Cultural Anthropology
Writing Assignment #2
Points: 30 (8.5% of total course points)
Format: Approx. 800-1200 words suggested length. Written assignmentsshould be organized, free of excessive errors, and appropriately formal in tone. Use in-text citations and format references in APA style.
Prompt: Consider an ethnographic research project that you would find interesting and that would contribute in a significant way to our understanding of the world and/or of some particular social problem. Your task is to craft a proposal as if you were an anthropologist preparing to do fieldwork on this topic. This can be an academic or applied anthropology research project (see Knauft’s discussion of the differences on pp. 203-205 of The Gebusi). Your project proposal should include a title and the following sections (label each section with its own heading):
- Research Question: Identify the intellectual or social problem you want to address in the research in the form of a question or hypothesis (rather than simply a topic you want to explore): what would you attempt to find out through this research? Be as specific as possible. Keep in mind that the way you frame your question should be appropriate to the methods and conceptual tools that cultural anthropology offers. For example, a question framed in terms of how much or how many is one best answered using quantitative methods, whereas cultural anthropologists primarily use qualitative methods to learn things about how and why people think and act as they do.
- Background for the Study: What do you know about the topic that helps explain why your research is important and why you are asking the questions you are. A little bit of preliminary research on your topic might not hurt here. This is also where you would discuss the site of your study: where will you conduct this research, and with whom? Be specific about the place(s), social group(s), practice(s) or idea(s) that would be the focus of your project. This could be a particular place that you are already familiar with, or you could talk about the criteria that would define the kind of place you would want to work, e.g. “Vanuatu, an island in the Western Pacific involved in traditional exchange networks that is facing problems due to sea-level rise,” or “a community youth center in a majority-Latinx neighborhood of a large U.S. city.”
- Literature Review: All new research, in order to make a contribution, builds on prior research and theoretical concepts; your job is to show how your study would build on and contribute to our understanding of a given phenomenon, problem or concept. Discuss at least a few anthropological readings, debates or concepts from the course that are relevant in defining the question, topic or methods of your research.
- Methods: What will you do in the course of your research in order to answer your research question? Since we have not spent a great deal of time discussing specific methods that fall under the term ‘ethnographic research’ this is mostly a place to state why ethnography is the right approach to answering your question. As always, specificity is best: instead of saying that you will conduct participant observation and interviews, it is stronger to specify what events, settings or subgroups you will focus your observations and interviews on.
- Outcomes: What would be the theoretical or practical results of the study? What would you learn that would expand the sum of anthropological knowledge, or our general understanding of culture and society? How would the world benefit from your study? If you are designing an applied project, be sure to state what the specific goals of this project would be; how would you intend for your work to be used in addressing the problem?
Note: whether you design an academic or applied project, think about what issues are of current concern in the world or of relevance to contemporary anthropology; on the academic side, this means not treating societies or cultures as bounded, isolated entities or ignoring obvious connections between the society/group you focus on and others. On the engaged/applied side, this might mean thinking about real, practical problems in the world, and it might also mean thinking about how you are defining the problem and whether the community you propose to study would likely define it in the same way.
Grading rubric (out of 55 pts. total):
| Originality and Quality of Concept 30% (15 pts.) | Exemplary 100% | Satisfactory 80% | Unsatisfactory 60% | None 0 pts |
| An original idea that makes sense as an anthropological project and could make a genuine contribution to knowledge. | A somewhat original idea that may need revision to fit anthropological methods & concepts, makes some contribution. | Idea is derivative or doesn’t make sense in relation to anthropological methods & concepts. Minimal contribution. | No clear concept or not relevant. | |
| Grasp of Course Concepts 30% (15 pts) | Demonstrates an excellent grasp of course concepts and builds off of them in a logical and thoughtful way. | Demonstrates an adequate grasp of course concepts, makes a connection between course concepts and project idea. | Demonstrates a shaky grasp of course concepts, makes only a tentative connection to the project idea. | No connection to course concepts. |
| Supported with Relevant Evidence and Appropriate Detail 20% (12.5 pts.) | Abundant supporting evidence that is relevant to the point, accurate and described in appropriate detail. | Some supporting evidence, mostly relevant & accurate, somewhat detailed. | Some evidence, relevance is unclear, facts are not well founded, insufficient detail. | Minimal evidence, not relevant, no detail. |
| Writing, Structure and Format 20% (12.5 pts.) | Writing is correct and appropriate for a college course. No or minimal errors in spelling, grammar and formatting. Quotes and specific information drawn from other sources are always correctly cited. | Writing is mostly clear and appropriate. Few errors in spelling, grammar and formatting. Quotes and specific information drawn from other sources are cited with few errors. | Writing is confusing, or inappropriate to assignment. Frequent errors in spelling, grammar and formatting Quotes and specific information from other sources are inconsistently cited with errors. | Writing is very poor, lots of errors, sources are not cited. |
