This American Life: Birth Youth Marriage Death (HONORS 200-014 and HONORS 200-016)

Sem 014: T/Th 2.00-3.15pm HON 180 Professor S. Ani Mukherji Sem 016: T/Th 3.30-4.45pm HON 180 mukherjs@uwm.edu Honors 151, Honors College Hours: Tuesday 11am-2pm, 5pm-6pm; Thursday noon-2pm

Early Twentieth-Century Cartoon Satirizing the Conventions of Marriage

Course Description Birth, coming of age, marriage, death—humans give meaning to these moments with various rites of passage, ways of marking the importance of the transition from one stage of life to another. The personal significance of these changes is determined by particular individual choices and cultural rituals. These turning points are also defined by social, political, and economic arrangements. In this seminar we will examine these transformative moments in life as they have been studied by anthropologists, legal scholars, historians, journalists, and political activists. How have different intellectuals answered these questions: What does it mean to become an adult? How are reproductive choices influenced? Who is allowed to get married? How do we deal with the deaths of our friends, family, and neighbors? Finally, what do these specific rites and choices tell us about how we live our lives as Americans, from the cradle to the grave?

Required Books

Nancy Cott, Public Vows: A History of Marriage and the Nation ISBN-13: 978-0674008755 Junot Diaz, Drown ISBN-13: 978-1573226066 Jessica Mitford, The American Way of Death Revisited ISBN-13: 978-0679771869 Dorothy Roberts, Killing the Black Body ISBN-13: 978-0679758693 Viewing a.k.a. Don Bonus (1996) Tony and Janina’s American Wedding (2010) Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin and The Farm Midwives (2012) Homegoings (2013)

Policies 1. Attendance: Any student who misses more than three classes (for any reason) will receive an “F”

for his/her participation grade. Any student who misses more than five classes will receive an “F” for the course. Being substantially late or leaving early counts as a missed class.

2. Readings: Hard copies of the assigned reading must be brought to seminar. When the reading is from a required book, bring the book to class. When the reading is posted to D2L, print the document and bring it to class.

3. Cell phones/Laptops/Gadgets: I do not want to see or hear your phones or other technology unless you are using it for a presentation.

4. Written Work: All written work must be typed, double-spaced and in twelve point font. Papers must have page numbers, citations, and a heading with the student’s name, title of the assignment, course, and date.

5. Formal Writing: Written assignments should engage the reader with lively, concise writing and should lack typographical errors, as well as lapses in tone, register, punctuation, spelling, word choice, and grammar. Put simply, formal writing should not be the first draft of your thoughts, but a revised presentation of your considered reflections. Your written work will be graded down for errors of spelling, punctuation, and grammar.

6. Citation Style: All papers should be formatted according to MLA Style Guidelines: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/ Here’s what your paper should look like: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/media/pdf/20090701095636_747.pdf

7. Plagiarism/Academic Misconduct: I take plagiarism very seriously. Please be sure to cite your sources and attribute research to the hard-working scholars who published it first. The university policies and sanctions for academic misconduct are described here: http://www4.uwm.edu/acad_aff/policy/academicmisconduct.cfm

8. Special Considerations: All students are welcome in this seminar. If you have any special needs or considerations that require modification of assignments or course requirements, please inform me at the beginning of the semester.

Course Requirements and Grading

Participation [10%] Leading Discussion [20%] Two Short Essays [20% x 2 = 40%] Final Paper [30%]

Grading: 97-100% = A+, 93-96% = A, 90-92% = A-, 87-89% = B+, etc.

Participation

Seminars are intended to be active sites of inquiry and sharing. Students are expected to complete ALL assigned readings, come to every class with ideas and questions about the reading, and participate in discussions. Completing the reading does not mean that your eyes passed over the words; rather, you should be able to state the major point the author intended to make, to evaluate how well the author accomplished this task, and to connect the new evidence and interpretations with previous readings.

Leading Discussion

As this course is a seminar, it is your job to define our conversations, offer interpretations, and evaluate the assigned material. As such, you will—in groups—be responsible for preparing to lead discussion. Part One: Preparation

Work with your group to brainstorm a provocative topic for discussion and a set (2-3) of questions related to this topic. Be prepared with an explanation of the topic, provocative questions, and key passages of the assigned text to discuss. Remember, your job is to offer questions that start a broad discussion, not give an answer that ends discussion. Good questions:

Involve higher-order thinking (analysis, comparison, synthesis, evaluation); Depend on a careful reading of the details of the assigned text; Clarify or complicate major issues related to our course; Create connections between different parts of the assigned text and to previously-

assigned readings. Part Two: Leading in Class

1. State the overall topic of discussion. 2. Explain why you think that this topic is worth consideration and how it fits into the course. 3. Ask a good opening question or begin with a provocative argument. 4. Manage the discussion by responding to comments, asking follow-up questions, and

encouraging dialogue. 5. After about 20-25 minutes, bring discussion to a close by summarizing what’s been said,

adding your own thoughts about what’s been most interesting, and point to questions that haven’t been resolved.

