Agenda 1. Housekeeping

NO CLASS MEETING next Tuesday, October 6

Individual conference meetings on Monday, October 5 and Tuesday, October 6

• Meeting location: Bessey Hall, room 267

• Duration: 10-15 minutes

• Materials to bring: Artifact Proposal completed (hardcopy or digital version)

• Purpose: (1) discuss your Artifact proposal and Project Two in general; (2) discuss any concerns or issues you have with the course; (3) possibly discuss feedback and grade with Project One

2. Artifact Analysis assignment loose ends

3. Ryan and Durning piece

4. Developing critical questions

5. Writing in Eli

The Story of a Shoe In a Word document or in your notebook, respond to the following questions with your partner:

Method: How do Ryan and Durning think about a pair of shoes? In other words, how do they approach their pair of shoes?

Invention: What ideas do they offer us in thinking about a pair? Make a list.

Method: List 5-10 questions you think Ryan and Durning developed in order to write this piece. Be as specific with your questions as possible. And identify evidence in the piece that supports these questions.

Critical Questions Asking and answering critical questions takes time and lots of thinking.

Standard journalistic questions—who, what, when, and where—can be nice starts and necessary at times.

But critical questions focus on how and why (and sometimes what). yield a wider variety of ways of thinking

invite deeper research and answers

moves beyond the obvious and offers insights that aren’t quickly identifiable

What are all the ideas this artifact symbolizes?

How do these ideas create or contribute to cultural meanings, values, and narratives? And what are the meanings, values, and

narratives?

Intertextuality

Photograph

For Artifact Analysis Three categories will help in your developing your analysis:

Physical Context

Social Context

Cultural Meaning

Physical Context Basic observation: Use your observer’s gaze to see and describe the

physicality of the artifact. Write all details you see.

Resist the impulse to see through it, or interpret the object, in this stage. Imagine you have never seen anything like it before.

What is it made of?

How was it made?

How does it look, feel, smell, sound, and taste?

Social Context Consider how the artifact and/or example is placed among the

people of the (sub)culture to whom it belongs.

Who uses the artifact? Who doesn’t? When and where does specifically it get used?

What does the artifact symbolize?

How do people interact with it?

What emotions are associated with it? What behaviors?

What rules do people have about it, and what rituals do they enact with or about it?

Why do these people have these rules and rituals?

What is the history of the artifact? How has it changed or evolved since its beginnings?

Cultural Meaning Think about the (larger and more local) cultural values and narratives associated with the artifact and/or your example. Ask questions such as:

What do the artifact and the behaviors associated with it symbolize?

How does the artifact reflect cultural values or norms of the group?

How does the cultural meaning of the artifact reflect the worldview of the people of the (sub)culture to whom it belongs?

How does the artifact contribute to cultural narratives (e.g., the American Dream, material success, America as great and #1, etc.)

What meanings or ideas does the artifact communicate? Or, what ideas does the artifact communicate (e.g., beauty, freedom, equality, individualism, etc.)?

Writing Task 1. Open Eli and log in

2. Go to task “Artifacts and Questions”

3. Take 25-30 minutes responding to the questions. Take your time. You can use what you write in this prompt for your proposal and essay.