Seminar Preparation Paper Assignment
Week Two
Women in the Global Context
Due: Friday, October 5, 2007 (Please double space these type-written papers.)
Read: Wei Djao, "Being Chinese: the Cultural Dimension", Course Reader
Cynthia Enloe, “Introduction: Being Curious About our Lack of Feminist Curiosity”, CR
Chandra Mohanty, "Cartographies of Struggle", Course Reader
Read Actively: As you read these articles, highlight or underline key passages that help you to
understand what the writers’ main ideas or key points are. Ask yourself for each article what is this
writer’s purpose or objective? What does she want me to understand? Also you will want to highlight
and make note of new or unfamiliar words and concepts that you need to look up or want to ask about
in class. You might also begin to make some connections among the ideas in these articles. Do you
find some related themes and ideas? Make note of these as well as you read.
Also as you read, you will want to think about the questions in the syllabus for week two. Make
notes in the margins or in a separate reading notebook when you find a passage that helps to answer or
discuss the questions.
Writing:
1. Go back through the articles and notice key passages you underlined or noted. In particular look for
passages that helped to answer one or more of the questions in the syllabus.
2. Then choose two passages from each article and quote them verbatim (exactly as they are written).
Be sure to use quotation marks and to cite the page number for each passage.
For Example: “In the Modernization theory, societies are stereotyped as ‘traditional’ or ‘modern,’
with the latter as leaders while the former are slow in catching up on the path of progress” (Djao, 121).
3. Choose one of the passages that you have quoted from each article and directly after it, write in
your words what you think the author is saying in the passage. You will want to paraphrase the
whole passage and translate the author’s words into your own. In other words, paraphrase the
passage and try to explain the meaning that you find to be important in it.
Remember that at this early point in the quarter, we are focusing on what the author is saying. Do not
apply your own ideas to the passages or respond to them. Don’t get hung up on whether you agree or
disagree. Just restate the passage in your own words.
4. Finally, choose two of the questions in the syllabus for Week Two, and briefly answer each. You
can do this in your own words OR you can quote a passage from one of the articles that helps you
to answer the question and briefly state what in the passage helps to answer the question for you.
Again make sure to use quotation marks and to cite the author’s last name and page number in
parentheses after the quotation. (See example above.)
Linked Students: For this seminar preparation paper, you might think about how Mark Twain’s
experiences and perceptions as a white and male U.S. traveler are shaped by some of the concepts
discussed by these writers. How does he evoke the dichotomy between modern and traditional when
he travels to other parts of the world? What are his images/perceptions of so called “third world”
peoples? Is he curious? Does he look beyond what many might accept as “natural” or just the way
things are? Does he generalize as in “always” or do you find him to be more curious and
questioning?