Author: admin

Ethnographic Project Paper or Presentation (40%): Your paper on Religion should be 5-6 pages long, Times New Roman 12pt font, double-spaced, with an additional Bibliography of ten scholarly sources (annotated). You are required to have in-text citations and a references page listing your ten outside resources.  A program called TurnItIn will check your paper for evidence of plagiarism. If you plagiarize (or use AI to do your work for you), you will be failed.
This ethnographic project and paper or video will reflect your active participant-observational research into one particular LA religion and its specifically local manifestation in a particular congregation, utilizing social science methodology that will need to be stated explicitly in the paper (whether quantitative or qualitative). You will choose a particular Los-Angeles based religious community and learn what’s happening with that group over the next eight weeks. You may analyze their location within their wider religious community—e.g., a particular mosque [say, Calabasas] in light of other Muslim groups in California, the US, the world, etc. You will observe them weekly for their beliefs and what they do in light of those beliefs. This could be resulting more or less from critical observations about the groups as they are (demographic composition: race, age, vocation, education, etc.), or else in relationship to what they do (regarding major ethical issues today: racial, economic, environmental, and other forms of injustice). Especially during a major election year, this should include religious involvement in the political and/or social services sector.
Research Paper format:
This 5-6 page paper should follow a general format of (1) Introduction to subject with stated thesis; (2) a background sketch of the history, geography, and beliefs of the religion, and its particular local LA-development; (3) a presentation of ethnographic research findings and discussion; (4) a summary conclusion with recommendations. Research Paper format should follow ASA guidelines,
Research Topic, Question, and Plan (5%): This has already been done and is attached for you to use as a template
A brief one-page summary designating whether you will do your Project as a Paper or a Video Presentation. This will describe your main research focus, along with your research question, and overall research plan and methodology to be used. What group will you study, and where are they located? What events do you attend? Why? Will you be able to get access? How do these events relate to your question and the class? If qualitative, what questions will you ask of your interviewees? Why? Qualitative research should conduct at least two (2) in-person observational visits, and also two (2) interviews with particular relevant leaders in the organization.
On Fieldnotes (10%):
Students should generate field notes based on 15-20 hours of community-based research that help with the writing of the Paper or the development of the Project. Research leads to experience, and is best developed in detailed field notes that go over specific activities you are doing for the ethnographic component (which may be audited by your professor at the end of the course). The purpose of fieldnotes is simply to get as much data as possible for your findings. Write down specific observations, quotes, and detailed insights, but most of what you should be writing is just what you see, hear, smell, touch, and taste. Save the analysis for memos you might write to yourself for the ethnography. Please make the notes your own, but use them to draw from in your paper or presentation. The best notes are able to provide a sense of place, character, and scene. Two sets (4-6 pages single-spaced equivalent each) will be handed in on May 3 and May 24.
For additional guidance on Fieldnotes, see the tool, “Studying Faith: Qualitative Methodologies for Studying Religious Communities”
Bibliography (5%):
With the completed Paper or Project, you will need to include an annotated research bibliography with a short summary of each of the ten (10) outside scholarly sources. The brief summaries should be 2-3 sentences long describing the article or book you utilized and why the work is relevant to your Paper/Project. Please make sure these sources are included in your research paper.

Choose one of the essay questions below and answer it in no more than four pages. There are no right or wrong answers to these essays. Your grade will be determined by your ability to correctly analyze the situation using the relevant concepts. Be sure to bring in the voices of relevant thinkers from our course materials.
We use fictive characters to prime your memory, but please feel free to address the topics below without referencing the fictive characters. Be sure to discuss multiple authors in your answer–focusing only on one writer/reading will not meet our expectations.
3. The Coronavirus emergency is a historical event that will yield extensive scholarly debate in years to come. Reflecting on this traumatic period, Jorge, Sam, Melissa, Jack, and Melinda shared their thoughts. Jorge argued that the works of Javier Lezaun, Michael Heller, and Rebecca Eisenberg on patenting provide useful concepts for thinking about the struggle to contain coronavirus. On the other hand, Sam suggested that rationalization, as outlined by Max Weber, is invaluable in understanding both the spread of the virus and the struggles around the best way to contain it. Melissa suggested that understanding the spread and botched efforts to prevent the spread of the virus in the United States requires that we pay attention to labor markets and how different technologies shape workers’ ability to withstand market shocks and closure (Mitchell, Irani, and Felstinger play an essential role in her thinking). Jack did not contradict others but argued that Weingart’s perspective on the current crisis is that expertise best explains the US response to the pandemic. Finally, Melinda suggested that our understanding of the crisis on how difficult it is for people to “socially distance” can be analyzed through Sherry Turkle’s argument on social relationships and the internet. Who, in your educated opinion, is correct? Your answer does not have to touch on all the authors/theories mentioned above, but be sure to include at least three.