Coversation Paper #1 conferences

Remember, there is no class on Thursday (the paper is due by 5pm) and no class next week: all you have to do is show up for the conference time below, so we can discuss your paper's comments. If you weren't here today (Tuesday), then be sure to let me know which of the open times below you can attend. If you miss your conference, you effectively miss two days of class--which can put you over the 3 allowed absences for class. E-mail me if you have any questions or concerns.

Tuesday

9:30 Michael
9:40 Mitchell
9:50 Nathan

10:00 Kealan
10:10 Adam
10:20 Cody [Bigham]
10:30 Mandi
10:40 Myranda
10:50 Brooklyn [Magiera]

11:00 Danielle
11:10 Brooklyn [Lampton] 
11:20 Raynee
11:30 Kiersten
11:40 Kai
11:50 Tinia

12:00 Dawsyn
12:10 Madison

1:30 Cody [Bowen]
1:40 Wyatt
1:40 Austin

2:00 Key
2:10 Devin

Wednesday

1:00 Cody 
1:10 OPEN
1:20 OPEN
1:30 OPEN
1:40 OPEN
1:50 Sam

2:00 Jenna
2:10 Lily
2:20 McKenzie
2:30 Faith

Thursday 

9:30 OPEN
9:40 Destin
9:50 OPEN

10:00 Jaren
10:30 Lydia
10:45 Isabel
10:50 Meysa

11:00 Krystal 
11:10 Nichole
11:20 Jessi
11:30 Freddy
11:40 Brea
11:50 OPEN

12:00 Evan
12:10 OPEN
12:30 OPEN

FINDING ACADEMIC ARTICLES VIA THE ECU LIBRARY

Step 1: Go to the “Library” link at the bottom of the ECU homepage (scroll all the way down—on the lower right side)

Step 2: Choose “Articles” and type your search terms in the box; this will give you access to thousands of academic journals rather than performing random web searches

Step 3: If I type “wearing the veil” I will get a number of articles, one of which is “The Influence of Social Networking Technologies on Female Religious Veil-Wearing Behavior in Iran” by Young, Shakiba, etc. I can access the PDF of this article for free, as well as examine the abstract, save or print the article, and learn how to cite it. Other search terms for this paper might be “Native American traditions,” “loss of traditional cultures,” “whaling in Alaska,” “chiefing in Native cultures,” “taboos in foreign cultures,” “cultural faux pas,” “adapting to foreign cultures,” “Americans in China,” “Americans in Islamic countries,’ etc.

Citing the Article in Your Paper

After skimming the article, I found this interesting passage: “Results suggest that use of Facebook can affect Iranian women’s perceptions about and likelihood of engaging in a traditional Iranian religious behavior—the wearing of a head veil. These findings support research suggesting that social media users value personal identity, individualism, and avoiding traditional factors such as religion and culture” (319).

When using this in my paper, I would say: In the 2014 article “The Influence of Social Networking Technologies on Female Religious Veil-Wearing Behavior in Iran,” the authors point out that “the use of Facebook can affect Iranian women’s perceptions about and likelihood of engaging in a traditional Iranian religious behavior—the wearing of a head veil. These findings support research suggesting that social media users value personal identity, individualism, and avoiding traditional factors such as religion and culture” (Young 319). [Be sure to respond to the quotation in your paper!]

WORKS CITED: To cite an article found on-line, you list all the basics: author, article, source, and where you accessed it from. If you use EBSCO, you can click on the “Cite” link and it does it for you (scroll down to the MLA option):

Young, Sean D., et al. “The Influence of Social Networking Technologies on Female

            Religious Veil-Wearing Behavior in Iran.” CyberPsychology, Behavior & Social

            Networking, vol. 17, no. 5, May 2014, pp. 317–321. EBSCOhost,

            doi:10.1089/cyber.2013.0338

For more information about citation in papers, please visit the Purdue On-Line Writing Lab, or the Purdue OWL, at this address: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/purdue_owl.html [click on MLA Guide under Suggested Resources on the bottom left-hand corner]

For Thursday: Knafo, “Waiting on a Whale at the End of the World” (pp.114-128)

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: How does the Eskimo’s situation compare with the Cherokee’s in the previous essay? Though they live almost worlds apart, and have very different cultures, what is similar about their experience as indigenous minorities in American culture? Another way of thinking about this is, how might one essay provide context for the other?

