James C. Scott, "Behind the Official Story" and:

• Lila Abu-Lughod, "Honor and Shame"
• Beth Loffreda, Selections from Losing Matt Shepard: Life and Politics in the Aftermath of Anti-Gay Murder
• Beth Loffreda, Selections from Losing Matt Shepard: Life and Politics in the Aftermath of Anti-Gay Murder and Deborah Tannen, "The Roots of Debate in Education and the Hope of Dialogue"
• Susan Faludi, "The Naked Citadel"
• Mary Kaldor, "Beyond Militarism, Arms Races, and Arms Control" and Susan Faludi, "The Naked Citadel"
• Malcolm Gladwell, "The Power of Context"
• Malcolm Gladwell, "The Power of Context" and Deborah Tannen, "The Roots of Debate in Education and the Hope of Dialogue"
• Malcolm Gladwell, "The Power of Context" and Susan Faludi, "The Naked Citadel"
• Malcolm Gladwell, "The Power of Context" and Frans de Waal, Selections from The Ape and the Sushi Master
• Tim O'Brien, "How to Tell a True War Story" and Malcolm Gladwell, "The Power of Context"
• William Greider, "Work Rules" and Amy Chua, "A World on the Edge"

James C. Scott

James C. Scott notes in his essay, "Behind the Official Story," that, "An individual who is affronted may develop a personal fantasy of revenge and confrontation, but when the insult is but a variant of affronts suffered systematically by a whole race, class, or strata, then the fantasy can become a collective cultural product."  

Using the quote above, to what extent does Scott's discussion of "hidden" and "public" transcripts have relevance to Nussbaum's proposition for Central Human Functioning Capabilities? Consider the background of both authors' claims that in order to understand someone else's 'truth', we must broaden our perspective of others.

Ameer Sohrawardy, Rutgers University, Spring 2005

In "Behind the Official Story," James C. Scott describes the influence of power differentials between people on their social interactions: for strategic reasons, consciously and sometimes unconsciously, people base their demeanor, the content of their speech, and their actions on whether or not they are subordinate to, equal to, or dominant over the people or person whom they are addressing. How does Scott's assertion that we act accordingly challenge the traditional understanding that everyone has just one true self?

Molly Burke, Rutgers University, Spring 2005

From Identity and Agency.

Back to top

Scott and Abu-Lughod

In this assignment, I want you to use James Scott's terms and ideas to help us better understand the workings of power in the Bedouin society described in Lila Abu-Lughod's "Honor and Shame." And I want you to consider how ideas we have encountered in other readings could help to improve the lives of subordinate groups in that society.

Question:

What do the hidden transcripts and public transcripts reveal about the arts of resistance practiced in Bedouin society? What ideas, institutions or social practices discussed by either Benjamin Barber or Peter Drucker could improve the lives of subordinate groups in Bedouin society if they were introduced there?

Discussion:

This assignment's greatest challenge is that it asks you to apply Scott's ideas to passages from Abu-Lughod's essay, and to use Scott's terms to explain the sometimes hidden or even confusing elements in these passages. In order to do this well, you will have to practice the arts of close reading that Scott himself illustrates ­ quoting passages and discussing them very carefully to reveal details that might be easily overlooked. You need to show how quotations or incidents in Abu-Lughod's essay become clearer when framed with terms or ideas from Scott's essay. Try always to be aware of the complexity of the situations her essay describes, and remember that Scott tells us "Power relations are not, alas, so straightforward that we can call what is said in power-laden contexts false and what is said offstage true."

In applying the ideas of Barber or Drucker to Bedouin society, you may feel like you are judging a different culture on Western terms, and that may trouble you. You are welcome to examine the fairness of such cross-cultural criticism if you like and to find an different approach to the assignment if you think applying Western standards to Bedouin culture is not right. For example, you might instead consider whether the Bedouin society that Abu-Lughod describes will eventually develop the institutions and practices described by Barber or Drucker as it becomes more Westernized ­ or, alternately, whether the people in that society might become even more set in their ways in Jihad-like reaction to these Western ideas.

