Native American Traditions

Question 1

Report on one of the religious groups or issues discussed in Modules 1-5. You are welcome to choose any religion/religious group (e.g. Anglicanism, Latino Catholicism, Native American traditions, Puritanism, etc.) or any issue (e.g. religion & environmentalism, religion & science, religious debates over homosexuality, religion & colonialism, etc.) discussed in any of the first five modules of the course. Select whatever interests you. Your focus can be historical or contemporary or both. Draw upon at least one outside source (article, book, news report, website, etc.) to research your topic.

For instance, you might read an article on environmentalism and Latter-Day Saints, or a chapter in a book on Puritan religious diary-keeping, or a news report on recent developments within Latino Catholicism, and share what you learn along with any comments you may have on this material. You should summarize and reflect upon your findings IN YOUR OWN WORDS, and draw some connection between your research findings and some aspect of the material covered in our course. Please note that this is not a formal paper, but rather an informative report to the class.

These research reports are briefer and may be more casual than a traditional term paper, but they do constitute an important contribution to the ongoing class discussion. You will post your research report to the discussion board, and your colleagues will have an opportunity to read and comment on your research. You are also required to post a “colleague response” to at least two of your fellow students’ research reports. (Minimum 250 words for research report and 100 words per colleague response). Be sure to provide either a link or the name of the book/article/website on which you based your report.

Question 2

Photograph and caption two museum artworks from your field trip, relating each to a different theme from this list: Mass Media; Issues of Representation; Appropriation; Religion; Text & Image; Food. For each artwork, write a short paragraph explaining its relevance to the selected theme. (100-150 words for each artwork)