Extra Credit "Replacement Essay"

An extra credit essay is designed to replace your lowest test or essay grade. This may include a zero because of a missed deadline, or a disappointing performance on a test. (It might be more accurately called "replacement credit," but that doesn't have the immediately connotations of extra credit.)

For an extra credit essay, read and respond to ONE of the following short ethnographies listed below. Essays should be typed, double-spaced and between three and four pages long, not including notes and bibliography. Title your essay, number the pages, and note which Anthro 3 section you are in. Use plain paper stapled, no binders. You are encouraged to use examples from class, the readings, and the films. If you use written sources, be sure to cite them in the body of your paper and include a bibliography using Modern Language Association (MLA) format. (For more information, visit http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/instruct/guides/citations.html.) No wikipedia citations are allowed; you’ll need to dig deeper for sources.

Grading will be based on the following criteria:

Information - accuracy, authenticity, strength of hypothesis, etc.
Writing - structure of paper, flow, vocabulary, spelling, sentence structure, presentation, etc.
Examples used and presence of your "personal voice"
Success at defining and achieving the goals of the paper

Due Friday, December 4 . No late papers accepted.

We discussed various style of ethnographies and anthropological writing in class. Read one of the following short ethnographies and comment on them based on your impressions. Realist? Confessional? Impressionist? Critical? Formal? Literary? Or a combination of two or more? Or something else?

The articles can be found in either Sacred Realms or Conformity and Conflict. Both books are on two hour reserve at the campus main library under Anthropology 3 / Kennedy:

From Sacred Realms: Essays in Religion, Belief, and Society (2004):

Spirit-Writing and the Development of Chinese Cults by Graeme Lang and Lars Ragvald
The Production of Possession: Spirits and the Multinational Corporation in Malaysia by Aihwa Ong
Japanese Death Rituals in Transit: From Household Ancestors to Beloved Antecedents by Hikaru Suzuki
Balinese “Water Temples” and the Management of Irrigation by J. Stephen Lansing
The Rave: Spiritual Healing in Modern Western Subcultures by Scott R. Hutson
Is Elvis a God? Cult, Culture, Questions of Method by John Prow
Effective Features of Therapy from the Healer’s Perspective: A Study of Curanderismo by Madelyn Krassner
Baseball Magic by George Gmelch
“The Night I Got the Holy Ghost...”: Holy Ghost Narratives and the Pentecostal Conversion Process by Elaine J. Lawless

From Conformity and Conflict (2008)

Eating Christmas in the Kalahari by Richard Borshay Lee
Shakespeare in the Bush by Laura Bohannan
Mother’s Love: Death without Weeping by Nancy Scheper-Hughes
Run for the Wall: An American Pilgrimage by Jill Dubisch
Men’s Pleasure, Women’s Labor: Tourism for Sex by Denise Brennan
Japanese Hip-Hop and the Globalization of Popular Culture by Ian Condry

Two Five Point Extra Credit Opportunities

Earn five points extra credit toward your course grade by attending one of City College's library workshops anytime this semester. They are offered both live and online, and the in person workshops take 50 minutes. You must turn in the verification slip of attendance for credit. For a complete schedule of workshops, visit http://www.ccsf.edu/Library/instruct/workshops.html/

Earn an additional five points extra credit by watching the documentary Taboo: Third Sex (2008), a fascinating account of alternative gender roles in three cultures. Write a one to two page critique of the film and its contents as you would a regular film critique for the class, and turn it in before the last day of class, December 9. The film is on reserve in the Media Center of the Rosenberg Library on the main campus. Please note that the film starts several minutes into the disk. (For best results, I recommend you see this film after we discuss sex and gender in class.)