People(women) should fight for family violence

Form an analysis in response to an issue raised by the class or by the readings, develop your idea
through research and persuade your audience of the significance of your idea.
Goal/Purpose

For the final project I am looking for students to explore their own situations and circumstances. I
want you to—in Gerald Graff’s terms—see your interests “through academic eyes.”
In this essay we will be taking a cultural studies approach and constructing an essay that analyzes and
then makes an argument about some aspect of popular culture or a community in which you are a
member.
Possible Starting Points or Questions to Address:
 Consideration of a popular cultural topic or a particular trend. Consider the cultural
significance of anything from Pokemon Go to the Sopranos to comics. You will need to
analyze the audience, the reactions to the topic, or the problems of the trend.
 Analyze a community you are a part of and consider a problem facing that community. This
problem may be internal or external. You will want to look at the background of the
community, consider what it provides for it members, and what its main benefit is. You may
want to look at sociological concepts such as that of the “third place.”
 In “Hidden Intellectualism,” Gerald Graff suggests that the intellectualism of “street smart”
students does not get recognized by our current school system. Has this changed in recent
years? Consider your own experience of school: what sorts of communities were formed
there? What interests were counted as academic? Are there changes to the school system at
the lower or upper levels that could help more students frame their interests through
academic eyes?
 Anita Sarkeesian and Jane McGonigal provide academic ways of viewing subjects that aren’t
traditionally considered academic topics. What do we learn from video games, television,
movies or comics? You will need to develop a focused argument about the skills we are
gaining (or losing) in these activities. How specifically could RPGs or Augmented Reality or
even Virtual Reality games change our society? What is the potential benefit or danger of
such transformation?
 What if Google is actually making us smarter? Nicholas Carr critically examines the role
automation and information technology plays in our life. What transformations are happening
as we spend more time online? Look critically at one of the communities formed online and
examine how our sense of the social is being shaped by new technologies.
These are starting points: you will not be able to answer each of the questions and will probably want
to rework the questions to better develop your own ideas.