Final Essay
This assignment asks you to apply what you’ve learned this semester through our course texts, discussions, and presentations in order to use cultural rhetorics methodologies to craft your own essay.
Final Essay
1. You will write a 16-20 page (4,000-6,000 word) essay in which you use cultural rhetorics methodologies to weave your argument. You should cite at least six sources from class and from outside research. Although cultural rhetorics methodologies vary, your essay should include these moves:
Whether you’re well versed on the technology or not, a heavily multimodal aspect to the piece will be so time-consuming that you won’t have the time to develop your arguments as thoroughly as I would like you to. In other words, you’ll get lost on form and not be able to work on content as much as you should. Having some elements of the multimodal (photos/images/collages, short videos, short sound clips, visual design in terms of font/color/alignment) is welcome and even encouraged but the majority of the essay should be composed of written text.
3. You can design your own project based on what calls to you. However, just in case some guidance would be helpful, here are some possibilities for you:
Essay Delivery
Please complete your essay in Microsoft Word and title it using Final Essay and your last name, i.e. Final Essay Fanon. It is due on Friday, April 23 at 11:59pm. Please upload it to the “Final Essay” Assignment tab on Microsoft Teams.
- Story is the backbone of cultural rhetorics so stories should feature prominently in this piece.
- Your own positionality as an author should be made clear in the essay and it should be woven organically through it.
- Your citations should include at least some cultural rhetorics scholars so you can engage in conversations already happening within this intellectual movement.
Whether you’re well versed on the technology or not, a heavily multimodal aspect to the piece will be so time-consuming that you won’t have the time to develop your arguments as thoroughly as I would like you to. In other words, you’ll get lost on form and not be able to work on content as much as you should. Having some elements of the multimodal (photos/images/collages, short videos, short sound clips, visual design in terms of font/color/alignment) is welcome and even encouraged but the majority of the essay should be composed of written text.
3. You can design your own project based on what calls to you. However, just in case some guidance would be helpful, here are some possibilities for you:
- You can select some aspect of your own or your family’s personal history and explore it from a cultural rhetorics perspective. Maybe you grew up with a single mother or immigrated to a different country as a child. Maybe your great aunt was a gifted artisan or your father a closeted gay man. Every person and every family have complex histories that can help us understand some aspect of humanity better when their story is told and theorized. One caveat here is that you should be very careful with how much you reveal about yourselves and others. Ask yourself how comfortable you are with strangers knowing these things and talk to your family about this project. You also want to try, if at all possible, to get others who shared the experiences you are describing with you to provide their point of view through interviews and stories.
- You can theorize something you do from a cultural rhetorics perspective. It can be all sorts of things: a craft (knitting, baking, graffiti), a profession (social media management, firefighting, nursing), a practice (dancing, gardening, birdwatching), a type of social interaction (having dinner together as a family, going on hikes with friends, hosting children’s birthday parties). Those are just a few examples. All sorts of things can be theorized. Basically, if you do it or have done it with some regularity and you think you have something of interest to say about it, it’s fair game. For this one, it’s good to keep in mind that journaling over a few weeks will be particularly useful as you think about this practice and that you’ll want to find ways of making this practice come to life for those of us who haven’t experienced it. Yes, most of us have had family dinners but not all of us know how to knit. You’ll want to bring the knitting to life for us and even for family dinners, we’ll want to experience your own kind of family dinners so they can make us think of our own in a new way.
- You can analyze a text from a cultural rhetorics approach. Examples of possible texts include academic/fiction/non-fiction writing, films/videos/TV shows, albums/songs/concerts/music videos, podcasts, social media platforms/particular social media accounts, craft or technology artifacts, paintings, textiles, jewelry, sculptures, monuments. Remember to make your positionality clear so we can see how your own experiences provide the lens for your interpretation of the text. Because story is key to cultural rhetorics find ways to weave storytelling into your analysis.
- You can help us see current events through a new lens. Understandably, the first thing that comes to mind are some of the difficult situations we have experienced during this last year, such as COVID19, the multiple murders of unarmed black citizens by the police, the mistreatment of Latinx adults and children trying to enter the US, the 2020 election, and the ways in which climate change has transformed our lives. You can also address different topics that have not gotten that kind of attention such as something that happened in your community or something that may not be as well reported about in the US because it is unfolding in another country. For this essay, you’ll need to weave in your own story with the larger narrative but also make sure to do enough research on that particular event to provide us with a robust basis from which to understand it as well as your arguments about it.