Q2: Even though it’s been twenty-one years since the last successful hunt, the members of the tribe refuse to give it up, claiming “it’s who we are” (114). But what does this really mean? How does the hunt shape them even if they don’t catch a whale? What do they learn from it, and what do they want to pass down to their children?

Q3: How has the Eskimo’s contact with Western civilization already changed them? What have they already lost, and do you think it’s too late for them to return to the old ways, or completely abolish their reliance on Western culture?

Q4: Though they fail to catch a whale this season either, the author explains that “Reppi had not lost faith in the tradition” (126). Is it faith or fear that keeps them going? After reading the essay, do they seem too scared to stop trying to hunt? Or is there an almost religious sense of belief fueling their mission?

Conversation Paper #1: Cultural Conversations

ESSAYS:
Rogers, “One Person Means Alone”

Bautman, “Cover Story”

Griest, “Chiefing in Cherokee”

Knafo, “Waiting on a Whale at the End of the World”

Conversation #1: (Bautman, Rogers) Discuss the topic, “what comes first, convictions or culture?” When traveling to or living among another culture (even in the same country), how much should you have to compromise your own ideas/values to fit in? Should you have to bathe nude with the entire neighborhood? Should you wear the veil? Is the culture always right? Or should we hold onto our own values in the face of a foreign environment? Should every place change us as people, or should we strive to change them?

Conversation #2: (Griest, Knafo) Discuss the topic, “when does tradition need to end?” In both essays, indigenous cultures are pressured to abandon their traditions in the face of a changing society. Should the Eskimo abandon the whale hunt to find more sustainable (and cheaper) ways of life? Should the Cherokee abandon a tourist attraction that is increasingly seen as racist and backward even by some of their own people? Or is tradition sacred, and worth defying the entire world to maintain? What is the danger of abandoning tradition when that’s all you’ve known?

Conversation #3: (???) Make your own conversation, based on at least two of the essays above, as long as you can clearly show how each essay contributes to this discussion.

SOURCES: You must quote at least two essays in your paper, so we can see the conversation between you and each author. Additionally, I want you to find at least one outside source that you feel contributes to this discussion, either by agreeing with you, or one of the essays, or acting as a “naysayer” (more on that soon). We’ll discuss how to find useful sources in class through the Linscheid Library’s EBSCO portal.

ALSO: Bring yourself into the discussion! Your experience, ideas, background. Respond to their essays with your own.

REQUIREMENTS: At least 5-6 pages double spaced, with at least three sources, quoted according to MLA format. Due in two weeks, on Thursday, September 27th by 5pm [no class that day!]

For Tuesday: Griest, "Chiefing in Cherokee" (pp.41-55)

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: After confronting the performers at the beginning of the essay, the author asks herself (and us), “Was I also commoditizing my culture when I performed my identity, or was I offering reverence to my ancestors? Could anything profitable be authentic? Did any of this matter if you were simply trying to survive?” (43). What do you think about this: if you get paid for a performance, can it be real? And should you worry about authenticity if you simply need to feed your family (or yourself)?

Q2: How does the tribe in general feel about “chiefing” and do they actively support it—or quietly discourage it? What makes it difficult for the tribe to do away with chiefing entirely? Does the author suggest that they should—or will—in the near future?

Q3: The Museum of the Cherokee Indian is unique among many similar institutions in that it requires “visitors to contemplate human suffering” (47). Why do you think the museum takes this approach, when so many other museums try to present history in a more general, non-offensive manner? Wouldn’t this risk offending or alienating their audiences?

Q4: The author says at the end of her essay that “their readiness to share so much with their former tormentors might be one of the most radical acts of forgiveness I know” (55). What makes this an act of “forgiveness,” and what do you think the tribe hopes to accomplish by participating in these chiefing activities? Do you agree, as some people do, that by “forgiving” their oppressors they are merely perpetuating the cycle of injustice?