You need to do the below assignment, these are the instructions. The topic you have chosen is the Roswell UFO incident. You have already submitted an initial proposal which did okay. I am also attaching the rubric, proposal and proposal feedback for your reference. You need to find better references because the ones in the proposal are not right. Basically you have to do the whole thing from scratch, and make it really good. I will tip extra as well because it is a short notice assignment.
WHAT YOU WILL DO
For your final project in ANTH 206, you will research a story, belief, or practice related to the supernatural in its cultural context, document it by comparing it to similar materials in the folk tradition, and analyze it using anthropological and/or folkloristic theories, interpretations, and principles.
You may choose material either from your own tradition, or from a public Internet source, such as a subreddit dedicated to the discussion of UFO sightings, ghost experiences, Bigfoot sightings, or similar. In the first case, you will use your own memories and experiences as the raw material for documentation and interpretation. In the latter, you will select ONE story, or up to 3 stories on a related theme. Try to find the best examples of a story — a well-developed narrative, not “I heard a house on my street is haunted.” Gather as much context as possible from the thread: where, when, how, and any relevant background about the narrator.
GOALS OF THE ASSIGNMENT
The purpose of this assignment is to allow you to explore a topic related to the supernatural in greater depth, and to teach you to document and analyze it using approaches from anthropology and folklore studies. Documenting and analyzing narratives and practices is key work for anthropologists and folklorists. These stories and traditions can shed light on a number of cultural aspects, from ethnohistory and health practices to religious beliefs and cultural anxieties.
HOW YOU WILL DO IT
2. Documentation and Analysis Paper Guidelines
Your completed final paper should be 2500-3000 words long (8-10 pages, double-spaced) and organized into three parts:
An introduction in which you present the relevant social context of the story, practice, or material you researched. For example, if you are focusing on story shared among your high school friends, describe the time frame and socio-cultural context, the school, the age of the participants, the general interrelationships of the participants, the occasions in which the group usually met, the group’s relevant relationships with outsiders (teachers, parents, other students), and the contexts in which spooky stories were usually exchanged. If you are working with an item of fiction (literature, film, Internet media), describe its time frame and socio-cultural context and the background of the author, director, or creator, as well as its intended audience.
The description of the story or practice. If you are working with a story or practice from folk tradition, present the text of the story as you recall it, or describe the practice as thoroughly as you can. If you are working with an Internet text, present the entire text as though you had recorded it in person, along with the relevant background and contextual information you were able to gather. In either case, it helps if you imagine you are telling the story or describing the practice to someone who has never heard of it before. Take an anthropological perspective: be an observer of the cultural tradition, even if it is from your own culture.
Documentation for the item. Compare your story or practice to similar ones you found in anthropological or folklore studies literature. How is your item similar to, and how does it differ from, what other scholars have documented? What is the folk tradition in which it is based? You may use material we read in class as well as consulting library sources for additional insight. Make sure you correctly and fully cite your sources using Chicago Turabian for Social Sciences, AAA/ APA, or MLA style citations. There are resources for this in the first module!
Analysis: Figuring Out Meaning. This is the most challenging part of the paper, and it is usually the one where many students fall short. Here are some pointers:
If you’re working with an item from your own tradition, ask yourself what you think it means. If you’re not sure, look more closely at the text of the story and the context in which it is performed to develop your own ideas and insights. You must relate the story to analytical material in our class readings, e.g. about culture, gender, race, class, historical meanings, the experience-centered approach, or another idea covered in lectures and readings.
If you’re working with an Internet item that is not part of your own culture, you will need to research the tradition behind it. For example, if you are looking at a narrative about a person who believes they were pixie-led (deliberately lost or confused by fairies), you will need to research that tradition by reading what folklorists have written about it in the context of British and Canadian folk belief. Again, you will need to relate the story to analytical material in our class readings, e.g. about gender, race, class, historical meanings, phenomenological experiences (the experience-centered approach), or the folkloresque.
Legends and memorates are typically opportunities to reflect upon the nature of reality and the mysteries of phenomena we can’t really explain. They typically concern areas of anxiety in culture: death and the afterlife, spiritual dangers, and the nature of the unseen world of spirits. In addition, legends sometimes carry a warning; they can be used to frighten children and young people away from dangerous behaviours or locations. Ask yourself if any of these are clues to the story’s deeper meaning.
Your readings will also be helpful in getting you to think about meaning beyond the obvious. How have other anthropologists and folklorists interpreted similar stories? What are their hypotheses about the tradition’s meaning and purpose? Can you apply them to your example?
If you have gone through all these processes and are still unsure about meaning, consult with the instructor.
