Select one of the following two prompts for your synthesis paper.
Question 1
Traditionally, ethnographies were holistic studies of cultures and communities. Anthropologists would typically conduct long-term research in one place and their accounts would seek to exhaustively document different aspects of the cultures they studied (with chapters on kinship, religion, political organization, subsistence, and so on).
Sandoval-Cervantes’ Oaxaca in Motion and Burnyeat’s The Face of Peace obviously depart from this model. As contemporary ethnographies are often more problem-oriented and multi-sited (i.e., involving research in multiple locations) than their “classic” counterparts, this has raised questions about changes and continuities in anthropological research.
Focusing on either Oaxaca in Motion or The Face of Peace—or integrating observations from both texts, if you prefer—comment on the following three topics: (1) How aspects of the author’s methodological approach (e.g., selection of field sites, study populations, interview questions, approach to participant observation, reflexivity/awareness of positionality) relate to her/his research questions; (2) What you think is gained by an ethnographic approach to the book’s topic (in comparison to say, national-level survey research on the Colombian peace process or economic studies of migration “push factors” and remittances in Oaxaca); (3) Your reflections on the relevance of “culture” and cultural processes in the author’s analysis, even as the book is not primarily a study of Colombian or Zapotec culture.
*Your discussion can also address potential limitations of ethnographic approaches, critiques of the author’s analysis and methodology, etc.
Question 2
Neither Sandoval-Cervantes’ Oaxaca in Motion nor Burnyeat’s The Face of Peace offer much in the way of policy recommendations, yet both books present findings, concepts, and arguments that potentially have applied implications.
Focusing on one the two books, identify and describe 3–4 insights that you think policymakers and/or the general public should be aware of when it comes to internal, transnational, and return migration (Sandoval-Cervantes) or peacebuilding and transitional justice (Burnyeat).
If you select The Face of Peace, your audience could be students and practitioners who are interested in improving government-led peace efforts around the globe. They want to know about lessons and pitfalls from the Colombian and OACP experience.
If you select Oaxaca in Motion, your audience could be residents of Zegache and members of the town’s diaspora (who might be interested in addressing inequities and forms of exclusion tied to mobility, but aren’t fully aware of changes, challenges, and power dynamics that Sandoval-Cervantes documents at various sites). Or, if you prefer, your audience could be a general U.S. public that tends to conceptualize “migration” largely in transnational (U.S.-Mexico) terms and rarely considers how differences of gender, race/ethnicity, region, or class shape experiences of migration.
General guidelines for synthesis papers
-Paper length: 800–1,200 words
-The paper should synthesize information and insights from different course materials (readings, lectures and class discussions, films, etc.); use specific evidence and examples to support your discussion
-Try to write clearly and concisely, avoiding spelling and grammatical errors to the extent possible
-Do keep in mind questions of organization, but there is no need for a formal introduction or conclusion
-You do not need to include a bibliography unless you cite works that are not included in the syllabus or referenced in class (using external sources is not required)
-When you reference or quote a specific passage from a class reading or external source, use an in-text citation to indicate the page number