Assignment Goals:

To use ideas from one text to frame examples in another text. To practice the skill of close-reading, discussing passages with great care and attention to detail. To develop a well unified paper that uses three authors in its argument

Michael Goeller, Rutgers University, Fall 2000

In the previous assignment, you read about Bedouin culture--its depiction by Abu-Lughod and a young woman: "Kamla." Kamla describes her attempts to forge a new life after high school and the complex relationships Bedouins form among themselves as well as with outsiders: youths versus tradition-oriented elders, Bedouin tribes versus Egyptians, Bedouins versus Europeans, and so forth.

Examine Abu-Lughod's excerpts from Kamla's essay, popular songs, traditional poems, Egyptian radio programs, etc. Consider how Scott would view these different accounts along with certain non-verbal gestures by the dominant and subordinate groups (in terms of his "transcript" concept). How much has Kamla's 'face grown to fit the mask' created for her through the "public transcript" (as you define it)? What role does her sequestered social space play in forcing her to fit the mask or resist it through a "hidden transcript" (as you describe it)? How does Kamla's use of religious doctrine factor into this complex dance of identity: i.e., use of The Prophet or Piety to validate the "public transcript," "the hidden transcript" or Kamla's switch between both?

Carl Nelson, Rutgers University, Spring 2005

From The Public and the Private Self.

Back to top

James C. Scott and Beth Loffreda

Thus far in the semester, many of the essays we have read have dealt with issues of racial, gender, cultural, ethnic, (and even cross-species) difference.  A recurring question that these essays have asked is: What is at stake when we try to re-imagine ourselves in the position of people who are very different from "us"? 

Beth Loffreda asks the same question to make sense of why Matthew Shepard's murder forced several groups to not only re-evaluate their own positions on homophobia; but to question whether or not the members of these groups even fit into the "us" they always associated themselves with.  In what ways does the idea of responding from a "hidden" or a "public" transcript allow you to explain the widespread interest in the Matt Shepard murder that another act of subjugation that you read about this semester would not normally get?  In responding to the previous question, rely on specific examples and concepts from James C. Scott and another essay of your choice to explain why the behavior and actions of various groups, following the murder of Matt Shepard, were difficult to fit into neat categories.

Ameer Sohrawardy, Rutgers University, Spring 2005

Write an essay that examines the importance of “critical thinking, articulation, [and] self-reflection” (Loffreda 324) in “a still-myopic national culture” (Loffreda 328). The media’s ostensible job is to present “the facts.” What gets left out if we don’t make a concerted and responsible effort to make “sense” of them? How is Scott’s project of articulating “a social science that uncovers contradictions and possibilities” (Scott 533) related to Loffreda’s concerns? What do we gain by interrogating “the existing distribution of power, wealth, and status” of Laramie? Before starting your paper, you may want to consider the following question (from page 333): “In exploring the responses to Matt Shepard’s murder, has Loffreda gained access to what James C. Scott terms ‘the hidden transcript,’ or are homophobia and its violent consequences better considered part of the nation’s public transcript?”

Michael Leong, Rutgers University, Fall 2005

From Literature, Aesthetics, and the Politics of Meaning.

Back to top

Literature, Aesthetics, and the Politics of Meaning (Assignment 6)

In “The Wreck of Time,” Dillard writes, “We who are here now make up about 6.8 percent of all people who have appeared to date. This is not a meaningful figure” (122). She later writes that 115 men who eat at the St. Mary’s soup kitchen at a given night “surely…achieve statistical insignificance” (128). Please use the work of Scott, Loffreda, and Dillard, to discuss how we determine meaning and significance.

Issues to think about:

Who has the power to confer meaning? All three texts refer to certain people who are deemed significant or meaningful—celebrities like Barbra Streisand (Loffreda) or powerful rulers like Chinese emperor Long Qing (Scott) or Joseph Stalin (Dillard). Who or what gets left out if only certain people or ideas are deemed significant? What institutions shape the way we perceive significance? In developing your position, consider the following questions: What does your response add to the discussion? What consequences follow from your response? Are the solutions you propose practical?

Michael Leong, Rutgers University, Fall 2005

From Literature, Aesthetics, and the Politics of Meaning.

