Some guidelines for
contributors to this blog (that is, members of ANT 340 in Fall 2013): You should
post at least six times over the course of the semester. Three posts should be completed by Tuesday,
October 22. Two of these posts should
be critiques of our readings (original pieces, not the textbook). Two of them should mobilize theory in the
process of social-cultural critique. And
two of them should be responses to posts by other students. Your goal is to be creative, thoughtful,
insightful, perhaps funny, often serious, and always extremely careful in terms
of your attention to the nuance of theory, the topics to which you apply it,
and other students' work.
Suggestions
regarding critiques of readings: Give us
the author's argument and the evidence offered in support of it. Contextualize the author and work for
us--e.g. which other thinkers have clearly influenced this work, what movement
is it a part of, how does it compare
with preceding and contemporary works, etc.
What are the strengths of this work?
What are its limitations? What
can we learn from it and how can we apply it today? Critiques of readings should be a minimum of
400 words.
Suggestions
regarding social-cultural critiques:
Pick a topic or event of interest to you for which one or more
theoretical approaches offer a useful framework for understanding. Discuss the topic or event through this
perspective (or these perspectives), making it clear to the reader what new
insights are gained via this mobilization of theory. Social-cultural critiques should be a
minimum of 600 words.
Suggestions
regarding responses to posts by other students:
Always be respectful and thoughtful. Good examples of when to offer your
responses:
- the other student's post has genuinely made you think about something in a new way;
- you have a substantive disagreement with the post that you want to express;
- you want to build on the argument begun in the student's post.
Responses to posts
should be a minimum of 250 words.
You will receive two
grades on your blogging, one at mid-term and one at the end of the
semester. In general, posts receiving a
grade of B will:
- Be clear
- Be well-written
- Reflect careful and thorough reading
- Follow the guidelines and suggestions given here.
An A post will be
even more thoughtful and original than a B post, and it will present a cogent
and well-supported argument. C and D
posts fall short of the criteria listed above; students who do not post at
least four times will receive an automatic
F.
There are many
anthropology blogs out there for you to check out, though not all are
particularly oriented toward theory. For
some examples, see:
http://anthropologyreport.com/anthropology-blogs-2013-list/
(lists many of the blogs out there)
http://ethnographymatters.net/
(currently features a very graphic and upsetting but apparently faked photo on
the home page)
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