties these data together to make them relevant to your topic; 3) conclusions which tie back to your introduction; 4) a references cited section (see below). The paper will include proper grammar, correct spelling, internal citations, as well as a references cited section.
4. 4. Your paper will be submitted through “Turnitin” automatically as you submit your paper to Research Paper assignment  “submit” drop box. You don’t have to do anything different, simply submit it like an other assignment.

DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT:

The one major stipulation is that the primary research for this paper needs to be about a culture outside of the United States unless you are researching an indigenous group.  The end goal will be a well crafted, thought out, and executed report.

Route A: Traditional Research– You can feel free to research any topic that can be tied to cultural anthropology. Topics may be on a specific part of the world (Nigerian popular music, healing rituals of the Yanomami, globalization and EU stratification).

Route B: Some students may want to use this project to also research their own family histories (must be deeper than a grade school report), learn from a friend’s relative from another part of the world, etc. Maybe there is a specific part of the world or activity that interests you. You should formulate your project around learning about another part of the world (perhaps also at a different time period) by direct interviews with family members or others. Interviews are acceptable although, that said, multiple informants that you interview will only count as one single source. Note: if you do interviews, understand they are doing you a favor that will benefit your college career. They have the right to disclose or not reveal information they choose. Also by conducting interviews you should consider that this person has done you a favor and it may be appropriate to repay their kindness by offering to treat them to a meal or coffee. But DO NOT pay them. Also, if they chose to remain anonymous you should honor that request.

Route C: Expand a Current Hot Topic Issue from your news debriefing assignment–Perhaps you read about something during the course while doing your research for our current affairs project.  Something happening in Pakistan? Barbados? Sierra Leone? Austria?  Here is your starting point to research the social and political context for these events.

Regardless of your chosen path, you must submit your “Research Plan” indicating the project you are thinking of doing by the due date! For more information see the directions in the Project plan assignment box.

My advice is to narrow your research topic as much as you can.  Do NOT submit a paper on the Roma, for example, and then just write short superficial descriptions of their food, music, religion, etc. Instead focus on one of these topics and deepen your description and analysis.

INTERNAL CITATIONS (REQUIRED):

All sources MUST be cited and you MUST cite every idea that is not yours directly both in the text and in a “references cited” section at the end of of your paper. It is much better to cite more than you need rather than less. Thus:

Kies (2006) explores how artisan production in Mexico is impacted greatly by global economic trends.

Discrimination against Muslim practitioners in southern Spain is clearly present in everyday life within various communities in this region (Torres 2008:14).

1. Direct quote embedded in the text:

The workshop learning environment involves “fashioning selves—or more precisely, molding—relations among selves” (Herzfeld 2004:37).

1. Referencing a work more generally:

Singleton (1989) claims that Japanese potters begin their apprenticeships with a period of pre-practice observation. The novice apprentice works in the workshop as a helper and completes menial jobs, such as mixing the clay, which are his or her chief responsibilities.

1. Referencing multiple works:

…like the luthiers in Spain (Dawe and Dawe 2001:63), the luthiers of Paracho are not an isolated community, but are active participants in the global market (Appadurai 1986; Wallerstein 2000; Wolf 1982).

1. Referencing a personal interview:

According to Sheila Maxwell (interview October 10, 2012) women visited their neighbors regularly in order to share information and exchange food and clothing items.

“REFERENCE CITED” SECTION (REQUIRED):

ALPHABETIZE BY AUTHOR’S LAST NAME. IF NO AUTHOR USE THE RESPONSIBLE INSTITUTION. You may use APA, Chicago, or the AAA Style Guide (examples below) For most details on the AAA Style Guide see: http://www.aaanet.org/publications/style_guide.pdf. (Links to an external site.)

Article in Journal:

Kearney, Michael

2004 “The Classifying and Value Filtering Missions of Borders.” Anthropological Theory 4(2): 131-156.

