REL 298: Conflict & Sacred Space Response Papers

THE BASICS

You are required to submit 7 short response papers and/or Word Journals (maximum of 3, see below) throughout the semester, in advance of the class for which the paper is written. These papers are an opportunity for you to reflect on the topic of the week, the readings and for you to put forth some discussion questions for class. They will also serve as a tool for you to practice articulating yourself in writing in anticipation of your Midterm and Final Project, as well as to begin to get feedback from me on your writing. You are free to choose the weeks for which you will write a paper (limit 1 per week), but you must complete at least 3 before mid-semester. You may submit these papers via email to me (walsh_robyn@wheatoncollege.edu) the evening before class by 10pm. Your paper will be graded on a , + or - scale, based on how well you have read, understood and metabolized the material in question and the issues you raise. Overall, these papers will be worth 25% of your final grade in the course. Each paper should be approximately 1-2 pp. long, double-spaced, 1-1.25 inch margins and in 12 point font. I recommend Times New Roman. It should be no less than 500 words in order to adequately address the readings and the ideas you pose. Quotations from the readings will not count toward this final word total. Be sure to put your name and the date at the top of your paper.
STYLISTIC CONSIDERATIONS

In general, you should view these response papers as short essays that must conform to the stylistic and academic rules of any other kind of formal writing. This includes avoiding spelling mistakes, improper grammar, SMS language (textese) and, most importantly, plagiarism. If you feel tempted to plagiarize, it is likely a sign that you have not read carefully enough or given yourself enough time to finish the assignment, in which case I recommend you come to talk to me about your approach to the material. Be sure to cite your sources correctly. If you are quoting directly from a reading, please cite the source and page number parenthetically. For example:
In The Ontology of Religion, Stanley Stowers states that [c]ontemporary scholarly thinking about religion is bedeviled by the post-Cartesian legacy of dividing reality up into subject and object (Stowers 2008: 6).

You may also find it helpful to cite the source and page number from which you derive a general point about a reading or readings. For example:
Burton Mack and Russell McCutcheon each acknowledge the influence of Max Weber on the field of religious studies; however, they also note that scholars in the Weberian tradition tend to avoid offering a firm social theory of religion (Mack 2000: 286; McCutcheon 2001: 21).
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Ideally, your response papers will manage to engage all of the readings for a given class session; however, it is okay if you choose to focus in on one reading or aspect of an argument. My one caution with this approach is that, if your response paper raises a point that is somehow addressed or answered in another one of our readings that day (and, therefore, indicates that you wrote your paper before finishing all of the reading), you may find that you receive a lower grade (e.g., a rather than a +). It is okay to use I in your papers, but you may find it is better to do so sparingly. Finally, these papers are a chance for you to really engage with the readings, explore your own thinking on the questions raised and to express your unique viewpoint(s) on the material. While you must conform to certain expectations in regard to form and style, do feel free to express your creativity within those parameters. Let me know what you are thinking, what you think of the assignment, what is still confusing or troubling about a concept. These papers are a tool for you to work on your writing and be prepared for class, but they are also a tool for me to help assess how you are doing in the class, how the class is going overall, what we may need to review and what we might emphasize going forward, based on your interests. Attached are more details on the assignment options.

 This course asks you to be an active readerto consider the act of reading as a full contact sport and to create meaning from the text rather than simply absorbing the material. In this vein, a reading response paper should engage the text in some fashion. The paper should examine and begin to formulate the questions that a more formal analytical argument essay might argue. Ultimately, your college career will most likely ask you to devise your own paper topicsrather than responding to the questions a professor might pose about a text (literary or otherwise), you will be asked to make an academic argumentwithout the guidance of leading questions. The purpose, then, of this response paper is to help you begin to see the kinds of issues that most interest you in the texts you read. From there, you can begin to take control of your academic voice. Writing a response paper means that you may choose to write about your own reaction to a given reading or readings as a whole or you may choose to write about a particular point or points made by the author. Whatever you choose to focus on, the response must be critical, not simply a description of your own personal feelings about the essay. Writing a response paper might seem to imply that you will be writing about your emotional responses and reactions to a particular text, that you will be answering the question: How did you feel about the text? This is NOT what you are to do in a critical response paper. In this sort of paper, How did you feel is a legitimate starting point perhaps, but what is more interesting is why you felt that way. The response paper consists of your close examination of the text and the questions in the text that most intrigue you. It does not need to be a fully structured and argued essayit should, however, pull together your thoughts about a particular issue in the text. Guidelines to help you produce a good response paper: Write about something you care about. Take a look at some of the questions asked by the author, or even some of the questions I occasionally list on our handouts, for inspiration. Make a statement / take a position (a thesis) about the topic. Sometimes that statement will be an argument for or against a position; at other times it will be a statement of confusion, when the writer isn't sure what to believe. Explain your reasons for believing your thesis, so that your reader can understand why you are making this assertion. If your thesis is a statement of confusion, explain why you're confused! Use evidence and citations from the readings. Construct an argument. Show what it was in the assigned text that made you think about this topic. If possible, compare and contrast the assertions of the assigned text with your own.
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OPTION #1: THE CRITICAL RESPONSE PAPER

For example, in this class you will read some of Russell McCutcheons work. In his More Than A Shapeless Beast from Critics Not Caretakers (SUNY Press, 2001) he argues, among other things, that the idea that religion is a nonempirical, uniquely personal experience and evades rational explanation (McCutcheon 2001: 4) should be challenged within the academy. A response paper might take McCutcheons claim and argue the opposite position, or agree and expand on his argument.
McCutcheon argues that we risk reinscribing folk categories if we do not generate a concrete definition of religion; however, I think he too readily dismisses the importance of the experiential dimension of religion.

or
McCutcheon argues that we risk reinscribing folk categories if we do not generate a concrete definition of religion. I have often wondered how to tell the difference between religions, cults and superstitions as categories of analysis and I think his argument helps me understand how to begin to discern between them and why that is important.