Back to top

Domination and the Arts of Gender Performance

James C. Scott argues that social actions are actually signs of power that are translated into performances. For this writing assignment, I would like you to consider the performance of gender roles as they appear in Susan Faludi's, "The Naked Citadel." In other words, does masculinity become a public or hidden transcript at the Citadel? Does masculinity affect femininity or vice versa? Finally, how does Shannon Faulkner's disengagement of gender politics create, or play into, a public or a hidden transcript?

Nicole Smith, Rutgers University, Fall 2000

In Paper 1, you thought about ways that social hierarchy requires people to perform certain roles, to assume certain identities. Using Susan Faludi's "The Naked Citadel," you can now make some speculations about the role that gender plays in this process. The Citadel provides an extreme example of a hierarchal structure that is maintained by a cycle of violence and strict attention to hidden and public transcripts. Why is it so important that the upper class cadets demonstrate such a traditional concept of masculinity? In what way could we say that gender is part of hidden and/or public transcripts? 

Questions to get you started: What generally characterizes the hidden and public transcripts at the Citadel? How do those transcripts uphold the pattern of domination there? How is the relationship between the all-male cadets gendered? What alternative views of masculinity are revealed in Faludi's essay?  Are gender roles at the Citadel at all representative of those in the rest of the country?

Molly Burke, Rutgers University, Spring 2005

From Identity and Agency.

Tensions between the Public, the Private, and the Personal (Assignment 4)

Develop a project considering the following:

Using Scott’s concepts of the public and hidden transcripts as a way to analyze power relations between groups, explore the world of the Citadel described by Faludi. How do transcripts define, support, or undermine individual and group identity? How are larger social tensions reflected? Consider the role of hierarchies, stereotypes, and play.

Focus on developing the following aspects of your essay:

PROJECT- Develop an argument or thesis, rather than relying on summary. Use the text to support your ideas.

ORGANIZATION- Pay attention to the structure of your essay. Organize paragraphs to support the overall argument you are making. Each paragraph should have a point to make to support the larger argument.

WORK WITH TEXTS- Use the text intelligently to support your point of view. Move appropriately between paraphrase and quotation. Make connections between the text and your argument.

PRESENTATION- Pay attention to overall style, spelling and grammar.

Laura Smith, Rutgers University, Fall 2005

From Tensions between the Public, the Private, and the Personal.

Back to top

Scott, Faludi, and Kaldor: The Transcript Test

In your last paper, I asked you to take a position on the inclusiveness or exclusiveness of traditions and to determine if traditions have an inherent right to exist. In class discussion, we discovered that there could be a contradiction between the publicly stated claims of a tradition and the behaviors or actions that the tradition actually produces. We also realized that certain groups might have the power to enforce traditions and that others might participate in traditions with varying degrees of willingness and compulsion. James C. Scott's "Behind the Official Story" offers an approach for understanding and explaining the interactions between dominant and subordinate groups. He suggests that "public transcripts," the open interaction between those involved in unequal power relations often conceal the real distribution of power and the "hidden transcripts" that take place "offstage," outside of the "power-laden context," and between members of the same group (555).

For this paper, you must apply Scott's explanatory model to the unequal power relations that Kaldor and/or Faludi discuss.

You must first determine where structures of dominance appear in their essays and then decide how to distinguish between the dominant and subordinate groups. Who holds the power, and how do you know (or why is it impossible to come to a decision)? Do the authors (Kaldor or Faludi) give you the public transcripts or the hidden transcripts in their essays? Scott insists that "by assessing the discrepancy between the hidden transcript and the public transcript we may begin to judge the impact of domination on public discourse" (555). Can you, using Scott's framework, evaluate how power relations influence discourse in the examples you have chosen? That is, does Scott's approach work?

Carrie Preston, Rutgers University, Spring 2003

From Re-Vision, Tradition and Public Life.

Back to top

James C. Scott and Malcolm Gladwell

Both Malcolm Gladwell and James C. Scott explore theories of behavior in different realms. While Gladwell is interested in how the context of one's situation shapes one's behavior and the expression of particular aspects of one's character, Scott is more interested in examining how institutionally sanctioned forms of power shape public and private behavior. For this paper, I want you to choose one major aspect of society (such as crime, globalization, social change, activism, aesthetics, ideas about knowledge or "meaning," revolt, war, character, or any other focus of your choosing) to construct a project in which you argue what you believe to be the most significant determinants of behavior, using Scott's and Gladwell's ideas as evidence. Make sure to examine specific examples from both essays in your project.

