Below are instructions for the midterm. Please answer only one of the two questions (you can choose). It auto locks on March 6th at 11pm. Late submissions are highly discouraged without an official ASU letter of excuse. I will run it through a plagiarism check. The minimum length is 600 words, but I encourage you to use 700 words. Keep in mind you weekly Forum Post, as well — so budget your time accordingly.
The midterm questions have a few parts so be precise with your answer. And follow the instructions below precisely to get the best grade you can. I will be grading midterms and finals with a higher standard than the Forum Posts. Good luck!
Directions:
1. Put your name and ID number clearly at the top of the Word Document.
2. Use 12-point Garamond font, 1-inch margins, and single spacing.
3. Stick to the prompt closely. Make sure you address the different parts of it.
4. Use direct quotes very sparingly — almost not at all. Synthesize the material into your own words (and cite the ideas when they are not your own ideas).
5. Use clear argumentative rhetoric. I suggest using the phrase “I argue that…(insert your thesis).” Or “X argues that…(insert her thesis using your own words). Have a clear thesis and clear supporting evidence.
6. Take the time to re-read it several times to clean up the grammar, make it stylistically formal, and have flow.
7. Have a bibliography (the bib is not part of the word total). Follow the Chicago citation style for in-text citations.
This is very simple. Inside the text, do this:
(Smith 2020: 55) — that is (LAST NAME YEAR: PAGE NUMBER).
And in the bibliography, do this if a book:
Smith, Ann. 2020. Precarious Japan. Boston: Harvard University Press.
And do this if an article:
Smith, Ann. 2020. “Transnational Love in Hostess Clubs.” Lumen 4(5): 100-120.
LAST NAME, FIRST NAME. YEAR. TITLE OF ARTICLE IN QUOTATIONS. JOURNAL IN ITALICS EDITION NUMBER (VOLUME NUMBER): PAGE NUMBERS.
The questions (choose ONE):
1. Choose one pillar of caste (from Wilkerson’s book, pages 99-159) and summarize it quickly in 100 words. Then provide a 550-word ethnographic exploration of that same principle of caste that is NOT discussed in Wilkerson’s book. Do not draw on any examples given by Wilkerson — do outside research. You can analyze racism in the USA or casteism in India (or anywhere else that interests you). What is most important is that you extend her analysis of that single pillar of caste to new theoretical or ethnographic material. Make sure you cite two academic sources that is not Wilkerson. Academic source must be a peer-reviewed journal article.
2. Sue Wadley gave a guest lecture about Mithila painting as it pertains to gender and caste and forms of social protest. Take 100 words to summarize her talk. And then provide a 550-word exploration of Mithila (also called Madhubani) art by doing outside research. You can find lots of articles. It’s your responsibility to access the articles using ASU’s many resources. Cite at least two outside, peer-reviewed articles (I suggest Google Scholar. You must use peer-reviewed journals — not news websites, or blogs, or museum websites, or government websites). Go deeper into the politics or gender dimension of this amazing form of art.
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=mithila+painting&btnG=