Anthropology @ UBC

Essay GRADES

Students will write an ethnographic essay.  Students in the core tutorials will write a single paper (five double spaced pages maximum).  Students will develop their paper topics in collaboration with their teaching assistant and instructor.  Students will draw from the two course ethnographies, Where Have All the Homeless Gone and Redflags and Lace Coiffes, for inspiration in the crafting and research of their own papers.  For evaluation criteria see “writing formal essays” guide on course outline.

Click here for a sample first year research paper.

The paper is due November 23rd.

Rules of Engagement

No matter what question for end up using to write a paper your paper must conform to these rules:

1. Your essay must draw from both Where Have all the Homeless Gone AND Redflags and Lace Coiffes.
2. In addition to drawing from the two course ethnographies you must cite at least two other anthropological journal publications in your research paper.
3. NO WEB SOURCES.  The articles or books that you cite in your paper must be appropriate peer-reviewed publications.  Wikipedia or other internet sources are not acceptable for use in this paper.
4. Your papers are to be arguments –not descriptions.
5. Make an effort to incorporate key concepts that are raised in class (i.e. power, social organization, production, economic activity –this is not an exhaustive list).

Potential Questions

1. Fishing in the Bigoudennie can be thought of as a form of hunting or food collecting.  Being homeless in New York can be compared with foraging societies.  Evaluate the effectiveness of this analogy with direct reference to anthropological debates on hunting/gathering societies.
2. Participant observation lies at the core of the anthropological research endeavour.  Compare and contrast the fieldwork settings and processes described by Menzies and Marcus with that described by anthropologists who conducted their research prior to the 1950s.
3. Identify and discuss the intellectual tradition within which Marcus and Menzies are working.  Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their approach.
4. Both of these ethnographies are focused on male oriented social and work places.  Nonetheless, gender is discussed.  Compare and contrast the different gender ideologies and structures in the ethnographies.
5. Race, ethnicity, and identity play a critical role in both ethnographies.  Describe and evaluate the ways in which these subjective identities are linked to underlying socio-economic structures of power.