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Over the last 7 weeks, we’ve approached American Studies through a targeted critique of how differences related to race, gender, ethnicity, and class affect individuals as they work to understand themselves in relation to the idea of America. This investigation has sought to situate cultural texts (plays, novels, photographs, etc.) alongside academic works to illustrate the degree to which notions of belonging and exclusion are fluid, historically contingent, and nothing if not political in both their origins and perpetuation.
For your final, 4-6 page essay of the quarter, please continue this line of critique by exploring how the idea of belonging shapes the experiences of a particular American community. Your pursuit of this task should include each of the following components:
– An explicit connection to at least two of our final (ie. weeks 7-10) texts (TWO TEXTS ARE POSTED IN FILES)
– The use of a single “Keyword” entry
– A reference to a scholarly source discovered through independent research
– An analysis of at least two of the following texts
Novel
Film
Poem
Song
Individual
Event
Place
Essay
Art Object (photograph, painting, etc.)
Everyday Object
Once you’ve curated your archive of data, compose a thesis-driven, argumentative essay that communicates how your community sees itself in relation to the larger idea of America. The additional texts you’ve collected should be used to substantiate your central claims, and your reading of your selected community should extend our shared understanding of American cultures and perspectives by pointing toward common course concepts, terms, and experiences.
My annotated bibliography and project proposal, discussion board show and tell, thesis statement, final rubric, and publish are all posted in files.
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