Inventing Traditions: SYLLABUS

Inventing Traditions: SYLLABUS COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course will explore the concept of "tradition" and how traditions have been invented,

maintained and manipulated. We will consider the practices of inventing and celebrating

traditions as a way of thinking about the practices of writing and speaking for different

audiences. The course is based on two seemingly opposed assumptions 1) tradition maintains and

preserves continuity, and 2) tradition changes with time and place. Similarly, our writing

depends upon certain conventions particular to specific communities (disciplines, workplaces,

contexts) and requires us to creatively tweak these conventions to make the writing “our own.”

We will discuss rituals, holidays, and manners; questions of authenticity, audience, and

authority; cover letters, love letters, and break-up letters.... and more. For the final project, each

student will invent (or re-invent) a tradition that will be presented as a proposal to two different

audiences.

GRADING / POLICIES

CAT course policies can be found on the CAT website.

20%: Participation (including section, workshop/peer review, attendance, + weekly video/image

contest)

50%: Four short writing exercises (your best two will count 15% each; your other two will count

10% each)

#1 Communities in Tension

#2 Authentic Recipe

#3 Your Self for Your Dream Job

#4 Cover Letter

30%: Final Project = in class presentation (15%) + textual documentation (15%)

About the weekly video/image contest: • Each week, students are strongly encouraged to submit images and/or links to video clips (max

2 minutes) that explicitly relate to the course material. Winning images/clips will be shown in

lecture each week.

• Vote/Comment on your own favorites on our course video blog:

http://inventing125.blogspot.com/

Rules: • Email images/links to your T.A.

• In order to "count," you must include 1-2 sentences contextualizing the clip (origin,

setting, etc.) and how it relates to the course materials/questions of that week. • For full credit + best chance at getting the "winning" entry, clips/images must be sent by

Monday night at 11:59pm. However, T.A.'s will consider images/links on a rolling basis... so as

soon as you find them (& write a few sentences relating them to the week's topics), send them

along!!!

• Videos/images must be your own or publicly accessible.

• Consistent submission of relevant materials will earn you extra credit within the Participation

Grade. IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Lecture time: Mon/Wed 12:00-12:50pm

Lecture location: Center 115

Professor: Eliza Slavet Office hours: Wednesdays 9am-11am

Office location: Pepper Canyon Hall 250

Office phone: 858-534-1207

Email: eslavet@ucsd.edu

T.A.'s / Sections Carolyn Chen

cac005@ucsd.edu

B06 T/Th, 3-4pm @ York 4060B B07 T/Th, 4-5pm @ York 4060B

Samuel Dunscombe

sdunscom@ucsd.edu B04 T/Th, 1-2pm @ York 4060B B05 T/Th, 2-3pm @ York 4060B

Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi

harakika@ucsd.edu B08 T/Th, 5-6pm @ York 4060B B09 T/Th, 6-7pm @ York 4060B

James Perez

jperez@weber.ucsd.edu B01 M/W, 3-4pm @ Center 224C B02 M/W, 4-5pm @ Center 224C

Vanessa Roveto

vroveto@ucsd.edu B03 M/W, 5-6pm @ Center 224C B10 M/W, 6-7pm @ Center 224C LESSONS 1 Introduction: Holidays + Rituals as Socialization (JAN. 9-12)

Required • Etzioni, Amitai. “ Holidays and Rituals: Neglected Seedbeds of Virtue,” We Are What We

Celebrate: Understanding Holidays and Rituals, ed. Amitai Etzioni and Jared Bloom (New

York: New York University Press, 2004) pp. 3-40. Note: a shorter version of this text (without the

introduction) can be found here.

• HBR Ideacast. “ Productivity, Multitasking, and the Death of the Phone,” Susie Jackson

interviews Sherrie Turkle, March 31, 2011.

Recommended • Sabbath Manifesto

• Considine, Austin. "And on the Sabbath, the iPhones shall rest," The New York Times (Mar. 17,

2010).

