The Hard Part: Last week we offered a 'show and tell'
project. They're seldom boring, because we get to find things and talk
about them. This week we're asking you to engage with ideas and
readings. It's so, so easy for this sort of writing to fall into the
'school essay' trap: quotes, dutiful summaries, claims about which nobody could
possibly care, blah, blah, blah.
Please don't. There are stakes in these readings—how we lead our lives; what our families and friends will be like, the relationships we form. The nature of society.
So follow the basic rule of CSCL 1001: 'don't bore your friends.' Take a position. Think about how it matters. Put yourself in it. Mean it. Read close and sharp. The job here is to help us all to see all the possibilities in a couple of ideas and one of two readings—and maybe a few things we hadn't thought of.
The Issue: We've been building a theoretical account of culture and its operations, recently looking at the intimate, maybe scary ways it impacts us--in our bodies. Shorthand for keeping track of our work are the keywords naming basic concepts.
If theory is to be good for anything, if it's to do what Gang of Four suggests (Why theory?) and 'change how we act' by changing 'how we think,' it's got to make sense to normal human beings. Mom for example. Or your Uncle Abe.
1) Pick a couple of linked keywords (use the list from the 'News Forum' (Moodle) for a start, and maybe add (social) construction, body practices, and 'docile bodies.'
2) Write your blog post as if you were explaining 'em to your Mom (or some other normal human being whom you can visualize and know really well).
3) Working from an example (little one; yours or from the readings): use your keywords to explain / expand / confront / elaborate one of the key ideas or part of either Howard Becker on becoming a pot user, or Susan Bordo on bodies and femininity.
How long? Well, we always want to avoid suggesting
that simply longer is better, but we’ll read whatever you write. But maybe 3-400 words?
No comments:
Post a Comment