This writing project will examine the appearance, construction or perpetuation of an identity(s) or stereotype(s) in your own life, and the life of culture. This means (as per essay one) you will examine a specific identity as it occurs or has occurred in your life, and also in the culture at large. You may use any media type, poetry, story or literature to help you explain how the idea is constructed. No position taking!
In this essay, you must ask yourself — on the page — what you mean by the identity that you choose and explain where you have gotten those ideas. Once you begin to see what YOU think, and how those ideas have been constructed in you, it’s time to find out what someone (or a series of others) thinks about the same idea.
The point of this project is to EXPLORE what the idea is, how it came into being and/or what keeps it in place WE ARE NOT INTERESTED IN THE RIGHTNESS OR WRONGNESS OF A POSITION! EXPLORE! J
Consider using:
Scanned images
interviews
questionnaires
any other very cool and creative idea you come up with to help you explore your point: can you create comics to help you illustrate your point? Create art or poetry to incorporate into the piece?
How you choose to combine the narrative and the images will be up to you. Do remember that what we are after here is a cohesive whole: a project that reflects and examination of an idea, both personally and culturally. You will want to find a balance between your use of images and your narrative.
I expect your piece to be a combination of the narrative, informative and analytical models of discourse. – No Ranting, No “shoulding.”
To receive a passing grade you MUST ask and answer this series of questions:
Part One
What are my ideas about the identity I am exploring? What do I mean when I say it? For example, when I say black, white, manly, girly or gay, what do *I* mean?
What specific personal experiences, images, societal conditions, family lessons, TV shows, billboards, lover’s words, text books, teachers, poems, works of fiction, government agencies, etc. helped to create (form, construct, build) this belief in me? Attention: you MIGHT only use one or two of these.
What “screens” have I been using to describe this role, and how has using them caused me to view my subject? Where and how did I learn to engage in those screens? In this one you must revisit Burke and possibly Bohm.
In part one of the final project you will be exploring your own ideas about your topic, and how those were socially constructed. You will be telling the story of how you came to believe a certain thing about yourself or a gender role, or how you see it occurring in the world in a specific place IN YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE—
This means you will be using personal narrative, (like you did in essay one) so don’t be afraid of that. Your final product does not have to be laid out in the order presented in the handout, as long as the questions listed here are addressed.
As you are exploring your idea from your own point of view, take your questions to trustworthy data bases (NO WIKI) to see what others have said, or are saying, about the same idea.
We are interested in the “how” and “why” of whatever issue you choose, and not the rightness or wrongness of a point of view.
I am open to any topic you want to work with as long as it is researched earnestly and thoughtfully, and discussed seriously and intelligently, both in your own world and in the world at large.
Part Two:
What are some current or past public beliefs about the idea I am exploring? Where are they found? In what pieces of writing or in which films or media? What kinds of experiences or encounters have shaped these views? What kinds of images can be found?
What “screens” (language, terms) have been used by the American culture to describe this role and how have they caused the current or past view of this subject? Where and how have these screens been constructed? How are they currently being perpetuated or broken down?
What specific experiences, images, societal conditions, TV shows, billboards, text books, teachers, poems, works of fiction, government agencies, politicians, newscasts, magazine headlines helped to create or perpetuate this idea in the culture? **
Your thesis will be specific and limited– a small subject done in great depth: no skimming the surface here. Your thesis must relate to the course work, and your own personal interest.
REQUIREMENTS:
Page requirements: 6pp-12pp PLEASE USE MLA.
The minimum acceptable length is SIX pages, double-spaced, with one inch margins all around. Overall, the length of this paper will fall between five and eight pages. Try to manage your paper between those lengths. THE WORKS CITED PAGE DOES NOT COUNT TOWARD THE LENGTH OF THE ACTUAL ESSAY! J But then, you knew that….
Your paper must include an original centered title, (NO COVER PAGE). In the upper left hand corner above the title, include your name, course name, due date and my name, all double-spaced. Number your pages in the upper right hand corner like this: Test 5 (uses only your last name before each page number straight through and including the Works Cited page).
You must research at least three scholarly sources for your project.
Think of real books: one of the best sources for an essay exploring your own point of view is your own home library–what are you reading now? What did you read when you were a kid? How might any of that shape what you think now, or at any given moment?