Topics/Questions • Do you have any times (of day, week, year) that are set aside from the rest? How are these

times distinguished and why do you do this?

• Since we are constantly online/in communication with people far away, time and place may no

longer distinguish our communities. What does distinguish the different communities to which

you belong?

• How do you act differently when you are speaking/texting/emailing with different people in

your life?

• What holidays, traditions and/or rituals do you celebrate each day/week/year? What are some

traditions that you have celebrated in the last year? How did these traditions affect you and the

group of people with whom you celebrated?

• What do holidays, traditions and/or rituals do-- for communities and for individuals?

Assignment Make a list of all communities to which you belong. Be exhaustive. Your list will be discussed in

section on Wednesday/Thursday (Jan. 11/12).

2 Inventing Traditions (JAN. 17-19)

Monday, January 16: MLK Day! (No class)

Required • Hobsbawm, Eric. “ Introduction: Inventing Traditions,” The Invention of Tradition, ed. Eric

Hobsbawm and Terence O. Ranger (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), pp. 1-13.

• Brennan, Emily. “ The Unbelievers,” The New York Times (Nov. 25, 2011)

• Berger, Joseph. “Among Conservative Rabbis, a Wide Disagreement Over Same-Sex

Marriage,” The New York Times (Aug. 1, 2011).

Recommended Epstein, Edward Jay. "Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?" The Atlantic (Feb. 1982).

Topics/Questions • Why do communities maintain, develop and/or invent traditions?

• How/when/why do such traditions emerge? Who is responsible?

• How and why do traditions change? Who changes them?

• How do particular traditional practices define communities, and/or communities within

communities?

• How/why do different segments of (larger) communities practice traditions differently from

one another?

• How do you learn about the origins and meanings of traditions, conventions and rituals of your

own communities and of others’ communities?

Short assignment #1: Communities in Tension -Gradable draft due in lecture on Wednesday (January 18)

-Peer review in section on Wednesday/Thursday (January 18/19)

-Final draft due in lecture on Monday (January 23) - Gradable draft due in lecture on Monday (January 23) - Peer review in section on Monday/Tuesday (January 23/24) - Final draft due in lecture on Wednesday (January 25)

3 Etiquette: Public/Private (JAN. 23-26)

note: the list below might look like a lot of required/recommended reading/viewing, but most of

it is a matter of "looking through" some materials to get a sense of what's out there... so don't

fret!! this shouldn't take you longer than an hour... tops!

Required • Severson, Kim. "A Last Bastion of Civility, The South, Sees Manners Decline," New York

Times (Nov. 1, 2011).

• Nolan, Hamilton. "Manners Down South: Killed by Anecdotes" [response to Severson's article

in the NYTimes] Gawker (Nov. 2, 2011).

• Bluestein, Greg. "Joe Barry Carroll Sues Tavern At Phipps: Ex-NBA Player Accuses

Restaurant Of Discrimination," Huffington Post (Sept. 12, 2011).

Look through the following materials:

• Emily Post’s website, specifically Everyday Etiquette (including Technology, Holidays &

Celebrations, and College & Beyond)

• etiquette videos on Howcast's youtube channel.

• Dresser, Norine. Excerpts from Multicultural Manners (NJ: Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1996) and

Multicultural Celebrations (NY: Three Rivers Press, 1999).

Recommended • DiGregorio, Sarah. "Mind Your Manners: Eat With Your Hands," New York Times (Jan. 17,

2012).

• Netiquette: Look through these websites or find your own...

http://www.livinginternet.com/i/ia_nq.htm

http://www.netmanners.com/

Recommended Viewing • PSA on Family Dining etiquette

• Male restroom Etiquette

• Dining etiquette: Euro vs. American

• The rules of sidewalk etiquette: (the droitwich)

• Facebook manners (yourtango)

• Jenna Marbles, How to Avoid talking to people you don't want to talk to

Related article in the New York Times

Topics/Questions

• Why are manners/etiquette important? i.e. What do they do for communities and for

individuals?