Article in Edited Book:

Cooper, Fredrick

1992 Colonizing Time: Work Rhythms and Labor Conflict in Colonial Mombasa.” In Colonialism and Culture. Nicholas Dirks, ed. Pp. 209-246. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.

Article in Newspaper or Popular Magazine:

Reinhold, Robert

2000 Illegal Aliens Hoping to Claim Their Dreams. New York Times, November 3: A1, A10.

Book:

Wolf, Eric

1982  Europe and a People Without History. Berkeley: University Press.

Audiovideo/Film/Multimedia:

Carvajal, Carmela, and David C. Kim, dirs

1998 High School Parody. 120 min. Paramount Pictures, Hollywood.

Personal Interview:

Name (or anoymous)

2014 Interview with woman who was born and lived in Greece for 60 years. March 5, 2014.

Electronic/Online Sources:

American Anthropological Association

2000  Planning for the Future: Current Long-Range Plan for the American Anthropological Association. http://www.aaanet.org/about/governance/long_range_plan.cfm (Links to an external site.), accessed December 12, 2013.

GRADING:

A research plan must be completed and submitted online, at the very latest, by the posted due date, but please complete this assignment as early as possible. Due Date for the Final Paper is on your syllabus. Note: this paper will be submitted to Turnitin which will be accomplished through the assignment page.

Papers will be graded using a rubric that will consider every aspect of the papers content. The areas under consideration will be:

• Spelling and Grammar (non/verb agreement, word choice, verb tense–fun things of this sort);
• Organization (paragraph flow and other structural concerns above the phrase level)
• Problem statement and framing of theme (a clear understanding of a given thesis and the ability to logically and concisely present findings to support this viewpoint coherently)
• Research skills— will complete academic research and be able to distill complex ideas pertinent to your research topic. What do the experts have to say?
• Analysis (more than just regurgitating facts, why is this information important?);
• Overall solidity of your research project.

SOME RESEARCH SOURCES:

• Library Book/Video Catalogs: TMCC  (Links to an external site.)and UNR (Links to an external site.).
• Videos:The Alexander Street Archive Ethnographic Video Collection http://anth.alexanderstreet.com/ (Links to an external site.)  Home/off campus access: truckee, Password=meadows
• Anthropology Class Links: Many relevant links for this class, for your research paper and for anthropology https://sites.google.com/a/tmcc.edu/anthropology-class-links/201/ (Links to an external site.)
• Databases: The following article search engines you can find at the TMCC library http://www.tmcc.edu/library/databases/: (Links to an external site.)

For obtaining peer reviewed reference materials start from one of the following:

• JSTOR (Links to an external site.) – “An interdisciplinary archive of over 600 journals in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.” Home/off campus access: Use your own TMCC username/password that you use for TMCC Canvas and TMCC email access.
• AnthroSource (Links to an external site.) (on-campus only) – Full text journals from the American Anthropological Association.
• EBSCO (Links to an external site.)– Over 7,000 full-text journals and magazines covering all academic disciplines. Home/off campus access: ID= truckee, Password= meadows

While beginning your research you may find the following encyclopedia of use, however, they will NOT substitute for the required four (4) peer reviewed sources (see “requirements” above). These are good for finding basic information, but when you are ready for more in depth information check out JSTOR (great search engine for peer-reviewed materials) and other databases above.

• Gale Virtual Reference Library -The highlight here is the Encyclopedia of World Cultures and Supplement (under Social Sciences).  If you happen to be on Dandini main Campus, we have this reference in the TMCC Sturm Library. Home/off campus access: truckee
• Sage eReference – Within this collection is the Encyclopedia of Anthropology. This encyclopedia gives students brief, high-quality articles on topics in anthropology. There is also an Encyclopedia of World Poverty in the “Social Issues” section. Home/off campus access: ID= truckee, Password= meadows

Rubric

Research Paper Rubric