Tradition, Modernity, and Change: Assessing the Value of Rethinking
an Evolving World
Piper Kendrix Williams, Spring 2002
Assignment #1: To be Fit or To be Kind?
Rough Draft: (3-4 pages)
Bring 3 copies of your paper as well as The New Humanities Reader
to class.
Final Draft: (5 full pages)
Please note: Your rough drafts and final essays should always
be typed and double-spaced with one-inch margins, a 12-point font and
page numbers.
Frans de Waal concludes "Survival of the Kindest"
with a description of the animal kingdom that is bound to shock some readers:
he describes dogs who became "depressed" when exposed to a great
deal of death; he discusses strategies that were pursued to help the dogs
recover their "emotional investment" in helping others; finally,
he concludes with the assertion that there are species of animals who
intend to do good deeds. Imagine that de Waal's revision of the evolution
narrative is not simply an academic matter, but has importance in a larger
context. Your project in this paper is to take a position on the social,
cultural, or spiritual ramifications of de Waal’s assertion of kindness
as an organizing principle of evolution. In beginning this paper you
may want to consider the following: What would change if de Waal were
right? That is, what would the consequences be if de Waal's account of
the evolutionary value of kindness replaced the dominant account of evolution
as the arena of "the survival of the fittest"?
I will evaluate your paper by looking at:
1. Your project: You should express and
support your own idea about the assigned topic and use textual evidence
for de Waal to help develop and support your claim.
2. Your organization: You should express,
explain, and explore a central claim in each paragraph. Your paragraphs
should connect logically to each other. The paragraphs should all work
toward developing your central project.
3. Your use of quotations and examples:
Choose relevant quotations and examples. Explain the connections between
these quotations and examples and your larger project.
4. Your sentence clarity and correctness:
Proofread your essay carefully for grammar and spelling errors.
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Assignment #2: Reciprocity in Politics
Please note: Your rough drafts and final essays should always
be typed and double-spaced with one-inch margins, a 12-point font and
page numbers.
In your last paper you considered the social, cultural, or spiritual
ramifications of de Waal’s theory of “survival of kindness”
and “human goodness.” In this assignment we turn to the political.
In “Second Proms and Second Primaries: The Limits of Majority Rule”
Lani Guinier argues that majority rule does not meet the ideals of the
democratic process, proposing instead a system based on proportionality.
de Waal is obviously aware that humans can be unfair or unjust towards
one another as well as kind. Your project in this paper is to take
a position on the place of kindness and altruism in the workings of democracy.
In beginning this paper you may want to consider the following: How
does the reciprocal nature of a proportional system fit into de Waal’s
theory of kindness and altruism? How can de Waal’s argument be used
to shed any light on the working of democracy in the US? Can evolutionary
theories be used to explain or illuminate Guinier’s account of democracy?
I will evaluate your paper by looking at:
1. Your project: You should
express and support your own idea about the assigned topic and use textual
evidence from de Waal and Guinier to help develop and support your claim.
2. Your organization: You should express, explain,
and explore a central claim in each paragraph. Your paragraphs should
connect logically to each other. The paragraphs should all work toward
developing your central project.
3. Your use of quotations and examples: Choose
relevant quotations and examples. Explain the connections between these
quotations and examples and your larger project.
4. Your sentence clarity and correctness: Proofread
your essay carefully for grammar and spelling errors.
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Assignment #3: What is to be gained by "rethinking
the world"?
Rough Draft: (4 pages)
Bring 3 copies of your paper as well as The New Humanities Reader
to class.
Final Draft: (5 full pages)
Please note: Your rough drafts and final essays should always
be typed and double-spaced with one-inch margins, a 12-point font and
page numbers.
In the selections from The Ape and the Sushi Master we’ve
read, Frans de Waal provides us with an optimistic interpretation of human
nature, advocating an understanding of human evolution as shaped by “kindness,”
rather than “fitness.” He argues, “At least in some cases,
we seem to be dealing with the genuine article: a good deed done and
intended” (333). Lani Guinier, in “Second Proms and Second
Primaries: The Limits of Majority Rule,” argues for a hopeful revision
of American politics, one that will fulfill the “ideal of reciprocity…
[and] the moral authority” of democracy (339). Both writers rethink
old and static ideas in order to construct a better world. In “Beyond
Militarism, Arms Races and Arms Control,” Mary Kaldor analyses the
nature of armed forces and war in the post-Cold War period. She also extends
a new way to think, extending the “humanitarian approach” as
a way out of “wars that cannot be won” (9). All three writers
implicitly suggest a role for individuals in changing human, national,
and global relations, subscribing to a belief in an essential human equality.
Given the world Kaldor describes, does it make sense for the individual
to re-think the world? What’s at stake? For whom? In beginning
this paper you may want to consider the following: de Waal and Guinier
provide specific ways to rethink: for example, in the “survival of
the kindness” model, locating acts of intended kindness and altruism
and in a proportional system of politics, achieving reciprocity. Use these
and other specifics to think though concrete ways to achieve the “humanitarian
approach” Kaldor calls for.
I will evaluate your paper by looking at:
1. Your project:
You should express and support your own idea about the assigned topic
and use textual evidence from de Waal, Guinier, and Kaldor to help develop
and support your claim.
2. Your organization:
You should express, explain, and explore a central claim in each paragraph.
Your paragraphs should connect logically to each other. The paragraphs
should all work toward developing your central project.