• Whether you started UCSD as freshman or as transfer students, all of you began as new

members of an already existing community. How did you learn the “ etiquette” of your new

community or communities? What do you wish you had known (about etiquette/rules/manners)

before entering UCSD?

• All of you will be joining new communities in the near future: how will you learn the etiquette

of these new contexts?

• What kind of “rules” for Netiquette would you recommend to new students at UCSD? Most

students have lived in an internet world for as long as they can remember—-so how would you

teach them manners that are specific to the online world?

• Are there any manners that are specific to one domain (online) or the other (“real” life)? Which

ones?

4 Authenticity: Recipes of Authority (JAN. 30-FEB.2)

Required • Bourdain, Anthony. Definitely read "Lust"(pp. 77-94) from Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine

to the World of Food and the People Who Cook (New York: Ecco, 2010).

• Kliman, Todd. “ The Problem of Authenticity,” Lucky Peach 1.1 (Summer 2011), pp. 83-92.

• C., Grace. "Cooking in the Trenches: An Immigrant Love Story," Anthony Bourdain's Medium

Raw Challenge (2010).

• W., Steven. "The Taste of Tradition," Anthony Bourdain's Medium Raw Challenge (2010).

Recommended •& nbsp;Bourdain, Anthony. Additional excerpts from Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the

World of Food and the People Who Cook (New York: Ecco, 2010). "Meat" (pp. 95-110), &/or

"Alan Richman is a Douchebag" (pp. 163-178). (Also available via Ereserves.)

• Reputation Communications (corporate blog), “ Authenticity: Here to Stay?”

• Brogan, Chris. “I am not authentic” (blog)

• Chowhound, “ Typology of food snobs” (search for "typology")

Topics/Questions • Authority vs. authenticity: how are they similar/different?

• In what contexts would authority or authenticity matter more?

• How do you establish authority and how do you produce authenticity?

• How do these processes differ depending on whether you’re speaking to someone face to face

as opposed to posting to your facebook profile or anonymously on the internet?

• How do you convince others that what you’re doing is “ authentic”?

Section

• Wed/Thurs (Feb. 1/2): Meet in Special Collections, Geisel Library!!

Special look at "authentic" COOKBOOKS...

Short assignment #2: Authentic recipe

-Gradable draft due in lecture on Monday (February 6)

-Peer review in section on Monday/Tuesday (February 6/7)

-Final draft due in lecture on Wednesday (February 8)

= Printed copy to T.A. in lecture / Digital file uploaded to Turnitin via TED!

5 Authenticity: Rhetoric + Audience (FEB. 6-9)

Required • Eddie Huang, “ Nightcall” (blog –post), Fresh Off the Boat (Oct. 26, 2011). About Eddie Huang:

Dizic, Alina. "Cooking Up New Business Ideas from Old-World Recipes," Entrepreneur (Dec. 16, 2011).

Strongly Recommended: Linsanity • Eddie Huang, "Thank You, Jeremy Lin" (blog-post) Fresh Off the Boat (Feb. 8, 2012).

• Andrew Leonard, "Jeremy Lin's social media fast break," Salon (Feb. 8, 2012).

• Howard Beck, "From Ivy Halls to the Garden, Surprise Star Jolts the NBA" NYTimes (Feb. 8,

2012).

Recommended •“Search for Self Called Off after 38 Years,”& nbsp;The Onion (Sept. 14, 2005).

• “Holiday Advertisers Seek Coveted Dicktard Demographic,” The Onion (Dec. 5, 2006).

Topics/Questions • Stereotypes: knowing, using, and breaking them

• What can you tell about another person from the way they speak and/or write? Can you discern

anything about their appearance? Achievements? Ambitions? Worldviews? Membership in

various communities?

• Do you have an "authentic" voice or voices? How do you determine which one of your voices

is truly authentically you?

• Are there other people whose talking/writing you’d like to imitate/emulate? Why might you do

this? i.e. in what circumstances might this be useful and/or embarrassing?

