Posted: September 16th, 2017
Non-Western Cultures and the Western Tradition
Term Paper
This is a research paper, based upon a fictional historical scenario. The events you witness are real, but your role in them will be fictional. A passing paper will have 5 pages and 3 references minimum.
Scenario:
You are an explorer and trader from the (fictional) autonomous free city-state of Fullerton, a trading port somewhere on the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The date is sometime between 1400 and 1900 (depending on the cultures you choose). While exploring newly discovered lands, you are witness to a first contact between two peoples, a “Western” culture and a “Non-Western” culture. You have been instructed not to get too involved with either the natives or Westerners, except in matters of commerce. Your city is anxious for new avenues of trade, and awaits your report and recommendations. However, due to the dangers of travel, 5 years pass before a ship comes to take you home. This allows you to begin to see some of the longer-term consequences of the contact between the two cultures. It also allows you to learn about the non-Western culture (this will be your ‘theme’). In the meantime, you exchange information and ideas with others (your classmates). Your final paper will be your report to your home city.
Activities
1.Topic:
Early in the semester, you will be asked for these 4 pieces of information:
a. “Non-Western” culture:The culture can be a band, tribe, chiefdom or state (i.e. at any level of social complexity), but it should be one that has experienced a significant contact situation with the West between the years 1400 and 1900. If you choose one of the cultures from the Fagan text, there is an additional requirement for a source (see Sources below).
b. “Western” culture: Find out which Western culture had the first contact with the non-Western culture you have chosen.
c. Date of first contact:Indicate the day (if known), month and year of first contact. Make sure it is within the date range 1400-1900, and that it is actually the first contact with Westerners.
d.Theme: While much of your report will be on the general situation, 1 to 2 pages should be on a specific aspect of the non-Western culture that you will research. Aspects of culture may be one of the following: subsistence, ecology, economics, politics, religion, social organization, kinship/family, sex/gender relations, medicine and healing, arts, crafts, science, technology. Other similar themes might be acceptable as well.
2. Scenario Update:
Any changes to the scenario will be announced later in the semester. This is to keep you engaged in thinking about, researching and writing the paper.
3.Final Paper:
Here is what to include in your paper:
- Cover sheet: use a descriptive title that includes the name of your non-Western culture; also include your name, the date, Anthropology 100, and your section number.
- Body:Your essay will be a first-person narrative based on the scenario. It may be structured as journal entries, with dates. Or it may be a continuous narrative. The essay itself should be at least 5pages in length(1500 words), no more than 7 pages (2100 words). Other formatting: double-spaced, 1” margins, and 12 point font.
Once you cover the required content (5 pages), you are free to spend up to 2 more pages creating your story. Content will be graded, but creative writing skills will not. Required content includes:
1) your witness to the culture contactbetween the Europeans and natives.
2) your theme, based on 5 years of living among the natives.
3) anything called for in the scenario update.
4) a summation of the longer-termchangesproduced by the culture contact, both in material circumstances (e.g. diseases, new technology, etc.) and in the views each side has of the other.
- Citations and References:
- In-text Citations: Although your essay will be written as a first-person narrative, or story, you need to show your research. To do this, cite your source of information in the text, at the end of a sentence, including author’s last name, the date of publication (as shown in your bibliography), and the page number, e.g.: (Fagan, 1998: 12). If quotations from your sources are out of place in your narrative, include them in footnotes or endnotes.
- References: a list of all your sources should be included in APA format (see the link to the AAA style guide below).
o You must reference 3 sources, at minimum:
§ 3 required sources must be books or journal articles from legitimate scholarly sources (e.g. published by a university press), besides the Fagan text.
§ Additional sources after the first 3 may be books (including the Fagan text), articles, web material, encyclopedias (including Wikipedia), films, novels, etc.
§ I expect A papers to include more research than the 3 minimum sources, at least 5 sources.
o Here are some source guidelines:
§ a. Website: should have significant information about your culture regarding its contact with a “Western” culture. An entire website dedicated to your culture would be preferable, but it at least should have enough information (including links and references) to make it useful as a source. Format: (a) Author or webmaster, (b) Title of webpage, (c) date (copyright or update date), (d) publisher or organization, (e) last date you viewed webpage, (f) url (webpage address)
§ b. Print source: should have significant information about your culture regarding its cultural contact with a “Western” culture. The library’s online catalog (opac.fullerton.edu), besides its book search feature, allows you to search journal articles, and in some cases access the entire article online. Format: follow APA style, or look here: American Anthropological Association Style Guide. This is an example for a book:
· Fagan, Brain. 1998. Clash of Cultures. 2nd edition. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.
· Rule of thumb: I will look for whether the reference information is complete and consistent, more than whether you follow the format exactly.
- Other material (optional): Maps, charts, illustrations, photos, footnotes, etc. may be included if they enhance the material presented (but will not make up for a poorly written essay). Extra material does not count toward the 5-page length.
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