Part 1: Write a paragraph that explores an event or memory that defines your place in or experience with a particular culture. You may want to reflect on your childhood experiences—your family, your likes and dislikes, particular events that shape who you are, role models, etc. Then consider the ways those experiences might account for the type of culture you feel a part of today or once felt a part of. The key here is not so much to tell a story, but rather, through narrative, to illuminate a culture and its impact on you (and on other members of the culture) through the lens of that event. “Valley of the Gun” as well as other assigned readings may serve as examples. Recall Joe Bageant’s description of hunting with his family. Think about some experiences that are definitive of your experience in the culture you are exploring.
Part 2: Think about some important experiences of the culture you participate in and identify with. Describe this experience to outsiders by focusing on a few elements of it in detail. Use vivid description to convey these elements and reflect on the cultural values this experience represents. For Bageant, going on his first hunt and being allowed to clean the rifles functions as a rite of passage.
Part 3: Conduct an interview with another member of the particular culture you describe. Put your interviewee’s point of view in dialogue, or perhaps in tension, with your own experiences. Remember, you will not simply be reporting an interview. Rather you will want to integrate parts of the other person’s perspective into your narrative and analysis.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, all of these parts must be connected by a common thread — your thesis. Your thesis is your main point, the thing you are trying to convince your reader of. So, while this is narrative, there should still exist a main point, an idea of which you are trying to convince your reader. Your narrative, and your analysis of the narrative, should serve to convince your reader of your thesis. Your thesis should be clearly stated in the final sentence of your introductory paragraph.
Sources and Analysis: You will need only one outside source for this assignment: Clash! How can ideas from Clash!, specifically the introduction and chapters 1-2, help you better analyze your culture? Your use of Clash! should be highly applicable to your analysis. Further, your use of Clash! should reflect critical analysis and evince nuanced understanding of the text. However, most of your evidence for your thesis will come from first-person experience.
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