Due:            any time in October
Length:       c. 6-7 pages (double-spaced, 12-point type)
 

Two possibilities are proposed:

    1)   This is not conceived as a research essay, but is instead to be based primarily in your reading of the assignments from sections I and II of the course outline, plus the first three pieces in section III (by Wagner and Scheiffelin).  Of course, you may bring in (properly cited) sources of any sort which you find relevant and helpful.

        In the first sentence of his book, Schieffelin describes it as a "cultural ethnography," and he spends the next four and a half pages laying out what that means to him, and how he will proceed. He proposes a "cultural analysis" of reciprocity -- which he regards as a "basic theme of both" Kaluli society and ceremony -- and says he'll use the Gisaro ceremony as the "lens" through which he'll view and then represent Kaluli.
        Please present a close reading of the book in which you specify what he claims to do; examine in detail what he actually does; and discuss how the two fit together (or don't). Somewhere in the essay, give a clear statement of what Schieffelin includes in "Kaluli culture", and what he seems to exclude: that is, how does this ethnography actually construct the idea of "Kaluli culture"?
        I realize of course that I've given you a short space in which to pull this off. But do what you can within that limit.
 

    2)    Instead of doing the above, you may wish to work on a different question also relevant to the concerns of the readings in the first three sections of the course. You can in fact do this essay on any topic of your choice, as long as I approve it.