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Discussion: Vita

Published on Jan 15, 2016

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PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Discussion: Vita

Life in a Zone of Social Abandonment
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Objectives

  • Come away with a clearer understanding of what a thesis entails
  • Understand how to effectively summarize other texts in your own writing
  • Understand the relationship between literature research and synthesis in writing
  • Start to discuss and appreciate the benefits of ethnographic description

What was João Biehl's article about and what were some of your reactions to it?

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Thesis Statement?

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Topic vs. Claim

  • Topic/Objective – what the paper/article/book is about or what it intends to do
  • Claim –argument that the author is asserting and supporting
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Example

  • Smith describes the complexities of prostitution in the United States
  • Smith argues that prostitution should be legalized in the United States because it would be regulated and therefore safer for individuals engaged in sex work.

Whenever you are summarizing a text, it is important to encapsulate what that author’s specific contribution to the field was. Do not just mention the topic of their paper but state their claim.

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João Biehl argues that marginal and diseased groups in Brazil only become politically visible in their dying and that the act of dying is what creates their identity as an undesirable citizen –as drug addicts, thieves, prostitutes, the insane, the disabled –only to justify their neglect by the government.

Concepts or Theories?

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Some concepts referenced

  • Homo Sacer, Giorgio Agamben
  • Biopower/biopolitics, Michel Foucault
  • “Ex-primitive”, Clifford Geertz
  • Capitalism/economic inequality, Giles Deleuze
  • Social death = biological death, Marcel Mauss

Favorite parts?

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Next Week

  • Talking about literature research
  • No readings/discussion (will resume the week after)
  • Research Proposal due Jan. 25 (next next Monday)
  • No class Monday --MLK day
  • Research Proposal due Jan. 25 (next next Monday)