1.) use existing peer-reviewed anthropological articles to identify a social issue or problem that people in two different countries are dealing with AND that relates in some way to your major or future career goals (e.g. if your career is healthcare related, you could look at reducing HIV transmission among two populations in two different countries; if its management or marketing, you could look at addressing inequalities in the workplace or eliminating current stereotypes about a particular group(s) in advertisements)
2.) research this problem/social issue in two different countries using at least one peer-reviewed anthropology case study journal article about each country
3.) write a 4 page double spaced paper explaining the contributing cultural factors to the problem in each country AND possible solutions (what they should consist of and why).
This paper is an argument, not a summary of the articles. Based on what you read about the communities’ experiences and the cultural context, you are developing some preliminary propositions/solutions on what should be done and why. Use the data from those articles to build your argument and prioritize the voices of the community as much as possible as portrayed through interview and participant observation data. This will require you to include and cite various specific ethnographic data multiple times throughout the paper from both peer-reviewed articles. The two peer-reviewed anthropology journal articles should not be listed on the syllabus or part of the discussion post reading options. You must cite the articles correctly using Chicago Author-Date Manual of Style.
Please note: This is a hypothetical approximation. In real life, a lot more research (library and participatory) would need to be done and several rounds of working with the community and taking their feedback to fix/adjust the proposition. But since this is an introductory class, we are only going to do a little portion/practice version of this to get some initial experience. You can build on that as you move forward in your education and career.
In addition to being peer-reviewed journal article about a particular case study, each article should be about a similar topic/problem but focus on it in a different country, such as an article about concepts of beauty in Brazil and an article about concepts of beauty in China for the social problem: how to design different marketing campaigns for a make-up line without reinforcing stereotypes or being ethnocentric about what certain demographics prefer. The keywords/search terms you select at this point will be crucial in whether you are successful and find a variety of articles.
This paper is a problem-solution argument. Think of it as a hypothetical situation and write in the first person (use “I”). Explain what you would do to solve the problem in country 1 and country 2 and justify why. This will involve you…
setting up the problem for the first country by isolating out and explaining the key factors that are contributing to the problem there. As you plan your argument, prioritize the cultural factors (i.e. figure out the cause and effect).
Then based on your discussion of the contributing factors, argue for a particular solution for the first country, using data from the articles to convince the reader that your solution fits the cultural context and factors. Then move on to the second country’s contributing factors to the problem and the solution.
Include a transition paragraph between the two case studies or at the end identifying or recapping the key differences that necessitate a different approach to the same problem in each country.
Cite multiple, specific ethnographic details from your two peer-reviewed journal articles as you discuss the factors contributing to the problem and the solution for each country.
Remember: you must base your argument on at least two peer-reviewed anthropology journal articles not listed on the syllabus and cite them correctly.