INTERNET SITE ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT
Your assignment is to find TWO INTERNET SITES not on the list of "Key
Sites" on our class Web pages. ONE SITE MUST BE HISTORICAL, and ONE
MUST BE FOR A CURRENT MOVEMENT. The historical site might be one with information
about a movement of the past (an essay or an archive) or a source for a
document (say one of Fredrick Douglass's slave narratives, or historic photographs,
etc.). The contemporary site should be a general site for a movement organization
active now. You should be able to do the analysis in 1-2 pages for each
of the two sites.
Assignment is DUE in class on FRIDAY MAY 24th.
CONTEMPORARY SITE:
Location of the site: http://???
Describe & analyze the nature of the site:
How is the site organized, with what elements (i.e., how to join? statement
of purpose? pamphlets? links to related organizations or topics? is the
information well-organized and easy to use? etc.) Most important, what can
you tell about the ideas, viewpoints, goals of the organization?
HISTORICAL SITE:
Location of the site: http://???
Describe & analyze the nature of the site:
Is it one document or a group of documents? How does the site present the
material? Is any context given for the material? Is the material linked
to other related sites in a useful way? Linked to a contemporary movement
site? What, briefly, is the content of the document(s)? What, briefly, did
you learn about the movement from the document?
Or, if it is an article about an historical movement, briefly summarize
what is has to say, how it characterizes the movement, and whether or not
the site is linked to other sites with related materials in a useful way.
SHORT PAPER ASSIGNMENT(S)
To fulfill this portion of the course requirements you will write 4 short
essays (approx. 2-3pp. each) that will COMPARE & CONTRAST TWO MOVEMENTS
WE ARE STUDYING IN SUCCESSION. The paper should select the two movements
and compare and contrast them by looking at one or more of the following
suggested points of comparison (or other ways of comparing you come up with
yourself):
Compare/Contrast:
Participants: their age, class, gender, sexuality, race, region etc.;
Goals: what were the main things the movement wanted to achieve;
were they unique to the movement or part of a larger effort at change
Degree of success: to what extent were the goals met; how is that
success or failure best measured
Ideas or Ideologies major beliefs of the group/movement
Strategies (long-range plan) for achieving change -- through education,
legislation, revolution, alternative institutions, lifestyle changes, etc.
Tactics: violence, non-violence, boycotts, marches, sit-ins, teach-ins,
zap actions, sabotage, civil disobedience, strikes, etc.
Relation to similar or different historical context(s): how do two
movements in the same time period relate to their common political situation;
how do movements from different eras reflect their different political and
cultural contexts
Historical connection/disconnection: do the two movements show any
signs of learning from each other, following a similar tradition of protest,
drawing from a similar point of origin, or are they wholly separate
Language/rhetoric: in what language does the movement try to solidify
commitment and persuade others to join; how does the movement language relate
to dominant language (i.e., does it use language like that of "American
rights" or seek a new language largely outside of tradition
Organizational structure: hierarchical, democratic, a single central
movement organization or many decentralized one, membership requirement
or looser affiliation, etc.
Style/Tone: ways of dressing, social attitudes, tone of seriousness
or playfulness, etc.
Cultural forms used: rituals, symbols, music, graphic arts, religious ceremonies,
etc.; are these cultural forms central or peripheral
Internal difference/conflicts: what points of conflict arise within
the movement and how are they dealt with; are differences between participants
giving hearing or are they suppressed
Others?
These are just some of the possible points of comparison through which you
might articulate similarities and differences between movements. Do not
feel confined to this list. The point is to choose one or two points that
you think best bring out the relation between the two movements.
HERE ARE THE POSSIBLE COMPARISON PAIRS & THEIR DUE DATES :
You can do any four of the following sets:
Anti-lynching/Labor Fri 5/24
Labor/Civil Rights Tues 5/28
Civil Rights/Black Power Fri 5/31
Black/Brown or Red Power> Mon 6/3
Brown or Red Power/Environ Fri 6/7
Environmental/Women's Fri 6/14
Women's/Gay-Lesbian Mon 6/17
Gay-Lesbian/Sport-Disability Thur 6/19
Write an essay (approximately 7-10 double-spaced, typed pages) on some aspect of an American social movement culture. It may be a movement we dealt with in class, or it may be another movement we were unable to cover.
A ONE PARAGRAPH PRELIMINARY DESCRIPTION OF YOUR PAPER TOPIC IS DUE ON MONDAY, JUNE 10TH. THE PAPER IS DUE ON JUNE 21ST.
