MULTICULTURAL AMERICA

Anthropology 110

Sections 01 & 02

Fall 06

Professor Elaine Gerber

Office:  DI-407

Office hours: 1-2:30pm Tues and Thurs, and by appointment

Phone:  973-655-3187

Email:  gerbere@mail.montclair.edu

Required Readings:

On Being Different (Kottak & Kozaitis)

Articles on e-Reserve (available via Blackboard).

Grading:

Grades will be determined accordingly --

Midterm (30%)

Final Exam, cumulative (40%)

Individual participation (15%): Weekly assignments – questions based on each week’s readings and/or lectures will be posted to Bb and are to be answered online (see the “Assignments” area).  Students will have one week from the date posted to complete the assignment. Late assignments will not be accepted (unless there is a confirmed emergency). These are graded pass/fail.

Group project (15%):  Groups will present on their topic during class, based on the dates listed on the course schedule (details of the assignment below).  Anyone who registered late for class or for any other reason was not assigned a group, please see the professor immediately.

Please note:

·        Additional, individual participation points also come from repeated and thoughtful participation in class discussions.

• I will also give additional participation points to anyone who turns in music related to that day’s course content (whether or not I play your song in class). You must include 1 paragraph about how the music/song/lyrics relates to the content of that day’s lecture/readings in order to receive credit. 
• Attendance is required on days when there are group presentations.

Course Schedule & Reading Assignments

Readings are due to be read before the class assigned below.

All assignments are available via e-reserves or are chapters in On Being Different (OBD).

All films will be shown in class on the date below, and afterward be available at the library. 

GROUP PROJECT ASSIGNMENT

This is a pop-culture project to explore our multiple identities.  Using pieces of mainstream cultural production (e.g., newspaper clippings, magazine advertisements, billboards and subway ads, radio spots, song lyrics, op ed articles, tv show clips, blogs, etc), analyze what cultural assumptions can be inferred about your topic (primary demographic characteristic).  Then, compare differences within that demographic, according to at least 2 secondary characteristics from the list below. 

Students will be randomly assigned into groups. Each group will be assigned a primary demographic characteristic, also at random.  Depending on the size of the class, there will be approximately 4-6 people per group. Beyond that, groups will decide themselves what the rest of their topic is (choose the secondary demographic characteristics) and what they would like their presentation to be like. 

Each group will have approximately 20 minutes for their presentation.

Additionally, groups are to (1) meet in person with the professor to discuss their abstract and outline of presentation, and (2) to conduct some preliminary planning online via Blackboard, including the posting of an outline at least one week in advance of presentation (e.g., who is doing what and how much time do they have; where is the content for your presentation coming from; drafts; etc), (3) answer any additional questions on your topic/presentation, as assigned afterward, via Blackboard.

Secondary Demographic Characteristics can be chosen from the following:

Race

Ethnicity

Religion

Age

Generation

Sexuality

Sexual Orientation

Gender

Class/Socio-economic status

Disability

Other (with permission of instructor)

If it helps, groups should think about the work needed to complete the assignment in terms of the following three areas:

1) Topic

I have only assigned you one very broad characteristic.  You must decide as a group how you would like to refine and narrow the focus of your topic – e.g., if your primary demographic characteristic is “religion”, are you going to look at representations of all religions in the U.S., or just a select one or two?  Similarly, as a group, you must select at least two secondary demographic characteristics -- which ones you select and why is up to you.  I would encourage you to choose variables you are interested in.  Hint:  it may be a useful way to divide up the group’s work, if people have different interests…

Example 1: primary demographic – Race/Ethnicity

The group could choose to work on Latino culture, and the differences within it according to age and gender

Example 2:  primary demographic – Disability

The group could choose to work on Disability culture, and the differences within it according to sexuality (e.g., LGBT vs. straight) and religion (e.g., among Catholics)

2) Content

What content is needed to illustrate cultural assumptions on your topic(s)?  From where are you going to draw source material?  How will you analyze it to demonstrate the cultural representations and themes you want to illustrate for the class?  I encourage you to think about this assignment as an oral paper – so it should have some key points that you want to make, and evidence presented to support them, just as if you were writing a paper, but the way you deliver that information will be verbal instead of written.

3) Presentation

What would you like your presentation to be like?  Do you want it to be high tech? A power point slide?  A poster or collage?  An edited video?  A group “skit” or roundtable?  Something else? Will you be bringing in original source materials to show/play in class, and if so, what equipment, if any, will be needed?  How will you integrate this into the short time allotted for each presentation (~ 20 minutes) while still being able to convey the gist of your analysis?  

Assessment

Your grade will be determined by the quality of your presentation as a group (this includes both style and substance).  Please note that there is no objective hierarchy of presentation “styles” that are better than others or that will be graded more highly than others – with the exception of groups that simply read their presentation directly from a paper (this will not be evaluated as highly as other forms that engage the class directly).  This doesn’t mean that you can’t use written notes, you most certainly can, and probably should -- but I encourage you to use “notes” (literally) rather than reading to the class for 20 minutes.  Also, it is not necessary for each participant in a group to present; in fact, time constraints, particularly for larger groups, may prohibit it.  However, if one is not presenting, their contributions must be identifiable and significant.  For the most part, all participants in a group will receive the same grade.