Weekly Reflection: Zapatistas and Global Capitalism
Read these guidelines carefully. Each week, on 8 occasions, you will prepare a reflection essay of approximately 2-3 pages (single-spaced; 1000-1500 words in length). You are of course free to write more than the minimum required. These are not academic papers in which you need an introduction, hypothesis, conclusion, etc. They are reflections and you may use a more informal style, even stream of consciousness prose. Please note: there are two criteria we will use in grading these assignments:
1)Does your reflection demonstrate that you have participated in and paid attention to the lecture/power point, done the readings, and engaged with the documentary?
2)Have you developed analytical discussion, including bringing in the terms, concepts, and theories that we discuss in the lecture and are in the readings? Have you shown how the three (lectures, readings, documentaries) are related to one another, and have you identified and discussed the underlying theme(s) that run through all three?
In addition, I will generally send out an email shortly after class with several orienting questions that you should respond to in the context of your reflection. We will be looking very carefully to see how you respond to these orienting questions, especially with regard to the readings.
Note that these reflections should not be a summary of the lecture, readings, and documentary, and nor should they be a question and answer format. Avoid mere description. The purpose is three-fold: 1) that you demonstrate you have attended the lectures done the readings, watched the documentaries, and given thought to them; 2) to identify what you did not understand and what you think is important to discuss in class, in relation to the course, and; 3) this is crucial, that you are able to synthesize the three (lecture, readings, documentary) to develop a meaningful analytical discussion on the topic of the week.
As you write these reflections, you should use the sociological concepts and terms you have acquired in the course and through the readings. We will be looking for this as we grade.
Answer preview:
word limit:1052