The essays/presentations are meant to allow you the opportunity to demonstrate your grasp of overarching course themes (think ethnocentrism, cultural relativism, language, identity, human agency…), and your ability to use films viewed in this class in dialogue with one another appropriately to support argumentative writing or presentation form
Choose one of the prompts below to write an essay about.
You are expected to provide thoughtful, organized responses, in which you showcase anthropological perspective and comprehension of course material.
Part of demonstrating your course content knowledge is showing that you understand how concepts, terms, or ideas relates to or helps illuminate another, without necessarily being explicitly asked to do so.
You do not need to provide citations (in-text or post-text), unless you are incorporating a direct quote from a source other than a film (in which case an in-text citation with page number is required).
Always fully support your arguments with specific examples.
Do not leave it up to your reader to draw connections between ideas and examples you present – do this explicitly and thoroughly.
Always explain and contextualize any disciplinary terms or concepts that you use or that are central to the questions you are answering, case studies, or film scene references that you make. (pretend your reader/viewer is not an anthropologist).
Please do not just unload terms and concepts without making a clear case for their inclusion; use them only to support the point you are trying to make.
Essay should be approximately 400 – 600 words. Each presentation video should be no longer than 4 minutes
You do need to write in complete sentences, using proper grammar and spelling. Outlines are not essays.
You do need to include character names and other specific plot points where you reference them (not just generic phrasings like “the main guy’s brother”)
You should not provide a full plot summary of the films that you discuss – you can assume that your reader has seen all of the films we watched in class, and is familiar with the basic plot and characters. Only explain the scenes and character details that are relevant to supporting your arguments.
Do not reference movies that were not viewed in this class.
The prompt is:
Consider what any two films reveal about race and racial stratification as they are defined and practiced in the US. When we take the films and readings from our class what myths, tensions, or cultural realities do they suggest about violence against others? Please use the films ( Moonlights and Ma Rainy’s Black Bottom) to address the prompt. Both available on NETFLIX.
Requirements: MLA | Argumentative Essay | 3 pages, Double spaced