• Could you teach someone else to talk/walk/write like you? Why might you do this?

6 Authentic Selves: Code-Switching + Bilingualism (FEB. 13-16)

Required • Ta-Nehisi Coates, "A culture of poverty" (blog post), The Atlantic (Oct. 20, 2010).

• Matthew Yglesias, “Code-switching and the Culture of Poverty” (blog-post), Think Progress

(Oct. 21, 2010).

• Michel Martin, “Code Switching: Are we all guilty?” Tell Me More, NPR radio program (Jan.

13, 2010). [PODCAST]

Strongly Recommended • Zadie Smith, "Speaking in Tongues," NY Review of Books (Feb. 2009).

• Christopher Beam, "Code Beam: Of course Obama speaks differently to different audiences. So

do most politicians." Slate (Jan. 2010).

Recommended (in light of Lin + stereotypes)

Ta-Nehesi Coates, "The Jeremy Lin Backlash," (blog-post) The Atlantic (Feb. 14, 2012).

Topics/Questions • How do you present yourself differently to your various day-to-day audiences?: family, friends,

religious/ethnic communities, work, facebook

• Why do you present yourself differently in different contexts? What does it do for you? What

does it do for these communities/contexts?

• Do you have an “authentic” voice or voices? How do you determine which one of your voices

is truly authentically you?

• Are there other people whose talking/writing you’d like to imitate/emulate? Why might you do

this? i.e. in what circumstances might this be useful and/or embarrassing?

• Could you teach someone else to talk/walk/write like you? Why might you do this?

Short Assignment #3: Self-presentation (Your Self for Your Dream-Job) -Steps 1 & 2: due by section on Wednesday/Thursday (Feb. 15/16). Post link to first recording to

Youtube + send link to T.A. before section on Wednesday/Thursday (Feb. 15/16).

-Final version (including all steps): due in lecture on Wednesday (Feb. 22). Post link to second

recording to your T.A. before lecture. 7 Genre/Medium: Cover letters, Love letters, Break-up Letters (FEB. 21-23)

Mon. Feb. 20: President's Day! (No class)

Required • Kat Neville, “What Makes A Great Cover Letter, According To Companies?” Smashing

Magazine (March 25, 2010).

• Pescovitz, David. “Hunter S. Thompson's 1958 cover letter for a newspaper job” BoingBoing

(Oct. 5, 2010).

• “The Potential Intern From Hell” via Gawker and Welcome to this Blog, Bitch! (Apr. 23, Apr.

26, May 20, 2010).

Recommended • Joey Comeau, Excerpts from Overqualified: "MYSPACE: Cats or Lesbians" and "Nintendo:

Game Design," ECW Press, 2009. (two sample cover letters you don't want to use as models... or

maybe you do!?)

Topics/Questions • Why is it important to understand “genre” (as opposed to, or in addition to) simply being a

good writer?

• Once you know a genre, how do you distinguish your own version(s) of such genres?

• How do genres and media differ depending on the circumstance?

• How do you choose the proper medium?

• Why does it matter what medium you choose-- email, text, facebook-post, phonecall,

handwritten letter, face-to-face communication, ____-- for various kinds of communication?

• Which media are appropriate/inappropriate for which kinds of information/communication?

Short assignment #4: Cover Letter

-DRAFT due in Lecture, Monday, Feb. 27 (peer review/workshop in section)

-FINAL DRAFT due in Lecture, Wednesday, Feb. 29 8 Originality: Origins + Authorship (FEB. 27-MAR. 1)

Required Stewart, Margaret Gould. "How YouTube thinks about copyright" Ted Talk (Feb. 2010).

Strongly Recommended Maria Popova, "Everything is a Remix," via Brainpickings (blog).

Kirby Ferguson, "Everything is a Remix: 4-part series."

Recommended Dave Rein, "Michael Jackson: The Music and Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Continues,"

Owners, Borrowers and Thieves 2.0 (Aug. 24, 2009).

