Final Paper Project (2019)

DUE 

  • Monday, Nov. 15, 7 pm, uploaded to Moodle: project proposal and annotated bibliography
  • Wednesday, Dec. 17, 7 pm, uploaded to Moodle: final paper or final project URL

LENGTH and FORMAT 

In keeping with our multimedia approach this semester, you have the option of turning in a standard written text or constructing a multimedia final project that will integrate images and/or video into your document.

The paper should be 10 pages, 8 X 11, double-spaced, 1 inch margins all around, 12 point fonts. Please spellcheck. Papers should be polished. They should be free of spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. They should be well-organized, with an introduction, a thesis or main point, and a conclusion. Citations should be complete, including web pages (see online guidelines in Assignment Resources). If you choose to integrate print media, images, videos or web sites, please make sure they are fully captioned (use the 'insert caption' tool) with source, relevant date of creation, and title, or for websites, include the URL. For help with this, see Jim Holmes or review his film citation guide.

EVALUATION I will evaluate and respond to papers based on (in order of priority):

  1. Degree to which you respond to the assignment and incorporate ideas and issues from class materials in your discussion;
  2. Extent to which you demonstrate clear understanding of basic terms and historical events presented in the course;
  3. the creativity and originality of your ideas
  4. The clarity of your organization/design and writing

TOPIC

This paper will be the culmination of your semester of considering Chinese-Tibetan relationships from an anthropological perspective and in contradistinction to popular media representations. With a particular contemporary theme or issue as a focus (such as representations of gender in particular nationalist arguments; the role of the UN, contemporary sectarian conflict among Tibetans, Chinese dissidents and Tibet, development discourse among NGOs or state organizations in Tibet, Chinese interest in Tibetan Buddhism, new forms of ethnic tourism, emergent activisms, etc.), your paper should be a well-researched critical analysis of some aspect of Tibetan issues in the PRC in the light of the anthropological perspective and historical contexts presented in the course. If you choose to write about a Chinese community, your argument should include a comparison with a Tibetan community. Your paper should make explicit reference to theories of "identity politics" such as nationalisms, ethnicity/race, state and/or gender/sexuality. See especially: Bishop, Lopez, Anderson, Carrico, Maalki, Duara, Hevia, Leibold, Mullaney, Yuval Davis, Wu, Harris, Escobar, Huber, Yeh, Anagnost, Wang, Schwartz, Gladney, Makley, Zheng, Hong and Wang, Nash.

For inspiration on possible readings, see the further reading lists provided for each week on the course website. Get started soon, since you might have to Summit or ILL resources.

You may also choose to monitor other media forums (see course Web Resources). These might include: newspaper or magazine articles archived in the World Tibet Network News (see website for URL, main Links), podcasts, television programs or commercials, films not included in the course, web sites, Buddhist or activist events, or debates and comments on Tibet email lists. See the Web Resources link for Tibet discussion groups online.