Public Cultural Event
Second Major Paper:

Your second major paper should be 2000 words or more in length. Like your first paper, it should use only two sources, but this time they should be the readings we did by Clifford Geertz and Mary Louise Pratt. You should use ideas and concepts from Pratt and Geertz (and, obviously, your own thinking) to analyze some public cultural event of which you have been a part.

Over the past ten years, this assignment has produced some of the very best papers I have seen. While “public cultural event” might not sound very exciting in itself, think about what it might cover–sports events, parades, concerts, social protests, partying, or any other occasion when many people are together for any reason. I have had superb papers on baseball, clubbing, spring week at UConn, Puerto Rican dance festivals, the ballet, installation art, a Lady Gaga concert, sweat lodges, “Burning Man,” you name it.

By now you know that, while you should use your own experience to illustrate your analysis, the paper should not be “all about you”; however, we are working on acknowledging your agency—it is somewhat about your thoughts and your analysis. Note that Pratt and Geertz do write about themselves, but the concepts of “Deep Play” and the “Contact Zone” are at the forefront. As before, stay away from “pro and con” thinking, and spare us the moral lectures. We’re looking for an energetic yet academic approach. Above all, we are hoping for new connections, interesting conceptual leaps, and bold writing moves. Just as all the authors we have been reading do.

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