Essay 2: The Cultural Artifact*

Context: This essay asks that you explore a culture through the things they value.  How
do their cultural artifacts evince cultural values? An obvious example of a cultural
artifact might be a sports trophy, which represents the value of victory. It is also
connected to teamwork, determination, physical fitness, and endurance. Athletes,
perhaps unconsciously, accept these values, which connect them with the community of
their teammates and other athletes. However, through analysis of a cultural artifact, we
can come to better understand some of these unconscious values. You will engage in a
similar analysis as you choose a cultural artifact and analyze its significance to your
chosen cultural group.
Essays we read, films we view, and places you will be encouraged to visit will explore
cultural artifacts in personal, conceptual, and critical contexts, so that you have models
to apply to your own writing. 
Assignment: Choose one or two cultural artifacts from the culture that you are
exploring and analyze the values that the artifact or artifacts convey. What hopes,
preferences, or ideas do these artifacts communicate? What do these values (and thus
these artifacts) reveal about your community? About society as a whole? Next, critically
consider whether or not mainstream American cultures agrees with the values
conveyed by your artifact or artifacts, and why. Explore where these considerations
place your chosen culture in relationship to mainstream American culture. Also, use the
concepts presented in Clash!. How does your culture fit into Clash's discussion of
independence and interdependence?  Does the artifact you have chose to explore
reflect greater independence or interdependence? Further, how does the culture cycle,
as discussed in Clash!, help us understand how this artifact reflects the values of this
culture? For example, if you were to look at the automobile as an artifact of the culture
of Southern California, you might explore how, at each stage of the cycle, cultural
values are transmitted to initiates into this culture, from parents and friends to state
traffic laws. How does your cultural artifact's values get expressed and communicated
via I's, interactions, institutions, and idea? 
Length and Formatting:  6-7 pages. Follow MLA conventions for academic writing: In
general, 1-inch margins all around, 12-point MLA-approved font (Times New Roman if
uncertain), double-spaced, page number and last name in upper right-hand header (.5”
from the top).
Sources: You will use 3 additional sources in the essay.  The sources should be
applicable to your analysis, and you should consider articles, books,
and dependable web sources. Only one of your sources can come from in-class
material, and no more than one source should be a website.
Organization: The format for this paper is similar to our basic 5-paragraph essay in that
your essay will have an introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a
conclusion; however, your essay will also include two additional paragraphs: a process
analysis paragraph and a division and classification paragraph.
Process Analysis -- in a process analysis paragraph or essay, you describe how to do
something, or how a particular event or phenomenon occurred, or how something
works. In brief, process analysis is a method of paragraph or essay development by
which a writer explains systematically how something is done or how to do something.
Process analysis can take one of two forms:

1. Informative --information about how something works , or

2. Directive-- an explanation of how to do something 

In your essay, you will use the process analysis paragraph to discuss the preparation,
presentation, and/or engagement with the cultural artifact you are discussing. You may
use either the informative of directive method, but keep in mind that your explanation of
the process should demonstrate the larger point you are making about your culture.
For example, if you were discussing the importance of arrangement and presentation in
Japanese culture, your discussion of how to prepare a meal or a particular dish should
illustrate the importance of presentation. Or, if your essay were exploring the
importance of family in Mexican-American culture and you chose to explain the process
for making tamales, your explanation of that process should, in addition to your
explanation of the process, exemplify the importance of family. 
Division and classification --  In a division and classification paragraph or essay, you
gather items, ideas, or information into types, kinds, or categories. Division and
classification will likely prove useful for your essay about your cultural artifact. In
American culture, we tend to use very broad systems of classification for various
cultures -- for example, Asian food, African art, or European art. These systems of
classification are so general that they tell us very little. For instance, China is a nation of
over one billion people, over fifty ethnic groups, nearly three hundred languages, and
dozens and dozens of distinct food traditions. "Chinese food" does little to describe this
complexity. In your essay, I ask that you move beyond this kind of generality by
devoting one separate paragraph to dividing and classifying your subject into a more
meaningful category, one that helps the reader better understand your subject