Stephanie André, Rutgers University, Spring 2005

From Behavior: Power and Context.

Writing Prompt and Question:

In very different ways, Gladwell and Scott both emphasize the extent to which an individual’s actions are influenced and limited by society. But where Broken Windows theory and the “Power of Context” suggest that “an epidemic can be reversed…by tinkering with the smallest details of the immediate environment,” Scott argues that “if we wish to move beyond apparent consent and to grasp potential acts…we have little choice but to explore the realm of the hidden transcript.” Taking into consideration both Gladwell and Scott’s arguments about the public transcript (Power of Context in Gladwell), to what extent should the hidden transcript be made visible or public? What are some of the political and social implications of “explor[ing] the realm of the hidden transcript?”

Getting Started:

• What happens when the hidden transcript is made public? How does it change the public transcript?
• Is “explor[ing] the realm of the hidden transcript” the same thing as making it public? How might Scott’s argument about this towards the end of his essay actually be implemented?
• Power is a central issue in both essays, but it is understood and theorized differently in each: What does power mean in Scott and Gladwell? How do these different theories of power inform the relationship between the public and hidden transcripts?
• In what way does the distinction between public and hidden transcripts in Scott, complicate, complement or contradict Gladwell’s theory of the Power of Context?
• When developing your project and using Scott to frame Gladwell’s essay, remember to take into account the limits of your frame: Are there certain places where Scott’s ideas seem insufficient for analyzing the type of problems Gladwell discusses? What do we learn from Gladwell that we can’t understand from reading Scott alone, and vice versa?
• Also, be sure to be attentive to the fundamental differences between the politics of Gladwell and Scott, and in particular their different approaches to dissent.

Carrie Hyde, Rutgers University, Fall 2005

From Something Mysterious and Inexplicable.

Back to top

James C. Scott, Malcolm Gladwell, and Deborah Tannen

For your last paper, I asked you all to develop a project in which you made a case for the most significant determinants of behavior. For this paper, I want you to construct a project in which you argue for (not summarize) one way in which Tannen's essay complicates Scott's and Gladwell's ideas. Conversely, you could also construct an argument in which you talk about how Scott's ideas complicate Tannen and Gladwell, or how Gladwell complicates the other two. Make sure to examine specific examples from all three essays in your project.

Stephanie André, Rutgers University, Spring 2005

From Behavior: Power and Context.

Back to top

Gladwell, Scott & Faludi: Behavioral Determinants

In "The Power of Context," Gladwell suggests that "behavior is a function of social context." He explains crime as a product of environmental factors, especially "little things" like broken windows, graffiti, and trash (294). Unlike psychological models, which insist that fundamental character traits and genetics work together to produce behavior, Gladwell emphasizes the significance of "situation" (296). Scott and Faludi also examine several influences on human behavior. Scott discusses the impact of unequal power relations on the behavior of both dominant and subordinate groups, and Faludi suggests that the hazing practiced by upperclassmen on cadets is a product of the tradition of a fourth-class system.

Do these writers have similar or irreconcilable understandings of human behavior? For this paper, you must use Gladwell, Scott, and Faludi to come to a conclusion about the most significant determinants of behavior. What are the practical implications of your understanding of behavior in terms of crime, violence, war, or any other focus of your choosing?

Carrie Preston, Rutgers University, Spring 2003

From Re-Vision, Tradition and Public Life.

In our first two papers, we examined factors affecting human behavior. We thought about James C. Scott's assertion that our actions and speech are significantly influenced (if not determined) by the power differentials in our social interactions. We also analyzed Susan Faludi's observation of the linkage between masculinity and domination at The Citadel. In "The Power of Context," Malcolm Gladwell suggests that the environment surrounding people plays even more of an important role in determining their behavior than their own psychological profiles. In what ways do Scott and Faludi confirm, complicate, or contradict this theory? How much freedom of choice do individuals have when outside factors play such a strong role in determining a person's options?  