3. Working with
Texts: Choose relevant concept quotations and examples. Explain the connections
between this evidence and your larger project.
4. Your sentence
clarity and correctness: Proofread your essay carefully for grammar and
spelling errors.
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Assignment #4: Context and
the War on Terrorism
Rough Draft: (4 pages)
Bring 3 copies of your paper as well as The New Humanities Reader
to class.
***If this draft is not 4 FULL pages, it will be marked as late, and
thus a ½ letter grade will be deducted from your final paper grade.***
Final Draft: (5-6 pages)
Please note: Your rough drafts and final essays should always
be typed and double-spaced with one-inch margins, a 12-point font and
page numbers.
Primary (required) Texts:
Malcolm Gladwell, from The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make
a Big Difference
Mary Kaldor, “Beyond Militarism, Arms Races and Arms Control”
Supplementary (optional) Texts:
Frans de Waal, The Ape and the Sushi Master
Lani Guinier, “Second Proms and Second Primaries: The Limits of
Majority Rule”
In your last paper you were asked to consider the possibilities and limits
of “rethinking” to alter the world. In his chapter, “The
Power of Context (Part One),” Malcolm Gladwell argues for another
way to understand and effect change. While Gladwell looks at the epidemic
of crime in New York City in the mid 1980s and the dramatic drop in crime
rates a decade later and Mary Kaldor points to “new wars” as
an epidemic at the beginning of the 21st century, they both
focus on the contagious nature of violence. How does the “Power
of Context” help explain why the US is involved in a “war on
terrorism” and how does it suggest possible resolutions to this conflict?
Was September 11 a “little thing?” Does Gladwell’s theory
have predictive value? That is could it tell us, ahead of time, whether
or not the humanitarian approach could “tip” the current epidemic
of violence and war to a time of relative peace? What other “signals”
or environmental shifts could work to cause this change? Are human’s
reactions to violence and war an intrinsic part of how we’re structured
or are they subject to small shifts in situation?
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Assignment #5: The Context
of Globalization
1st Rough Draft:
(4 pages) Bring 3 copies of your paper as well as copies of the readings
to class.
***If this draft is not 4 FULL pages, it will be marked as late, and
thus a ½ letter grade will be deducted from your final paper grade.***
2nd Rough Draft: (5
full pages) Bring 3 copies to class.
Final Draft: (5-6 pages)
Please note: Your rough drafts and final essays should always
be typed and double-spaced with one-inch margins, a 12-point font and
page numbers.
Primary (required) Texts:
Eric Schlosser, “Global Realization”
Malcolm Gladwell, from The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make
a Big Difference
In his essay about crime in New York, Malcolm Gladwell provides a conceptual
framework for the study of cultural change, the “power of context.”
In your essay, I would like you to consider how Gladwell might use his
theory to explain the “global realization” discussed by Schlosser.
Use the “power of context” to develop an argument about the
cultural changes that have accompanied globalization.
As you construct your argument, consider the following questions:
How do the central issues in Gladwell’s essay –
behavioral change and environmental context – contribute to our discussion
of globalization? Gladwell writes about local contexts, but how can we
imagine thinking about context in connection to Schlosser’s global
culture?
It is probably relatively easy to imagine the sudden and
ubiquitous nature of McDonald’s being the consequence of a “tipping
point,” but think also about Gladwell’s argument that small
changes in context can alter human character. What does this suggest to
you about how we should understand Schlosser’s argument about the
cultural effects of globalization?
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Assignment #6: Tradition
in the Context of Modernity
Rough Draft: (4 pages)
Bring 3 copies of your paper as well as The New Humanities Reader
to class.
***If this draft is not 4 FULL pages, it will be marked as late, and
thus a ½ letter grade will be deducted from your final paper grade.***
Final Draft: (5-6 pages)
Please note: Your rough drafts and final essays should always
be typed and double-spaced with one-inch margins, a 12-point font and
page numbers.
In his essay, “The Ganges’ Next Life,” Alexander Stille
attempts to understand the complexity of Veer Bhadra Mishra’s “double
identity” as both a mahant and scientist. Stille is interested in
the ways this complexity seems to influence the proposed solutions for
cleaning the Ganges River. In what many would see as a paradox, Mishra
engages modern technology to save ancient Hindu traditions. As Stille
tells us, “Like India itself on the eve of the millennium, Mishra
is trying to incorporate what is best from the West in order to preserve
the Hindu traditions that he loves” (570). For Mishra, “science
and religion have to mesh if the Ganges is to be saved. The Western approach,
based on fear of a possible ecological disaster, will not work…”(579).
Now that we have reached the end of the semester, you should be able
to define a specific context in which to define a project of your own.
For this final paper assignment I would like you to articulate an argument
that places Stille’s ideas about the meshing of traditional culture
with modern, technological culture in conversation with at least two other
readings from this semester. In writing this essay you may want to
consider the following questions: How applicable is Mishra’s “meshing”
of the modern and the traditional to Western places and problems around
the globe? Why would that meshing work in India, and how might
it work in the United States and/or other “Americanized” places,
not only for ecological problems, but for any of the problems we
have studied this semester?
Note:
-
Avoid approaching the questions too simplistically: If you think
the meshing of the modern and the traditional is a viable option for
Western and/or global problems, be precise about how this meshing
would work. And/Or: If you think such meshing would be problematic,
say exactly why, in the context of the readings you choose to work
with.
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