Paper  Requirements -
 An American Ethnic Group

1.  REQUIREMENT

In the syllabus, Part VIII, Evaluation, you can see that Part I of the course has a requirement for a paper, worth 100 points of the 1000 points in the course.

Specifically, the syllabus says "Find an ethnic group, other than your own within American society; prepare a paper on its culture and share your findings with the class."

2.  RATIONALE

The paper helps you achieve Course Objectives A, B, and E taken from the syllabus:

A.  Understand the concept of culture.
B.  Recognize variability in human behavior. 
E.  Foster understanding among culturally diverse peoples.

The purpose of the paper is three-fold:
(i) to enable you to use the definition of culture in its broad sense to explore a group of Americans who have been socialized in ways different from what you have been raised to be comfortable with;  (Course Objective A)
(ii) to display your paper along with other papers,  so each class member may experience the idea that American society is a richly colored quilt of man-made discoveries and experiences.  (Course Objective B) 
(iii) to help class members see American ethnic groups in cross-cultural (rather than ethnocentric) terms, hoping we thereby widen the possibility that persons of different ethnicities will get along together.  (Course Objective E)

 

3.  METHODS

Here's some guidance to get you started:

You may be wondering, "What group shall I write about?"

The term ethnic group in American usually refers to persons of a specific foreign nation, such as  Japanese or Irish, or Mexican people in America.  But I wish to broaden the term ethnic group to mean more than American persons of  Polish, German, or Dutch descent, though a study of any group of people like these in America will be acceptable.  I prefer that our definition of ethnic group include any grouping of persons with a common socializing experience.  

Here are some examples of groups of persons with a common socializing experience:

Blind persons or deaf peoples or the aged in America all share common socializing experiences.  Boys Clubs,  members of the clergy within a specific religion, the members of a bridge club, a sports team, and even the members of this class eventually form common expectations, become socialized, and perceive the world from a unique point of view.  I would include them in the broad sense of the term ethnic group and accept a paper regarding the culture of that group.

Thus you may also include as ethnic groups worthy of your investigation any of the following:
American Indian and Alaskan Natives
Asian and Pacific Islanders
Black or African Americans
Hispanic or Latino Americans
Multiracial/Interracial Americans
People with a Disability
(If you choose from among these groups, you can use the related links in this course to find information for your paper.)

I will also accept from you as an ethnic group,  a paper that is based on the culture of any group of people in America who have been together long enough to be socialized.  Thus, Chicago street gangs, the Mardi Gras street culture of New Orleans, life amidst the members of the Mormon Church in Utah, or the culture of Gulf War veterans can be acceptable.

You can choose to write about cultures in America that no longer exist.  If this interests you, try writing on the Aztec Indians, the Pueblos of New Mexico, or the Indians along the northwest coast of America.  You have to do your own research if you choose the Aztecs;  Ruth Benedict has an excellent descriptions of the Pueblos and the Indians along the northwest coast in her book, Patterns of Culture that you can order through our library or at our book store.

4.  CRITERIA

A.  Your paper should be single spaced, 12-point type, and two full pages but not more than three pages in length. 

B.  Your paper should show that you can define these words:
 (i) culture;
 (ii) ethnocentrism; and
 (iii) cross-cultural relativism 
in the manner in which we use them in Cross-Cultural Psychology class.

C.  Your paper should point out examples of:
 (i) subjective elements of culture and
 (ii) objective elements of culture that you discover in the ethnic group   you've chosen to write about.

D.  It should be a paper you find interesting to write about and therefore one you are willing to share with the rest of the class, to post on the wall, or to distribute in copy form.  Together, the class papers are likely to be a mosaic showing the variety of ethnic culture groups found in America.

5.  DUE DATE

The paper is due not later than the first day of the fifth week of the semester.