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Picking a "Scene"
When selecting your scene, make sure to pick a scene whose details you have yourself directly observed (e.g., specific actions, persons, objects, words), even if you don't understand precisely what happened. Relying primarily on explanations or ideas gathered from community members to interpret a series of detail or part of an event usually results in a very shaky description; but note that your should include such explanations and ideas (as direct quotations, if possible) as of your account in #1, especially in describing details you didn't understand.
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Essential information about your site, summarized concisely at the start of your account, should include its name, the time of the event you attended, a brief description of BOTH the inside and outside of the site, and the number and types of people present. In the selectively summary that follows the essential information about the site, make sure to give adequate attention to your scene(s) (about 4-7 sentences); other details should be summarized much more briefly, being careful however to include details relevant to understanding the importance of your chosen scene(s).
Make sure to include, at the very least, two details about informal interactions--for example, people chatting before or during a ceremony, interactions betweeen specialists and laypeople apart from a ritual, social contacts and activities that followed the formal event. Your description should also mention at least one contact you made with a community member, as well as some key detail(s) they clarified for you.
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In writing your self-reflection, begin by noticing the types of details to which your own attention was naturally drawn; you may find it helpful to consult my description of dimensions of religious culture , which describes the various aspects of religious culture that an observer might pay attention to. Then reflect on your own formative experience (or lack thereof) with religious customs, rituals, settings, people, etc. , both while growing up and in recent times.
Finally, consider to what extent those experiences led you to notice certain things more than others, and also to understand what you did see in a particular way. Many of your attitudes are things you don't really think about consciously; for example, you might assume that everyone entering a certain worship space should sit quietly and follow what the group is doing, even though you have never directly thought about it. In thi s self-reflection, see if you can discover some limitation in your previous perceptions.
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Choosing an excerpt here is similar to what you have done in some of the team assignments, only here the choice is based on details you yourself have chosen to focus on, and you are working by yourself. Your excerpt might deal with key terms or names important for understanding the activities and community your observed; or it may describe a similar ritual or custom.
In discussing the chosen excerpt, make sure to consider what precedes and follows it in the source from which it is drawn, just as you considered what followed and preceded the highlighted scene from your observation. Most importantly , think carefully about not only the connections between the excerpt and the details your observed, but also about contrasts between two. Your choice of excerpt and discussion of it should state explicity in what way the chosen excerpt is more closely related to your observation than any of the other assigned readings.
Since this is a formal report, parenthetical page number citations are required for any reference to the reading, even if you don't quote directly; consult FAQ #16-18, the instructor &/or your team members if unsure of what to do.
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Your diagram or doodle should arrange symbols, images, and/or short words and phrases (rather than sentences) arranged in spatial relation to one another on the page, in order to show visually the relationship of key details and ideas described in your prose. If the connection between your diagram and your prose is not apparent, add a brief explanation. CAUTION: .If you use digital images &/or graphics, you must integrate them into your own original layout which incorporates other symbols, words, and/or phrases of your choice. Images and graphics simply pasted into your reflection will receive only minimal credit.
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In assigning a point value to your reflection, I will check, to begin with, the extent to which you have addressed the three items (plus the diagram) listed above, with each item being valued roughly equally (i.e., 30 possible points for #1-3, with 10 points for the diagram). I strongly recommend, therefore, that for this first report you address each of the three points separately, to be sure you are addressing each part; if you attain an A- or better on this report you may consider combining the sections for subsequent reports.
In addition to your completion of all three sections, however, in assessing your work I will also carefully consider the sharpness of your observations skills, the accuracy of your report, & the insight revealed in your observations, self-reflection, and comparison to the readings; as well as the care with which you choose your words and organize your sentences and paragraphs. Therefore please reread and revise your work so that your sentences are focused and logically connected, and your questions and insights clearly communicated.
