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Personal Narrative

Essay 1: Personal Narrative[1]

“[…] ethnography is what you do when you try to understand people by allowing their lives to mold your own as fully and genuinely as possible.

― Matthew Desmond, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City

I want to understand the world from your point of view. I want to know what you know in the way you know it. I want to understand the meaning of your experience, to walk in your shoes, to feel things as you feel them, to explain things as you explain them. Will you become my teacher and help me understand? — James P. Spradley

Instructions

A narrative is a story. In this assignment, you will tell a story that explains your relationship to the subgroup you have chosen for the semester. What moments stand out to you when you think of this subgroup and your role in it?

As this is a story, you can tell it in any way that you would like to but be sure to focus on the details and recreating real moments. The moment you write about forms the basis of your narrative, so it should be a subject matter that you are comfortable sharing. Just as important are the reflections you include in your narrative or reflection to help readers make sense of the moment’s significance and implications. You’ll also want to carefully consider your tone and language choices.

To explain further, Melissa Tombro writes[2];

“A memory is not necessarily something that happened a long time ago. Rather, a memory is something that is past, something that is reflected upon. It can be something that happened last week or a moment from your childhood […] For this assignment, choose a memory that has multiple levels of meaning for you. It is important not just to create a narrative about one particular thing but to think about the complexities of the memory and why you find it worthy of exploring in an essay. Subtext and intention are crucial. You should re-create details as accurately as possible […] Focus especially on re-creating characters, yourself included, who were involved in the memory. Use dialogue to let these characters speak, and choose details to convey the nature of relationships.”

This essay not only speaks on your personal connection or experiences with your topic, but it gives you a chance to practice the more narrative aspects of Anthropology writing. While we read Unni Wikan, we will see moments where she is telling us her observations, but also telling us a story. These narrative elements are important parts of Anthropology writing. Elements of Narrative writing include plot, character, Point of view, setting, and theme.

What is required?

Your written narrative should be 3-4 double spaced pages and should contain

  1. a carefully crafted and revised story of a specific moment, event, or experience;
  2. vivid details that draw your readers into the scene;
  3. 1 piece of media to support your narrative, such as pictures of artifacts, images, links, video clips, quotes, sound bites, etc. (Depending on how you are submitting this and planning to do your final book project)
  4. your interpretations of the larger social significance of the event chosen. Remember that this will lead into our research paper. So, we do not want to just explain these events, we want to question them. (Your interpretations may be explicitly included in your narrative or implied. But if left implied, be sure to be explicit about these connections in your Reflection.)

Reflection

Your Personal Narrative should be preceded by a reflection when you submit the final version. Refer to the reflection assignment sheet.

 

 

Due dates:

Ø  A first full draft of your PN is due for peer review by class time on Monday September 19th

Ø  The Revision plan for your PN is due during Midterm Conferences Monday October 24th and Wednesday October 26th

Ø  The final draft of the PN (with reflection) is due a week after Midterm Conferences Monday October 31st and Wednesday November 2nd

Assessment Rubric

Assignment Criteria
1. Appropriate Focus and Rhetorical Effectiveness of the Written Narrative. How effectively does the written narrative provide concrete examples and specific details of the writer’s experiences? How effectively does the narrative attend to description? How effectively does the narrative appeal to the intended audience?
2. Explicit Commentary on Significance and Implications. How effectively does the written narrative highlight some central idea about a larger social significance? That is, how well does the narrative implicitly or explicitly comment on the larger implications of the story, signaling connections to national trends or to the writer’s life, family, generation, gender, race, culture, linguistic background, ability, and/or geographic location?
3. Use of Multimedia. How effectively does the written narratives integrate multiple modes (not just speech vs. writing but also the use of pictures, images, objects, props, links, and music)?
4. General Requirements. Were all requirements for length and due date met?

[1] Adapted from the syllabus of Professor Missy Watson

[2] Tombro, Melissa. “Chapter 5: Memory/Character Essays” Teaching Autoethnography: Personal Writing in the Classroom. Open SUNY Textbooks. Geneso. NY. Pp 35-36. Print. 2016.

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