Assignment
In about 3-4 pages, describe your intended topic for the Cultural Analysis Essay due at the end of this quarter, indicating
the cultural phenomenon you wish to investigate
why it seems worth investigating (what is its potential for substantive analysis), and
your plans for researching and theorizing the topic.
Guidelines
By the time the proposal is submitted, you should know what questions you hope to pose about your topic, but do not need to have determined all the answers. There simply needs to be enough to suggest that, if the leads described in the proposal are adequately followed, they will get you somewhere intellectually interesting. You might think, at this stage, in terms of a defining question or hypothesis: e.g., “I’m interested in how shows like South Park and The Sarah Silverman Program get away with so much racial humor, and whether in the end they serve a racist or an anti-racist agenda.”
The proposal should include, at a minimum:
Initial reflections on your topic: What do you already know about the topic? What compelled you to select it? What hypotheses, if any, have you formed?
Questions for research: What do you hope to find out about your topic during the coming weeks?
Questions for analysis: What are some questions that will not be answered through research, but only through sustained thought?
A research / reading plan: Where do you plan to look for information? What questions do you hope to find answers to? What concepts (e.g. power, sexuality, ethnicity) seem relevant and worth knowing more about? What are examples of readings you might consult?
A schedule: After consulting the schedule provided on the syllabus for relevant due dates, commit yourself to deadlines for the completion of the various parts of your Cultural Analysis Essay, including (as relevant) doing library or Web research, reading useful texts, writing, and revising.
Initial resources: List at least two articles, books, websites, potential interview subjects, etc., that you expect to be useful in completing the Cultural Analysis essay. This will be augmented by a somewhat fuller biography in the Thesis, Outline, and Bibliography assignment later in the quarter. At least one work should be written by Faith Popcorn.
The proposal does not have to be especially formal, and you will probably want to write in the first person. It should be clear and persuasive in articulating (1) that your proposed research project is worthwhile, and (2) that your plan for achieving it is reasonable. It will be graded primarily on your effectiveness at making a case for these two claims.