Ellen Rosen, "Yoga Pose Copyright Bid Too Much of a Stretch, U.S. Says in Bikram Battle,"

Bloomberg News (Dec. 9, 2011).

Andrew Pollack, "As Patent Ends, A Seed's Use Will Survive," NYTimes (Dec. 17, 2009).

Geri Haight, "Linsanity: The Trademark," MintzLevin Copyright & Trademark Matters (Feb. 16,

2012).

Mike Masnick, "Guy Gets Bogus YouTube Copyright Claim... On Birds Singing in the

Background," Techdirt (Feb. 27, 2012).

Topics/Questions • Originality vs. Authenticity: same? different? similar? why?

• Traditions often remind us of our origins, or the origins of our communities... Why, then, is

there so often a desire to be "original"?

• When we practice traditions (or conventions, holidays, rituals), we are always drawing from the

past. Sometimes we even try to convince ourselves that we are doing things exactly the way

"they" always did it in the past. And yet... how is it that we are not simply repeating the past?

• What are the differences between stealing and borrowing from the past?

• How do we balance the desire to be original against the desire to "fit in"?

• When (in what contexts) is originality bad?

FINAL PROJECT... -Begin work on final project in sections...

-Final project presentations will occur in Week 9 sections (meeting in the Smart Classroom,

Pepper Canyon Hall, 2nd floor) 9 Q + A (MAR. 5-8)

No assigned reading!

Topics/Questions • How do academic disciplines address the questions we have discussed in this course?

• What are your questions?

Final projects will be presented in sections this week!!!

ALL SECTIONS MEET IN SMART CLASSROOM (Pepper Canyon Hall, 2nd floor,

"Academic Programs") 10 Students Inventing Traditions (MAR. 12-19))

Winning presentations shown in lecture!

Final projects (textual documentation/reflection) are due on Monday, March 19 by 12noon.

Short Assignment #1: Communities in Tension

Step 1: Make a list of all the communities to which you belong or

have belonged or to which you are trying to belong. Think about what

defines these communities: rituals, practices, conventions,

worldviews, hobbies, clothing, food, age, national origin, religious

beliefs, ways of acting (or not acting), ways of speaking, activities,

locations, objects, spaces, etc.

Step 2: Pick two communities (from your list) that are in tension with

one another-- that is, two communities whose conventions, beliefs,

worldviews, practices etc. somehow contradict or conflict with one

another-- or would conflict with one another were the two

communities to meet...

Your two communities might not ordinarily come into contact with

one another, so you will be thinking about what kinds of things might

occur if the two communities were to meet: what would confuse the

communities about each other? Would one community's actions,

conventions or expectations offend the other community? Such

differences sometimes result in your wanting to keep your

membership in one community a secret from the other community--

or you might be dealing with the differences/tensions on a daily basis.

Either way, you will want to focus on these differences-- sometimes

it's just a matter of nuance!!-- in order to think about how these two

communities might perceive and deal with one another.

Step 3: Write a short paper (750-1200 words) in which you discuss

how you navigate these differences or would navigate them were you

to introduce the two communities to one another. In other words, how

would you deal with the two communities in one place/time? Or how

do you deal with the two communities in your life?

Some notes: Both writing and traditions often emerge at moments or places of tension... Someone needs to do

something to address the tension, to devise a solution that will make it possible to connect across whatever

divides us from one another. Communicating is all about making connections between two distinct people or

entities. In this case, you are the arbitrator, the go-between, the intermediary and it is up to you to think about

how you (already) manage to exist as a member of two communities who might like to believe that they have

nothing in common.

Questions to consider include: what do the communities share (whether they recognize it or not)? How do the

communities define themselves against other communities? Who is included and who is excluded? How does

the community deal with outsiders in their midst?