Questions to get you started:

What is the Power of Context? Does Gladwell's theory imply that humans "are freer than previously thought or that their behavior is more fully determined than previously thought possible?" (Gladwell 301). Would Scott and Faludi agree with Gladwell's assertion that character is less significant than previously thought?

Molly Burke, Rutgers University, Spring 2005

From Identity and Agency.

Back to top

Power, Civilization, and the Self (Assignment 6)

By beginning his essay with a reference to the expression “Speak truth to power,” James C. Scott seems to imply (albeit in retrospect, after defining his terms) that a hidden transcript is a more truthful expression of self than its corresponding public transcript is. The “truth,” suggests Scott, is influenced in some way by the domination of those in power. De Waal and Gladwell likewise suggest that the truth about a given phenomenon may be other than what is typically presented. Using concepts and examples from each author, address the following: How does the current distribution of power, wealth, and status in the United States affect the way in which “truth” is represented here?

Consider the following questions in your prewriting:

1. What are some of the alternative views that Scott, de Waal, and Gladwell argue for, and what accepted views do they argue against?

2. Does each author make a convincing case for the “correctness” of his respective position? That is, do you think the new “truths” presented by each author irrevocably supersede the positions they argue against? Why or why not? 3) Do you think these new views will become commonly accepted as truths? Why or why not?

Anthony Alms, Rutgers University, Fall 2005

From Power, Civilization, and the Self.

Back to top

Something Mysterious and Inexplicable (Assignment 3)

Writing Prompt and Question

Towards the end of “How to Tell a True War Story” O’Brien says, “A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth” (396). The essay is full of complicated and seemingly contradictory statements like this that dramatize the difficulty of making sense of war and violence. How does the context (Gladwell) of war complicate truth? How does the telling of a war story (its public and or hidden transcripts) further complicate these questions of truth and meaning in the essay? Using the arguments about the “power of context” (Gladwell) and the public and hidden transcripts (Scott) to create a frame for interpreting “How to Tell a True War Story,” address the following question/issue: What is the relationship between the experience of war and the representation of it?

Getting Started:

• Based on Gladwell’s theory of the “power of context,” how might the context of the war shape meaning and truth in “How to Tell a True War Story”?
• The following question from the making connections section following Scott’s essay is a great starting point for thinking about O’Brien in relationship to Scott: “In ‘How to Tell a True Story,’ Tim O’Brien insists that the story he has to tell is true, even though that story comes from O’Brien’s collection The Things they Carried, which he explicitly labels a work of fiction. Is O’Brien providing ‘the public transcript’ or the hidden transcript of what it means to go to war? If one accepts Scott’s terminology, it is possible to speak definitively of ‘truth’ and fiction’ or do all accounts become subject to the charge that their authors are interested, biased, or invested in a certain point of view? In fact, is it even possible to tell a true war story’?” (536).
• When working through these questions of truth, keep in mind the subjectivity of experience and interpretation, as well as the way writing is shaped by imperatives of social performativity?
• Also, as always, when creating your theoretical frame for the essay, remember to take into account the differences between Scott and Gladwell as well as the limits of applying either to O’Brien’s essay.

Carrie Hyde, Rutgers University, Fall 2005

From Something Mysterious and Inexplicable.

Back to top

Tensions between the Public, the Private, and the Personal (Assignment 3)

Develop a project considering the following:

Using Scott as a “frame,” analyze the essays of Greider and Chua in terms of the ideas of the “public transcript” and “hidden transcript.” What, if any commonalities do you find between the two? What new light do Scott’s ideas shed on the other authors? Do Scott’s ideas suggest a key to the solutions that Greider and Chua talk about? Is it possible to “speak Truth to power?” (Scott 521)

Focus on developing the following aspects of your essay:

PROJECT- Develop an argument or thesis, rather than relying on summary. Use the text to support your ideas.

ORGANIZATION- Pay attention to the structure of your essay. Organize paragraphs to support the overall argument you are making. Each paragraph should have a point to make to support the larger argument.

WORK WITH TEXTS- Use the text intelligently to support your point of view. Move appropriately between paraphrase and quotation. Make connections between the text and your argument.

PRESENTATION- Pay attention to overall style, spelling and grammar.

Laura Smith, Rutgers University, Fall 2005

From Tensions between the Public, the Private, and the Personal.

Back to top