Rhetoric 105 – Ethnography of the University

Course Goals:
This course will likely be very different from any English or writing course you’ve ever taken. This semester, we will forego the usual “read-an-essay-then-write-a-paper” and “library research paper” seen in most rhetoric sections. Instead, each of you will research some local community (or “sub-culture”) of your choosing, and you will write about that community in a series of assignments, culminating in a final portfolio and mini-ethnography.

What’s “ethnography,” you ask? That’s a complicated question, and we’ll spend a considerable amount of time trying to answer it. The short answer, given by the textbook for this course, is that ethnography is “the study of people in other cultures and the resultant written text from that study.” We will borrow methods from anthropology and sociology to explore a wide range of local sub-cultures, like student clubs, martial arts studios, a sorority or fraternity, a place of employment, a restaurant, a college course – whatever.

The only restriction on your choice of research subject is that the community or sub-culture you choose must be in some way connected to the university (and I use “connected” in a very broad sense). A loose, working theme for this course centers around one basic question: what is the university? It is my hope that, by the end of the course, you will develop an expanded view about just what this thing called a “university” is.

Why can’t we just read short stories and write five-paragraph essays about them? I suppose we could, but I imagine you've already had quite a bit of practice with that. I’d much rather you get excited about what you are researching, and have that excitement show in your writing. I think that excitement happens when we’re genuinely interested in—and trying to make sense out of—the world around us. In a nutshell, that’s what this course is about.

Required Texts:
Sunstein and Chiseri-Strater, Fieldworking, 2nd Edition
writing guide of your choice (Rules for Writers is widely available)

Requirements:
3 shorter papers (3-5 pages each)
1 longer mini-ethnography (10-12 pages)
1 research portfolio with reflective essay and short publication
frequent, informal writing projects
frequent and active class participation

Grading:
Positioning Paper: 10%
Artifact / Space Analysis: 15%
Language / Interview Analysis: 15%
Mini-Ethnography: 25%
Research Portfolio (with reflective essay and “publication”): 15%
Participation (in-class work, discussion, conferences): 20%

Fieldwork:
As noted above, you will need to choose a sub-culture to study this semester, and your research will consist mainly of observations of that community. That means that you will need to spend a significant amount of time with your chosen sub-culture. Generally, the more energy you can devote to studying your field site, the more successful your research will be in the long run.

Mini-Ethnography:
Think of the mini-ethnography as a final research report, a piece of writing that will try to make sense out of all the research you have done over the semester. While 10-12 pages might seem daunting to you, keep in mind that each of the previous, shorter essays should help you construct the mini-ethnography. That is, each of those shorter assignments is a chunk of the final project.

Research Portfolio:
Throughout the semester, you will keep a research portfolio in which you collect, select, reflect, and project your research. The final version of the portfolio that you turn in at the end will contain (at a minimum) your mini-ethnography, a short reflective paper, and a short piece intended for publication in some form. You should keep all of your research materials as the semester progresses. A three-ring binder might be a good option.

Peer Conferences:
For two of your papers, you are required to attend a conference with me and four of your peers. When the draft is due, you'll make enough copies for everyone in the group of five writers, and then we will meet later in the week—outside of class time—to discuss the papers in the group. You will be responsible for reading each of the other papers and commenting on them to the best of your ability. This meeting will vastly improve your writing and revision skills, and it will teach you the importance of considering your audience. For the other papers, you will meet in class with other students in conferences about your drafts.

Course Policies:
Attendance: Since this is a small, discussion-style course, your regular attendance is imperative. Miss more than two weeks worth of class (i.e., four classes), and your final course grade will suffer by 1/3. Every unexcused absence after that will decrease your final course grade by another 1/3. Even casual absences (and tardiness) will affect your grade in the form of participation points, in-class assignments, and a diminishing likelihood that you will understand (and therefore do your best with) the formal assignments. You may excuse absences by speaking with me in advance or presenting a letter from the Emergency Dean.

Plagiarism, according to UIUC’s Rule 33 on Academic Integrity, is “representing the words or ideas of another as one’s own work in any academic endeavor.” Don’t do it. Sometimes students cross the line unwittingly, so we will spend some time learning how to distinguish the legitimate use of sources from plagiarism. Outright cheating (such as purchasing a paper) will meet with vigorous prosecution and have dire consequences.

Late Work: All essay assignments are due at the beginning of class on the date determined. An essay will lose 1/3 grade for every day it is late. In-class work, peer conferences, and participation cannot be made up.

An essay draft is an honest attempt at fulfilling an assignment and—at a minimum—satisfies the page requirements for that assignment. Short, hurried, or overly “rough” drafts make it difficult for your instructor and peers to help you improve your writing. Late or inadequate drafts will negatively affect a final draft’s grade.

Civility and inclusiveness of speech will be observed in this course. While you should feel free to express your ideas, slurs and epithets based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual preference, religious practice, physical ability, etc. will not be tolerated.

All formal essays (and their components) must be completed in order to pass this course.

Course Schedule:
(subject to change)

WEEK 1: INTRODUCTIONS
Tu Jan 20 Welcome; Syllabus and course policies
In-class writing assignment

Th Jan 22 Introduction to computer classroom

WEEK 2: WHAT IS ETHNOGRAPHY / CHOOSING A FIELD SITE
Tu Jan 27 Read Fieldworking ch.1

Th Jan 29 Read mini-ethnographies in Fieldworking pp. 197-205, 247-265, and 379-388

WEEK 3: FIELD NOTES / CONFERENCES
Tu Feb 3 Draft of positioning paper due, read Fieldworking ch 2

Th Feb 5 Peer conferences / prepare to visit your field site

WEEK 4: FIELD NOTES II / ETHICS OF ENTRY
Tu Feb 10 Positioning paper due; bring in field notes

Th Feb 12 Read Scheper-Hughes (link on class website); read Fieldworking 105-128

WEEK 5: ARTIFACTS AND ARCHIVES
Tu Feb 17 Finish reading ch 3 in Fieldworking, bring in an artifact from your field site

Th Feb 19 Read Fieldworking ch 4

WEEK 6: MAPPING SPACE / READING PLACE
Tu Feb 24 Read Fieldworking ch 5

Th Feb 26 Bring in map of field site

WEEK 7: ANALYZING SPACE AND ARTIFACTS
Tu Mar 2 Draft of artifact paper due / peer workshops

Th Mar 4 Artifact paper due

WEEK 8: INSIDER LANGUAGE
Tu Mar 9 Read Fieldworking ch 6

Th Mar 11 Tape record conversation from field site

WEEK 9: INTERVIEWING
Tu Mar 16 Read Fieldworking ch 7

Th Mar 18 Read Rosaldo (link on class website) / interview participants from your site

March 23 & 25 classes canceled for Spring Break

WEEK 10: ANALYZING LANGUAGE
Tu Mar 30 Draft of language paper due / peer workshops

Th April 1 Language paper due

WEEK 11: WRITING IT UP
Tu April 6 Read Fieldworking ch 8

Th April 8 Incorporating research into your mini-ethnography

WEEK 12: WRITING IT UP II
Tu April 13 Draft of mini-ethnography due

Th April 15 Conferences

WEEK 13: WRITING IT UP III
Tu April 20 Conferences

Th April 22 Mini-ethnography due

WEEK 14: REFLECTION AND PROJECTION
Tu April 27 Read Pratt (link on course website)

Th April 29

WEEK 15: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Tu May 4 Research portfolio due