01/11
THE ATLANTA SEMESTER
CONSTRUCTION OF WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
For: Reaction papers And Internship Journals
INTRODUCTION TO AUTOETHNOGRAPHY
Atlanta Semester writing assignments should enable students to better understand issues of power
and authority as they:
 Uncover unequal power relations among social and cultural groups
 Investigate the workings of power and authority at the internship site
 Come to understand your own power and authority in relation to others
 Write of your experiences as critical participatory citizens while also learning to critique the
self as a member of a group/s
OBJECTIVE
1. To read and write for relationships by uncovering imbedded assumptions.
2. To analyze, and critique assumptions around social group differences (gender, race,
class, sexuality…) to better understand one’s connection and relatedness to groups:
recognizing your position (as a member of a particular group) in relation to others.
3. To engage in an intellectual inquiry of the cultural and social context of the experiences.
4. To know the self as a cultural by-product: how what you experience is directly tied to
culture.
The value of the writing lies in the opportunity to excavate, analyze and critique assumptions around
social group differences (gender, race, class, sexuality, etc.) to better understand one’s connection
and relatedness to groups. All writing assignments are viewed as an opportunity to engage in an
intellectual inquiry of the cultural and social context of the experiences. Intellectual inquiry requires
uncovering social and cultural biases, analyzing relations as tied to power and authority, and
recognizing your position (as an individual member of a group/s) in relation to others.
The writing must not serve as a mere personal narration of the experience but rather as a critical
narration of the experience. While your personal narrative of the experience can serve as
data/evidence, it should not be merely an emotional, subjective retelling of events. Your goal is
to pull out the social and cultural from the personal. You are to construct the writing from an
awareness of your perspective as a member of a particular group (gender, race, class, etc.) in
relation to the reading assignments, speakers’ forum and internship experience. This is an
opportunity to know the self as a cultural by-product: how what you experience is directly tied to
culture.
CRITICAL COMPONENTS IN THE PAPER
1. Identifying oneself as a member of a specific race/ethnicity, gender, and social class or
other socially constructed categories that seem relevant.
2. A description, analysis and critique of assumptions and beliefs learned from your group
perspective about the gendered, racial/ethnic and/or, social economic class group that the
speakerss are members of.
3. Reference to assigned readings that frame the context
In developing your writing you should develop a rich description, analysis and critique which
involve examining assumptions, which may be biases, tied to cultural constructions of gender,
race and class. No one stands outside of culture, the ways we’ve been encultured and socialized
to be of a specific gender, race and class. Your writing must also critique the position of self:
what is it that you subscribe to in relation to a particular group’s power and authority.