As to what we mean by "social movement culture," there are two interrelated but distinct definitions of "culture" that might help you think about it. First, there is the anthropological use of "culture" to mean patterns of behavior, attitude, belief, and practice common to a particular group that make them distinctive. In a similar way, looking at social movement culture would mean looking at those qualities which make a given movement distinct from the surrounding culture and distinct in relation to other movements.
The second common definition of "culture" is one we use to talk about the arts and other forms of "cultural expression." This second sense might focus on artistic aspects of movements (music, graphic art, literature, dramatic rituals etc.).
What these two ways of talking about movement culture have in common is a sense of looking at how movements make meanings, how they produce meanings for themselves that mark themselves off from the wider culture, and how they offer alternative meanings to the wider culture.
In choosing a topic, less is almost always more. Saying more about a smaller topic is always better than superficially covering a larger topic. So in our responses to your topic paragraphs, we will be pushing you in the direction of the smaller, more manageable topics. The point is to go into greater depth about one aspect of one movement or to compare one aspect of two movements.
Whatever topic you choose, you may wish to do your topic in a way that utilizes the World-Wide Web. We can help you create a Web page for your work so that it goes out all around the world, rather than only being read by your instructors.
Topics are open, but for those of you searching for one, here are some suggestions, divided into three somewhat overlapping "Options."
Option 1: Movements Cultures & Other Cultures
1. Write an essay showing how some aspect of an ethnic culture (i.e., Chicano, Asian American, African American, Irish American, the culture of a particular tribe) shaped the form of the movement culture (offering symbols, a sense of heritage, etc.).
2. Write an essay on how some aspect of youth culture (or a generational experience) shaped a particular student or youth movement (you might, for example, research the history of the student movement at WSU in the 1960s and relate it to the youth and student cultures of that time and place).
3. Write an essay on the use of popular culture (i.e., rock 'n' roll music) in a particular movement
4. Write an essay on connections and conflicts between work cultures (i.e., on the job experiences) and ethnic cultures in some part of the labor movement
5. You might examine the role of regional cultural differences in shaping a movement (how, for example, were the cultural differences between Texas and California reflected in differing emphases and cultural styles within branches of the Chicano movement, or how did North/South cultural differences impact the civil rights movement).
6. Compare the role of religious culture in the Civil Rights and Farm Worker movements, or in the debate over abortion, or the debate over gay rights.
Option 2: Cultural/Artistic Forms
1. Choose one African American, Chicano, Asian American, Native American, feminist, or gay etc. poet, dramatist, or novelist who shaped and was shaped by a movement culture. Read more of their work, then write an essay on the relation between their literary work and the movement(s) they were involved in.
2. Ditto for a particular visual artist.
3. Ditto for a particular dancer/choreographer
4. Choose a music form (jazz, rock, the blues, soul music, gospel, rap, reggae, riot grrls etc.) and show how a particular artist or group of artists changed their music in response to and support of a movement.
more specific topics
-
Japanese-American movement art about the W.W.II internment camps
-
"El Teatro Campesino" and the Chicano movement
- Poster art in one or more movement
T-shirt political art
-
Feminist performance art
-
Guerrilla Girls feminist art zap-actionists
-
Women's music and/or women's music festivals
-
Painting & Vietnam or the Gulf War
-
Poetry & Vietnam or the Gulf War
-
Gay Freedom Day parades
-
Billboard altering as activist art
-
The Names AIDS quilt project
-
Compare/contrast two political documentaries as products of or reflective of movement cultures:
-
"The War at Home" with "Berkeley in the Sixties" on 60s movements
-
or "Hearts & Minds" with "Vietnam: A Television History"
-
or "Incident at Oglala" with "Lakota Woman" on the American Indian movement
- Analyze one or compare/contrast two political concert videos like:
"No Nukes" or "Red Hot & Blue" (AIDS) or "Sun City" (anti-apartheid)
-
The San Francisco Mime Troupe
-
Art & the homeless
-
Environmental activist poetry, fiction or music
-
Eco-activist art that actually changes some aspect of the environment
Option 3: Making Movement Culture
Produce an activist artwork to further the ideas of some movement you are a part of or feel sympathetic to. Hopefully it would be performed or made public beyond the class (at the conference, on the Web, as public art, etc.
Or produce a social movement site on the World-Wide Web that incorporates movement art/culture.
Or sing, dance, chant, or paint some comment on any of these forms or movements.
