Culture Society and Power – Paper 02 Description
Part II Analysis 4-5 pages (double-space)
Write an analytical essay that incorporates two relevant readings and your ethnographic
description from the last assignment. What can the readings in this class tell us about the event or
place you described? How do concepts discussed in class change the way we look at everyday
life in our own communities? For instance, what types of economic and social exchange are
taking place in the East Village?
The goal of the assignment is to produce a well-argued analytical essay with a central argument
and supporting evidence that demonstrate a critical analysis of the readings by incorporating
your ethnographic work.
Here are two ways to use your ethnographic description:
Option 1: Use your ethnographic description as the overall organizing framework for your
paper. Use your ethnography as a structure for the paper and weave in different sections of your
ethnographic description as evidence to support different points. Use concepts and readings from
the class as a way to analyze your description.
Example essay outline for Option 1:
Ethnographic description: Students working at Bobst library, vaping outside
Argument: The space and time of work and leisure are becoming increasingly difficult to
separate in universities.
Point 1: digital work makes it increasingly difficult to distinguish between work time and
leisure time
ethnographic description: students switching back and forth between working and on-line
shopping
analyze with readings: i.e. Ho, or Bonilla and Rosa
Point 2: the library is a space of solitary work but also of socialization
ethnographic description: vaping outside of Bobst – smoking is simultaneously a solitary
activity and socialization
analyze with readings: i.e. Schull
Option 2: Use a key concept from the class to organize your paper. Incorporate your
ethnographic example as one piece of supporting evidence.
Example essay outline for Option 2:
Topic: Global commodities
Culture Society and Power – Paper 02 Description
ethnographic description: students working and drinking at a local Starbucks
argument: In an era of globalization, coffee shops use images and signs to evoke the local
origins of a product, as a way to gesture towards an idea of ethical consumption.
Point 1: Globalization establishes a relation between producers and consumers in
different sites around the world, yet, the process of global production also obscures these
relations
analyze with readings i.e. Mintz, or Tsing
Point 2: Ethnographic Description: In a local Starbucks, the decor and the names of
coffee beans evoke local sites of production (i.e. images of villages producers and maps
are painted on the walls. The stores promise to donate 2% of their proceeds back to the
producers.
analyze with readings: These gestures are a part of a move towards “ethical
consumption.” Ethical consumption not only signals the authenticity of the products for
sale but forms an “imagined community” (Anderson), that connects producers and
consumers.
Steps to get you started on the assignment:
1) Brainstorm ideas for your paper in recitation. Decide on which readings are most relevant
or interesting. The best papers offer a clear linkage or unique juxtaposition between the
class readings and your ethnographic writing.
2) Re-read the relevant articles. Take notes on how your ethnographic description intersects
with examples in readings. For instance: How might we characterize the particular site of
your ethnographic description? Is this an institution? If so, what type? What are some
social functions that it performs (i.e. an urban park, a public plaza, a school)? How do
these spaces/institutions work in practice? Does your ethnographic example support or
challenge claims made in other readings?
For instance: If you are describing a public space (i.e. a park), think about the particular cyclical
nature of the activities at the park. What type of space is a public park? How do we think about
parks in relation to environmental health, gentrification, segregation, or displacement? Who goes
to urban parks? How do parks relate to the state, to the (global) market?
