Course Syllabus

SPECIAL TOPICS/INDEPENDENT STUDY (SOC 481)
Participants: Claire Bishop and Jessie Davis
Professor: Dr. Cynthia Fowler
Meeting Schedule: Tuesdays 2:30 pm

Course Goal
SOC 481 is an Independent Study course. The general goal of the course is to introduce Claire Bishop and Jessie Davis, 2 sociology majors, to the anthropology and sociology of India. It is designed to prepare Claire and Jessie for their trip to India during summer 2008. The premise of the course is that the travel experiences of Claire and Jessie will be enriched if they have a basic understanding of the culture of their host community.

Course Requirements
1. Read the required text: Culture and Customs of India by Carol Henderson. 2002. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press. 192 pages. (This is an ebook that can be accessed through Wofford’s library.)
2. Produce a Bibliography consisting of approximately 10 texts that center on a theme of special interest. (Claire’s bibliography might focus on economic development in India. Jessie’s focus might be current social issues in India.)
3. Read the texts on the Bibliography.
4. Create an Annotated Bibliography of all texts on the Bibliography. Follow the Annotated Bibliography Guidelines on this website to prepare this assignment: http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill28.htm
5. Meet for 2 hours each week of the semester to discuss reading materials. Write the Text Discussion Highlights to keep track of the discussion as it progresses.
6. Compose Text Reviews for the Culture and Customs of India textbook plus at least 4 titles on the Bibliography. Follow the Book Review guidelines below to prepare these essays. The Grading Rubric for the Text Reviews is also provided below.
7. Produce a Final Project that fuses reflections on this semester’s documentary research with a projected itinerary for their trip to India so that your travel will be purposeful.
8. Establish a blog. Post all course products (Bibliography, Text Reviews, Text Discussion Highlights, Final Project, etc.) on a blog. Post travel updates regularly on the blog while in India during summer 2008.
9. Use this course together with summer 2008 first-hand experiences in India as a foundation for projects during fall 2008 and spring 2009 courses. This semester’s work can be expanded into a research project in the Capstone course, for example, that Claire and Jessie will be required to complete as seniors during spring 2009.

Timeline
Weekly 2-hour book discussion.
Weekly meeting with Dr. Fowler.
February 4-February 18 Prepare Bibliographies
February 7- 29 Read Culture and Customs of India
February 29 Text Review of Culture and Customs of India Due.
February 29-April 7 Prepare Annotated Bibliographies
April 7 Annotated Bibliography Due
April 7-April 28 Prepare Text Reviews of 4 of the titles on the Bibliography.
April 28 4 Text Reviews Due
May 9 Text Discussion Highlights Due
May 9 Final Project Due

Assessment
Claire and Jessie will be graded on an A-F scale. All assignments will be submitted electronically if possible (e.g., as a Word .doc or on the blog).
Bibliography 20%
Annotated Bibliography 20%
5 Text Reviews 20%
Text Discussion Highlights 20%
Final Project 20%
Wofford Honor Code

TEXT REVIEW GUIDELINES
Title. Author. Date of publication. Place of Publication: Publisher. Number of pages.
Broad summary statement about the content of the reading assignment.
What do you want to remind your audience about the reading?
Main points and key terms in the reading.
I. What is the primary topic?
Who are the characters (anthropologists, subjects of research), what are the locations (places where anthropologists work, places where subjects live), and what are relevant dates/time periods?
It is better to paraphrase using your own words, rather than using a direct quote. If you do quote directly from the text, be certain to identify it as a quote.

II. Reaction to the contents.
emotions, feelings, questions, insights that you had when reading the book
personal experiences related to the content
new information that you didn't know before
What do you agree or disagree with and why?

III. Evaluation (with recommendations) of the reading.
opinion of contents and why
suggestions on improving content and its delivery (if any)
questions that you would like answered
recommendation to read it, avoid it, or otherwise
Do you have any questions for your audience or can you elicit their participation?
What can you say about the discipline of ecological anthropology based on this reading assignment? What does it tell you about the issues, approaches, and subject matter of the discipline?

GRADING RUBRIC FOR TEXT REVIEWS

________ evidence that you read and understood the text (25 points)

________ quality & organization of content (25 points)

________ clarity and creativity in writing style (25 points)

________ commentary about and interpretation of subject matter (25 points)

TOTAL SCORE ________ (out of 100 points)