Due dates

-Gradable draft due in lecture on Wednesday (January 18) -Peer review in section on Wednesday/Thursday (January 18/19) -Final draft due in lecture on Monday (January 23)

• Gradable draft due in lecture on Monday (January 23)

• Peer review in section on Monday/Tuesday (January 23/24)

• Final draft due in lecture on Wednesday (January 25)

Short Assignment #2: Authentic Recipe

Choose an “authentic” recipe-- the recipe may simply purport to be

authentic or you may be convinced that it is indeed authentic. You

may find your recipe online, in a cookbook, or from a friend or family

member.

Write a short paper (750-1200 words) in which you evaluate the

authenticity of the recipe, based on the (perceived) authority of the

source, the presentation, the taste and anything else you think is

relevant.

If you choose your own recipe (or a recipe that you have used + know

well), you may choose to make an argument in favor of the recipe's

authenticity. In this case, you should anticipate any questions and/or

objections from your potential readers, both about AUTHENTICITY

and AUTHORITY.

The key here is to think about why/how we judge things-- food and

people, particularly-- based on our perceptions of authenticity. Why

do we desire "authentic" things?

What *is* authenticity and how does this quality differ depending on

the circumstance? How are you defining it in the present

circumstance?

How does the authenticity of the recipe depend upon (or NOT depend

upon) the apparent AUTHORITY of the source?

How does the source convince you of its AUTHORITY? (Or if you

are the source, how do you convince your readers of your

AUTHORITY on this matter?)

CHECK OUT THE Peer Review Sheet BEFORE you get to peer

review!!! (Available in CONTENT section of TED!)

Due Dates

-Gradable draft due in lecture on Monday (February 6) -Peer review in section on Monday/Tuesday (February 6/7) -Final draft due in lecture on Wednesday (February 8)

=Printed copy to T.A. in lecture / Digital file uploaded to Turnitin via TED!!

Short Assignment #3: Your Self for your Dream Job

You have applied to your dream job (or graduate school)... The

company (or graduate school department) contacts you and sets up a

video- or phone-call interview. You are told that the first question

will be “tell us about yourself.”

1) Description: Find or write a description of your dream job and

dream-employers (200-500 words). In addition to whatever

information is given/findable, write a description of who you think

your employers will be (including who will interview you) and a

description of the kind of person who you think they'd like to hire.

2) Make a 1-minute recording of yourself answering this question

spontaneously—i.e. without rehearsal or writing. (Ask a friend or

acquaintance to act as the interviewer.)

3) Transcription: Transcribe your recording, including um’s and

ah’s. Do a word-count.

4) Script: In ____ words (see #3), write out an answer to the

interviewer’s question.

5) Two options:

Option A: Make a new 1-minute recording, using #3 as your guide.

(You do not have to read it verbatim; figure out how to use it to make

you sound your best.)

Option B: Make a new 1-minute recording (again using #3 as your

guide), but for a completely different context/job. In this case, you

will need to write a new job-description

6) Reflections: write a SHORT (400-700 words) paper in which you

discuss what you learned from doing these 2 "performances" of your

self. You might begin to think about how you would do this

differently if you were *just* going to write about yourself-- for a

cover letter (for a job) or personal statement (for grad school)... [this

will be your short assignment #4!].

Due Dates:

-Steps 1 & 2: due by section on Wednesday/Thursday (Feb. 15/16).

Post link to first recording to Youtube + send link to T.A. before

section on Wednesday/Thursday (Feb. 15/16).

-Final version (including all steps): due in lecture on Wednesday

(Feb. 22). Post link to second recording to your T.A. before lecture.

Steps 1, 3, 4, & 6 (description; transcription; script; reflections) must

be submitted to Turnitin.com by Wednesday (Feb. 22).

Steps 2 & 5 (videos) must be posted on Youtube. Send links to your

T.A. before due dates.

Short Assignment #4: Cover Letter OR Personal Statement

For this assignment, you will be extending the work you have just

done for Short Assignment #3... Now you will have the chance to

write (or re-write) a cover letter or a personal statement:

1) Include the listing/advertisement for the job to which you are

applying OR the application instructions for the graduate school to

which you want to apply. If this does not exist, you include what

seems most SIMILAR to the job/school/residency to which you are

applying. If the job is one that you are "creating" or imagining, write

your own job description + instructions for application.

