The Dust Bowl Anthropology

The Dust Bowl Anthropology

Instruction for critical reading response paper
·    Theme: Nature / Culture Divide
·    Topic: The Dust Bowl
·    Type of Paper: Analytical reading response (Article critique)
·    Writing Tone: Third person, more “detached” style
·    Format: Paragraph Outline
P1(Intro): Collectively, examine three each article (about Dust Bowl) [Larger themes/ ideas/ points][Thesis statement should be on first paragraph.]
P2: Short Paragraphs summarizing the main points of Donald Worster’s reading article.
P3: Short Paragraphs summarizing the main points of William Cronon’s reading article.
P4: Short paragraphs summarizing the main points of John Steinbeck’s reading article.
P5: (Your Own analysis) Strong points of Donald Worster’s arguments and Weak points of Donlad Worster of P2. What author seems to agree on what he does not seem to agree on.

The Dust Bowl Anthropology

P6: (Your Own analysis) Strong points of William Cronon’s arguments and Weak points of William Cronon of P3. What author seems to agree on what he does not seems to agree on.
P7: (Your Own analysis) Strong points of John Steinbeck arguments and Weak points of John Steinbeck of P4. What author seems to agree on what he does not seem to agree on.
P8: (Conclusion) Bigger picture. How three reading articles relates to broader themes and ideas. Question you are left with –things to think about.

·    Questions to consider for this paper
What is Dust Bowl? When does it happen? Why does Dust Bowl matter? Is it natural disaster? Or Is it cultural disaster?  Talk about each author’s stand point of dustbowl. Talk about it socially, culturally and politically. Why they people immigrate to the West? What was the government intervention after Dust Bowl? Moving forward: Dust bowl ranching? What are ideas of culture? Of nature? Of the relationship between them? How is the story framed today? You can think about other questions after look over class materials that I upload.

The Dust Bowl Anthropology

·    Resources that must to use for this paper
1). Worster, Donald. Chaptcer 1: The Blizzards Role in. In: Dust bowl: the southern plains in the 1930s. Oxford University Press, 1982. Pp. 10-25.
2). Cronon, William. “A place for stories: Nature, history, and narrative.” The Journal of American History (1992): 1347-­‐1376.
3). Steinbeck John. The Grapes of Wrath (1939)

Grading rubric for short essay, a possible 10 points:
2 points: clear organization
2 points: comprehension of material
2 points: original / thoughtful analysis
3 points: technical aspects writing / writing style
1 point: use 2 readings from class

The Dust Bowl Anthropology

By admin in Essays on November 20, 2016