[Details regarding style and format for the report will be discussed in class before the first due date, and may be reviewed before or after tha time by reading FAQ #14-19. ]
Picking a Follow-Up "Scene" or "Moment"
If your follow-up report describes a site visit, see if you can pick some scene(s) that is clearly related to the scene(s) highlighted in your first report, but that reveals some important difference (either small or large) in the events and/or people you witnessed the second time. Once again make sure to pick something you witnessed directly, but feel free to include in your overall account of the visit (#1 below) explanations and ideas (as direct quotations, if possible) given by people you talked to.
If your follow-up report is an interview, see if you can chose moments from the interview that clearly relate to some key detail(s) mentioned in your site visit report, which ideally would also be linked to an excerpt from one of the assigned readings. For example, you might describe your interviewee's account of some moment in their religious life that relates to a key idea conveyed during event you observed; or a daily ritual they perform that relates in some way to a ritual you observed; or an experience of community they described that reminded you of something you saw at the site.
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A. Second Visit: Consider carefully any comments made on your first site report in composing the account of your site visit. In comparing your follow-up visit with the initial site visit, you may repeat selected details from your earlier account; but your focus should be on drawing attention, in a clearly organized way, to both similarities and differences between them. Within your comparison, make sure to relate whatever details you highlight (that is, regarding particular actions, objects, words used, participants, setting, and times) to the broader context of the event(s) and/or conversation in which you observed those details.
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B. Interview: Essential information about your interviewee, summarized concisely at the start of your account, should include her or his name, what they call the tradition with which they identify themselves, where and for how long you met; if you met them through some contact apart from your site visit, also note your relationship to them. In the selectively summary that follows this essential information, make sure to include two direct quotations clearly connected to both the questions that led to them and to the overall sequence of the conversation.
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2. Comparative Self-Reflection
In writing this self-reflection, consider carefully any comments made on your site visitreport. This second time, make sure to include in your self reflection some description of the way what your noticed and how you understood it changed from one visit to the follow-up activity, whether second visit or interview.
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If your follow is an interview, notice the degree to which your own questions, and/or your interviewee's responses, focused on certain kinds of details over others; as with the site visit you may find it helpful to consult my description of dimensions of religious culture for suggestions regarding the different aspects of religious culture that one might pay attention to. Then reconsider and expand upon the description of your formative experiences (both growing up and more recently) that you included in your site visit report. Finally, consider to what extent those experiences led you to ask particular questions in specific ways, to notice certain things about the responses your received, and to understand those responses in a particular way, especially compared with the focus of your attention during the site visit.
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After rereading your site visit report and selecting a different excerpt, think carefully about the way(s) you have gained awareness since that time from the additional reading you have done. Remember to represent clearly what precedes and follows your in the source from which it is drawn; describing not only the connection but also some contrast between the excerpt and the details your observed; and state explicity in what way the chosen excerpt is more closely related to your observation than any of the other assigned readings.
Finally, check that parenthetical page number citations are included for any reference to the reading, even if you don't quote directly, checking your site visit report to see if this was done correctly the first time. Review FAQ #16-18 or consult the instructor &/or your team members if still unsure of what to do.
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Once again, your diagram or doodle should use symbols, images, and/or short words and phrases rather than sentences. Remember to add a brief explanation if the connection between your diagram and your prose is not apparent. As before, digital images &/or graphics must be integrated into your own original layout, which incorporates other symbols, words, and/or phrases of your choice, in order to recieve more than minimal credit.
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In assigning a point value to your reflection, I will once again check the extent to which you have addressed the three items (plus the diagram) listed above; again each item being valued roughly equally (i.e., 30 possible points for #1-3, with 10 points for the diagram). If you have achieved an A- or better on the site visit report, you may choose to blend together the three elements described above, or even to rearrange their order; do make sure, however, to provide explicit transitions that relate different parts of the report clearly to one another.
As before, I will also carefully consider the sharpness of your observations skills, the accuracy of your report, & your insight and thoroughness, this time in comparing your follow-up visit or interview with your initial visit; as well as the care with which you choose your words and organize your sentences and paragraphs. Remember, then, to reread and revise your work to sharpen the focus and coherence of your report, and to make sure your questions and insights clearly communicated.
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