2) Write the cover letter or personal statement. This should be NO

LONGER than one page, double-spaced, 12-point font, 1-inch

margins.

-A cover letter could be a letter of introduction to a potential

employee OR an actual cover letter applying for an advertised

position.

-A personal statement could be for graduate school / professional

school, or for a comprable situation-- artist's residence, grant

application, or another situation (talk with the professor or your T.A.

if you have questions).

DUE DATES:

Rough draft due in lecture, Monday, February 27.

Final draft due in lecture, Wednesday, February 29.

Final Project: Inventing Traditions

For your final project, you have the opportunity to invent a tradition...

which means you are basically proposing that people should do things

differently than they do them right now.

The range of “things” is nearly endless and includes everything that

we have discussed in the course so far (as well as other things)...

To begin with, you might think about how you’d like to change

__x__ of a particular group or groups.

X might include:

• etiquette/manners

• social norms/conventions

• exclusionary practices

• traditions (religious, family, national, culinary)

Your project should explicitly relate to your major/career OR to a

more personal matter....

Your project will take the form of a proposal that you will present to

two different audiences:

Part I: Four-minute Presentation (week 9 section)

Length: Generally, we speak about 100-160 words per minute;

therefore, your "script" should be between 400-640 words long. You

will hand in your "script" (for Part I) with your text (for part II). That

said, it is a good idea to focus on the actual structure and main points

that you want to address rather than the number of words.

As part of your presentation, you are strongly encouraged to

incorporate visuals, props, slides, and/or hand-outs. You will want to

be explicit both about your intended audience (beyond your peers)

and the genre within which you are working (or with which you are

playing). For example, you will need to decide if you are doing...

• a 4-minute powerpoint presentation for a business or funding agency

• a more informal presentation to your family or a cultural

organization

• a video for an unknown group of your peers on the internet

• a "PSA" on etiquette/manners and/or a "how to" presentation

• something else entirely....

Part II: Written documentation (due Monday, March 19 at

12noon in the CAT offices)

Length: 1500-2000 words.

You have two options for this part of the project:

a) You may choose to simply write REFLECTIONS on the five-

minute presentation—explain your choice of genre, what you were

able to accomplish, what you would have liked to communicate but

perhaps had difficulty communicating, and what you would try to

communicate to another audience. The point here is to be deeply self-

reflective about the challenges, opportunities and limitations of your

presentation and how you would do it differently if/when you are

given the chance. You are strongly encouraged to include examples,

pictures, diagrams and other information which you did not include in

your five-minute presentation. Explain why you did not include this

information and how your presentation would have changed had you

included it. You should explicitly reflect upon what you intentionally

excluded from your presentation—whether this is a matter of

information about your project or about yourself.

b) You may also choose to simply prepare your presentation for a

different audience (and in this case, in print). If you take this option,

you should write a short paragraph reflecting upon your choices about

how you prepare your argument, information, visuals and rhetoric

differently for each occasion. You also need to be explicit about who

your two audiences are (or would be)!!

What you will do when:

Week 8: discussion of final projects

Week 9: Part I 4-minute presentations in section

Week 10: "winning" presentations in lecture (1-2 winners from each

section)

Section: discussion/workshop of Part II

Monday, March 19, 12noon (exam week)...

Due at the CAT offices:

a) "Script"/visuals for Part I

b) Part II (Written documentation/reflections)

NOTE: If you are having difficulty figuring out how to begin this

project, a good starting point is to go back to your Assignment #1,

"Communities In Tension": How might you develop a tradition that

could bring the two communities together? This could mean using an

already existing tradition or holiday and developing a specific version

(with specific elements, foods, activities, etc.) that would bring the

two communities together. Another starting point would be to go

back to the recommended videos on Etiquette (week 3)-- check out

the PSAs on everything from men's room etiquette, sidewalk

etiquette, and how to avoid talking to people you want to avoid...