WRA 150: EVOLUTION OF AMERICAN THOUGHT

TUESDAY, SEPT. 17, 2013

AGENDA

Housekeeping Body Rituals of the Nacirema Writing and reading rhetorically

Invention and Arrangement Researching

Research paper vs research report What’s next

BODY RITUALS OF THE NACIREMA In groups, discuss the following

How did you feel while reading this? Surprised? Intrigued? Confused?

What are some specific examples that illustrate these feelings?

How does the author establish ethos, pathos or logos in the article? Cite specific examples.

What was the author’s overall purpose in writing this article?

NACIREMA=AMERICA

THE SHOCKING TWIST??

NACIREMA CONT’D

If you already knew this was a satire, when exactly did you realize?

If you didn’t, what made this article believable? How did the author use language to assert

his claims of the Nacirema as an unfamiliar culture?

CONTEXT

To show you one example of how to analyze a culture

However, we will not be writing satires… To disrupt everyday understandings of your own

culture As a way to “decenter” yourself from your own

culture This is a useful way to approach whatever

artifact/culture you wish to write about Making the strange familiar, and the familiar strange

Be sure to not exoticize any culture that is not your own and be as objective as possible.

ACTIVITY

Using the Nacirema anthropological study as an example, write a short story about an event or activity you did this weekend. Provide an explanation of the assumptions or

logics that make that particular activity mundane or valuable to its culture

Remember to decenter yourself and write about this as if nobody knows what you’re talking about

This activity should hopefully help you start writing your own paper and think about things like invention and arrangement, and argument.

WHAT CAN WE MAKE OF THIS?

MY THOUGHTS

Relevant, given our discussion about what culture is.

Illustrates assumptions about culture that are being made constantly about non-dominant cultures Something to be aware of when you start to

analyze culture in your own papers How can we be sensitive to cultures different to

our own but at the same time represent difference?

WRITING RHETORICALLY

Revision Arrangement Invention Delivery Style

Mode Audience Purpose Situation

RAIDS MAPS

WRITING RHETORICALLY

Revision Arrangement Invention Delivery Style

Mode Audience Purpose Situation

RAIDS MAPS

INVENTION

Think back to our activity last class where we all generated questions about an object. This is invention

This is an exercise that you all should do when you choose your artifact

After you’ve created a list of questions, look for patterns and group them by similarity

After grouping, begin to answer these questions, starting with the most interesting/compelling ones

Inquiry! Broader things to consider: who am I writing to?

Why am I writing? What do they need to know?

ARRANGEMENT

How things are put in relationship to one another Ways to organize your paper

Spatial: top to bottom, left to right (describing people, places, spaces, etc)

Chronological: Recounting a sequence of events as they occurred.

Inductive: presenting evidence that leads to a conclusion

Deductive: starts with the conclusion and bolsters with evidence

How are some ways to arrange a paper like the cultural artifact analysis paper?

RESEARCH

Because the audience for this paper is an academic one, research is essential to build your credibility as an author

However, as we talked about last class, this is not a traditional research paper either. We begin with observation and questions, not answers

Invention Don’t simply report on facts that you find, unpack

your findings and provide commentary Basically don’t do what Miner did in Nacirema. Talk

about cultural relevance of the artifacts/practices. Arrangement

RESEARCH CONT’D

You must use two written sources or an interview with a credible source

Online sources are fine, and in fact they might be the only sources you find (depending on your topic) Refer to pp. 60-68 in The Curious

Researcher to read about evaluating print and online sources.

QUESTIONS?

What questions do you have going into this next paper?

What would you like to know more about? More about research? More about

RAIDS/MAPS?

FOR NEXT CLASS

Read: “Holding it Down for Women.” (on course

website) “Nicki Minaj’s Curious Manhood” (on course

website)