You want to formulate a claima specific and arguable response to the aspect of the text that you are responding to. DO NOT simply summarize the text. You should briefly summarize the article to familiarize your reader with the ideas you are discussing, but the focus of a response paper is your argument. Again, be sure to organize your thoughts in a logical manner and to include quoted evidence from the text to support the claim you make.

OPTION #2: THE WORD JOURNAL

Another option is for you to write a Word Journal. The Word Journal prompts a two-part response. First, summarize one or all of our readings in a single word. Second, write two or more paragraphs explaining why you chose that particular word to summarize the text(s) in question. The completed response is an abstract or synopsis of the reading(s) overall. For example:
Robyn Walsh Response Paper #1: Word Journal Source: Ross Kraemer, Jewish Tuna and Christian Fish Word: Subjectivity Ross Kraemers article Jewish Tuna and Christian Fish, demonstrates how ambiguous epigraphic source material can be when one attempts to determine the religious affiliation of an object through its symbols, inscriptions, names and so on. Even a simple carving of a bird can be interpreted in a variety of ways and that interpretation can often say more about the interpreter than the object itself. For that reason, I chose the word subjectivity for today as a means of highlighting the need for critical analysis 10/7/13

The purpose of the Word Journal is to help you exercise and improve several academic skills. It focuses your ability to read carefully and deeply and to construct meaning from what you have read. It also assesses your ability and creativity at summarizing the arguments you encounter in your reading assignments. Finally, it is a means for you to work on your skills at explaining and defending a position or point of view. In the long run, practice with this form of writing should help with your ability to write highly condensed abstracts and to synthesize greater amounts of information into key conceptsa necessary task in fields like philosophy and religious studies! Some caveats: You are limited to using this technique 3 times throughout the semester in pursuit of fulfilling your required 7 responses. While Word Journals are helpful tools for engaging our readings and understanding concepts, they do not necessarily cultivate the same skills of analysis that will ultimately be required in your Midterm and Final Project. While I want you to express your point of view, you are not permitted to use words like stupid, boring, interesting, confusing, awesome or dry to describe a reading(s). The point is not to put a value judgment on the material, but to use your skills of discrimination to summarize comprehensively. If you find yourself sitting at your computer with a reactionary word in your mind, try turning it into a question in order to come up with a more appropriate response. What about this authors argument did I think was dumb or lacking? Was this boring to me because the author used poor examples? As with the traditional response paper, you want to turn your impressions into more concrete and critical observations about your assignments. You still must meet the 500 word minimum.
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OPTION #3: THE ORAL PRESENTATION

Summary

There are several cases throughout the semester when we will be discussing the implications of a particular tradition, practice, political/legal framework, event or ongoing incident on our object(s) of study. Due in part to the interdisciplinary nature of this class, we will find ourselves juggling quite a bit of material at times and it is reasonable to assume that many of us will have different levels of familiarity with certain issues. For example, those among us who have an expertise in Political Science may be more familiar with the various ethnic factions within Afghanistan or the rationale behind the Iraq War. The Oral Presentation is an opportunity for you to demonstrate your pre-knowledge on a subject or to explore an element of the course in more depth and to report your findings to the class in order to help place us on more equal footing. A prime example of this is the current situation in Egypt. When I first drafted this syllabus, it was at the height of the first Egyptian Revolution and I wanted to capture the import of the protest movements that were taking place in Tahrir Square. At the time I am writing this handout, Egypt is in the course of a new Revolution, some might say coup, the details of which are complex and fast moving. This is the kind of incident for which an oral presentation would be of great benefit to the class.
Guidelines

If you would like to choose this option, it must be in consultation with me so that I know that I must devote class time to it. I am open to your presentations taking a number of forms: a traditional oral presentation, an oral presentation with handouts, a PowerPoint or poster presentation, or even a debate (see more on this below). The requirements are that: it provide background and analysis that is directly relevant to the subject matter (e.g., an account of the events of 9/11 on a day we are discussing memorials in NYC) you use respected periodicals and/or peer reviewed sources (check in with me if you are unfamiliar with what this means) your presentation last around 5-10 mins. The goal of this exercise is for you to synthesize and integrate information and ideas about a critical subject to the class as a whole, aimed at helping to foster discussion. I will be looking to see if you are able to distinguish peripheral material from key points in how you present the facts or issues and how well you can integrate those key points into a coherent summary.
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Presentation forms

In the case of a simple report on a historical or political matter, you will want to make sure your presentation answers: Who does/did what to whom, when, where, how and why? Another form this presentation might take is as an ethical dilemma. You (and, possibly, a fellow classmate) decide on one specific (ethical) issue or question on which to focus, locate or create a short case that poses the essential dilemma realistically in a few lines, and then each take a position on the dilemma and explain or justify that position. An example of this might be a debate about the use of violence among and against professed religious individuals (e.g., terrorism or the looting of a religious landmark/museum). You would weigh the for and against positions on the matter for the class, with a particular case study in mind. The goal of the ethical dilemma presentation is for you to learn to understand perspectives and values of the subject and construct an informed opinion of your own on the issues.

Some portions of this outline were adapted from The Critical Response The Writing Program, Syracuse University (wrt howard.syr.edu/Handouts/Critique.html) and Classroom Assessment Techniques eds., Angelo and Cross (Jossey-Bass, 1993).