Two Short Essays

At the end of the first and second units of this course, you will be asked to write a short essay. These essays will consider the first two major themes of this course—death and marriage. Specific writing prompts will be distributed in class. This paper should be no more than FIVE pages long (~1500 words). Students will have the opportunity to revise ONE of these essays to improve their grade. If students choose to revise their paper, the final grade for the paper will be calculated as follows: (First Revision * 33%, + Second Revision * 67%).

Longer Final Essay At the end of the course, you will be asked to write a longer essay that considers the nature of American identity, culture, and rituals. Specific writing prompts will be distributed in class. This paper should be no longer than SEVEN pages long (~2000 words).

Course Schedule Week One: Introductions 2 September Introductions 4 September Screening: Judith MacDougall and David MacDougall, “The Wedding Camels” Week Two: Methods – Culturalist versus Materialist 9 September Reading: Margaret Mead, “Introduction,” “The Education of the Samoan Child,” “The Girl in Her

Age Group,” “The Girl in the Community,” and “Formal Sex Relations” in Coming of Age in Samoa

Workshop: Practicing Culturalist Explanations 11 September Reading: Marvin Green, “Prologue” and “Mother Cow” in Cows, Pigs, Wars, Witches Workshop: Practicing Materialist Explanations

DEATH Week Three: The Death Industry 16 September Reading: Jessica Mitford, The American Way of Death Revisited, xi-53 Student-Led Discussion: GROUPS 1 & 2 18 September Reading: Jessica Mitford, The American Way of Death Revisited, 54-137 Student-Led Discussion: GROUPS 3 & 4 Week Four: The Death Industry, with a variation 23 September Viewing: Homegoings (2013) 25 September Reading: Jessica Mitford, The American Way of Death Revisited, 138-274 Student-Led Discussion: GROUPS 1 & 2 Week Five: Wrapping Up Death 30 September Writing Workshop: Formulating a Thesis and Title; Selecting and Presenting Evidence 2 October Peer Editing: Bring PRINT OUT of your complete rough draft of Paper #1

Paper #1 Due in DropBox by 5PM on Friday 3 October

SEX/MARRIAGE Week Six: A History of American Coupling 7 October Reading: Nancy Cott, Public Vows, 1-76 Student-Led Discussion: GROUPS 3 & 4 9 October Reading: Nancy Cott, Public Vows, 77-155 Student-Led Discussion: GROUPS 1 & 2 Week Seven: Marriage Today 14 October Screening: Tony and Janina’s American Wedding (2010) 16 October Reading: Nancy Cott, Public Vows, 156-228 Student-Led Discussion: GROUPS 3 & 4 Week Eight: Arguments on American Marriage 21 October Student Debate: The Meanings of Marriage 23 October Peer Editing: Bring print out of full rough draft; workshop on evidence and conclusions.

Paper #2 Due in Dropbox by 5pm on Friday 24 October NEW GROUPS ASSIGNED FOR REMAINDER OF SEMESTER

COMING OF AGE/YOUTH Week Nine: Coming of Age in America Today 28 October Reading: Junot Diaz, Drown, 3-65 Student-Led Discussion: GROUPS 1 & 2 30 October Reading: Junot Diaz, Drown, 69-140 Student-Led Discussion: GROUPS 3 & 4 Week Ten: The Meaning of Adulthood 4 November Screening: a.k.a. Don Bonus (1996) 6 November Reading: Junot Diaz, Drown, 143-208 Student-Led Discussion: GROUPS 1 & 2 Week Eleven: Wrapping up Adulthood 11 November Student Debate: American Youth and Becoming an Adult 13 November NO CLASS – Meet with Instructor to Discuss Final Paper Topic and Argument

BIRTH Week Twelve: Race and The Politics of Reproduction 18 November Reading: Dorothy Roberts, Killing the Black Body, 3-55 Student-Led Discussion: GROUPS 3 & 4 20 November Viewing: Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin and The Farm Midwives Week Thirteen: The Birthing Process 25 November Reading: Dorothy Roberts, Killing the Black Body, 56-149 Student-Led Discussion: GROUPS 1 & 2 Week Fourteen: Race and Reproduction #2 2 December Reading: Dorothy Roberts, Killing the Black Body, 150-245 Student-Led Discussion: GROUPS 3 & 4 4 December Reading: Dorothy Roberts, Killing the Black Body, 246-312

Week Fifteen: Wrapping Up This American Life 9 December Student Debate: What Does it Mean to be American? 11 December Final Papers: Peer Editing

FINAL PAPERS DUE in DROPBOX by 6pm on 12 DECEMBER!