- You can research a historical event or practice. You can help us see a historical event (the Cuban revolution, the Stonewall uprising, the founding of Liberia) or practice (daguerreotypes, arrow carving, cupping) from a new perspective. As with the current events, you’ll want to figure out how your own positionality drives the narrative and how you can give us enough information about it to bring history alive for us. Unlike some of the better known current events, you can assume that the majority of your audience knows little if anything about your topic, so you’ll want to guide us through the main aspects of this story by using research to back it up.
Essay Delivery
Please complete your essay in Microsoft Word and title it using Final Essay and your last name, i.e. Final Essay Fanon. It is due on Friday, April 23 at 11:59pm. Please upload it to the “Final Essay” Assignment tab on Microsoft Teams.
Initial Thoughts on Final Essay Presentation
1. Put together a 5-minute Powerpoint/Prezi presentation where you tell us which kind of essay you’re thinking of writing and what topic you’re looking to explore. If you’re trying to decide between various ideas, feel free to talk about them and ask for help choosing.
2. Discuss the kinds of sources from class you’re considering using. If you’re trying to decide between various sources, you’re welcome to talk about them and we’ll help you make some selections.
3. Are you thinking of adding a multimodal aspect? If so, what will it entail?
4. This is your time to make sense of the project with a group of people who are embarking on a similar journey. Make sure to ask the questions you want answered as the project takes shape for you.
Delivery
You will deliver your presentation on one of three days—2/9, 2/16, and 2/23. Before class time on the day you present, you will upload your presentation to the “Initial Thoughts on Final Essay Presentation” Assignment tab on Microsoft Teams. The name of the file should be “Initial Thoughts on Final Essay Presentation” followed by your last name.
2. Discuss the kinds of sources from class you’re considering using. If you’re trying to decide between various sources, you’re welcome to talk about them and we’ll help you make some selections.
3. Are you thinking of adding a multimodal aspect? If so, what will it entail?
4. This is your time to make sense of the project with a group of people who are embarking on a similar journey. Make sure to ask the questions you want answered as the project takes shape for you.
Delivery
You will deliver your presentation on one of three days—2/9, 2/16, and 2/23. Before class time on the day you present, you will upload your presentation to the “Initial Thoughts on Final Essay Presentation” Assignment tab on Microsoft Teams. The name of the file should be “Initial Thoughts on Final Essay Presentation” followed by your last name.
Final Essay Ideas Reshaped Presentation
1. Put together a 5-minute Powerpoint/Prezi presentation where you give us a summary of your essay’s topic.
2. Explain the approach you will take to making your argument and which points (broadly defined) you think you’ll make as you weave your arguments.
3. List six sources you aim to draw from for your theoretical framework. At least half of them should come from our class.
4. If you are adding multimodal aspects to the piece, please tell us what they are and how you aim to bring them about.
5. List any issues that worry you as you work on your essay and any questions you would like the class to help you with.
6. This is your time to make sense of the project with a group of people who are embarking on a similar journey. Make sure to ask the questions you want answered as the project takes shape for you.
Delivery
You will deliver your presentation on one of three days 3/16, 3/23, and 3/30. Before class time on the day you present, you will upload your presentation to the “Final Essay Ideas Reshaped Presentation” Assignment tab on Microsoft Teams. The name of the file should be “Final Essay Ideas Reshaped Presentation” followed by your last name.
2. Explain the approach you will take to making your argument and which points (broadly defined) you think you’ll make as you weave your arguments.
3. List six sources you aim to draw from for your theoretical framework. At least half of them should come from our class.
4. If you are adding multimodal aspects to the piece, please tell us what they are and how you aim to bring them about.
5. List any issues that worry you as you work on your essay and any questions you would like the class to help you with.
6. This is your time to make sense of the project with a group of people who are embarking on a similar journey. Make sure to ask the questions you want answered as the project takes shape for you.
Delivery
You will deliver your presentation on one of three days 3/16, 3/23, and 3/30. Before class time on the day you present, you will upload your presentation to the “Final Essay Ideas Reshaped Presentation” Assignment tab on Microsoft Teams. The name of the file should be “Final Essay Ideas Reshaped Presentation” followed by your last name.
Questions
If you have questions about this assignment, feel free to email me, stop by my office hours, or make an appointment.