Briefly reflect upon your earlier response to the story in paragraph one, seeking to understand which of your positionalities most influenced your assessments about responsibility.

Objectives:
-Increase your awareness of how positionalities (the social contexts that create your identity and influence how you perceive the world) impact your interpretations.
-Enrich your Final Research Essay by selecting sources that include the perspectives of a wide range of stakeholders, especially going beyond those who share your dominant positionalities.
Core Requirements:
-Follow each of the five steps listed below and write at least four paragraphs (at least one-page minimum and recommended max. of two) addressing each prompt.
Step 1: Read the following story, paying particular attention to each person’s actions.
The Drawbridge
As he left for a visit to his outlying districts, the jealous Count warned his pretty Countess: “Do not leave the castle while I am gone, or I will punish you severely when I return!”
But as the hours passed, the young Countess grew lonely, and despite her husband’s warning, she decided to visit her lover, who lived in the countryside nearby. The castle was situated on an island in a wide, fast-flowing river. A drawbridge linked the island to the mainland at the narrowest point in the river. “Surely my husband will not return before me,” she thought and ordered the servant to lower the drawbridge and leave it down until she returned.
After spending several pleasant hours with her lover, the countess returned to the drawbridge. Only to find it blocked by a gatemen wildly waving a long, cruel knife. “Do not attempt to cross this bridge, Countess, or I will have to kill you” he cried. “The Count ordered me to do so.”
Fearing for her life, the Countess returned to her lover and asked him for help. “Our relationship is only a romantic one,” he said. – “I will not help.”
The Countess then sought out a boatman on the river, explained her plight to him and asked him to take her across the river in his boat. “I will do it but only if you can pay the fee of five marks.” “But I have no money with me!” the Countess protested. “That is too bad. No money, no, ride,” the boatman said flatly.
Her fear growing, the Countess ran crying to the home of a friend and, after explaining her desperate situation begged for enough money to pay the boatman his fee. “If you had not disobeyed your husband this would not have happened,” the friend said. “I will give you no money.”
With dawn approaching and her last resource exhausted, the Countess returned to the bridge in desperation, waiting to cross to the castle. She was slain by the gateman.
Step 2: In your first paragraph, respond to this story by briefly explaining who you think is most and least responsible for this death and why. Try to avoid reading the rest of the instructions until this step is complete. And keep in mind that there is no single “right answer” for this work, but rather determining your stance, explaining it and understanding its origins are the goals.
Step 3: In your second paragraph, refocus on yourself for a moment to consider your main positionalities (the social contexts that create your identity and influence how you perceive the world). In particular, briefly pinpoint your social position in terms of the following aspects of your identity: class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion/spirituality, nationality/regionality, politics, familial role/s, and/or any other facets of your identity that you find most influential in your life.
Step 4: In your third paragraph, briefly reflect upon your earlier response to the story in paragraph one, seeking to understand which of your positionalities most influenced your assessments about responsibility. How did particular aspects of your identity, their social contexts, and your associated core beliefs impact your interpretations of the story?
Step 5: In your final paragraph, apply insights about how your various positionalities, including those you found to be most dominant during this exercise, impacted your interpretations of the story. Then, use these insights to deepen your research processes:
a) anticipate the potential strengths and possible limitations of your perspective as you select/engage with research materials for your term project. What might you emphasize and overlook if you do not consciously work to understand diverse positionalities?
b) briefly plan how to enrich your research and analysis by seeking and applying ideas from sources offering perspectives from positionalities that differ from your own. Which stakeholder groups, with positionalities that differ from your own, will you prioritize as you research for your upcoming Annotated Bibliography?

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