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Please go to this web

https://edcc.instructure.com/courses/1877825/discussion_topics/9897171

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Password:Nikki0709
Click Anth&215

And then click “Modules”

Those are the course material that the professor provided
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Service Learning Ethnography Phase 1 Discussion

Recently I received an email from ISS NEWS, shows Lynnwood food bank will come to campus every

weeks and they are looking for some volunteers, because they need help in distributing the food among less fortunate. I believe that this opportunity offers me a good chance to explore the topic on anthropology on a social scale where I will be actively involved with the community.

The email did not really specify who my supervisor may be albeit I believe that this program will be running by the aid of the Edmonds community college. The campus food bank is located in the triton student center and they can be contacted through their email 

stewart.sinning@edcc.edu

.

Volunteering in the food bank will enable me to learn the different societal cultures that may be around us and give me a better understanding of how food may influence this. Different cultures have a variety of preferences on food solely based on their interaction with the outside world and their traditions. Interestingly, through food we can define people’s identity which is better understood as the anthropology of food. Therefore volunteering in the food bank will not only give me an opportunity to learn a service to the community but also provide a learning space for me to broaden my knowledge on the subject of anthropology.

Mintz, Sidney W. and Christine M. Du Bois. “The Anthropology of food and eating.” Annual review of anthropology (2002): 99-119. pdf.

This journal article provides an outline of food studies that have been conducted as early as the 80s. It tries to explain the essence of food and how it influences our societal processes. This study provides the relative merits of cultural and historical materialism vs. symbolic expressions of human behavior.

Service Learning Ethnography (SLE) Assignment

Service-learning combines

service objectives with learning objectives with the intent that the activity changes both the recipient and the provider of the service. This is accomplished by combining service tasks with structured opportunities that link the task to self-reflection, self-discovery, and the acquisition and comprehension of values, skills, and knowledge content (

www.servicelearning.org (Links to an external site.)

).

Ethnography, or participant observation, is a primary method of investigation in cultural anthropology. Anthropologists, as participants, join a group of people in the activities of their everyday life. As observers, anthropologists pay attention to the details of life and record their observations in field notes. These observations form the data that we use to document natural and cultural phenomena and to test hypotheses about human behavior and interactions, on individual and societal levels. The Service Learning Ethnography Assignment challenges you to connect your service project(s) and your research topic to course themes, so you should be exploring these connections throughout the quarter, and keeping notes as you go along.

Please read over the entire assignment guidelines for both Phases of the Service-Learning Ethnography before embarking on this project. To maximize your learning outcomes and make the most of your time, it will be helpful to have a broad view of the SLE Project as a whole.

This assignment involves five steps in two phases:

Phase 1 (due 1/28)

Step 1: Pre-reading,

Step 2: Service,

Step 3: Reflection,

Phase 2 (due 3/16):

Step 4: Composition, and

Step 5: Peer review (due 3/18).

Please note that the basic guidelines in the 

Discussion Rubric

 are helpful for all discussion posts throughout the quarter, but there are some exceptions for the SLE. These are as follows:

· Students only need to respond/reply in Step 5: Peer Review, and

· The length requirements for the SLE Essay and Peer Review Responses are different than for other discussions, so please read this assignment very carefully!

Also note that your SLE Phase 1 posts are due on the discussion board several weeks prior to the SLE Phase 2 assignment due date.
 

Phase 1, due Tuesday, 1/28

You can think of Phase 1 as a proposal process, and you should have already begun your service hours (having completed at least 2-4 hours) at the time of this first posting. You can complete all ten hours of service with one organization, or you can mix and match two or more service opportunities. The proposal should include:

· when and where you plan to volunteer,

· the type of volunteer work you will do,

· the name of your supervisor at the volunteer site,

· the address of the volunteer site, and

· a telephone number or email address for contacting the supervisor. 

Additionally, you should:

· briefly describe your experience and ideas for how your project will develop through the quarter, and

· explain how you think it relates to course material.

· You should also explain why you have chosen this particular opportunity(ies), in terms of your own identity, history, and interests.

Clearly identify one key source you intend to use with an annotated citation, and explain how it will contribute to your analysis. An annotated citation contains descriptive comments, informing the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the source cited.

Note: You will be required to cite three sources for your Phase 2 Composition/Reflection post. The types of sources that are most appropriate will depend on the nature of your chosen topic.

Phase 1 posts/essays should be a maximum of 500 words, in essay form.

The

 Service Learning Ethnography Phase 1 Discussion

 is open; I will either approve your proposal or make suggestions for improvement.  If I do not approve your initial proposal, we will work together to come up with a plan that is appropriate for this assignment.

Step 1: Pre-Reading

· Read: 

Sustein & Chiseri-Strater 2012, Stepping In and Stepping Out

Actions

Step 2: Service

Students are to complete at least 10 hours of volunteer work of their choice in the community.  Please get started on this early in the quarter, as many organizations require background checks or special training.

Step 3: Reflection

Before, during, and after completing your service hours, students are to consider the impact of their chosen service on human biocultural evolution.  It is important to keep in mind that:

· Evolution is a continuing process of adaptation to the environment.

· The environment consists of the natural world that we inhabit, and all other organisms with which we share it, including other humans.

· Humans use both biological and cultural mechanisms to adapt to their environments.

· Individuals adapt, populations evolve.

· You are an individual; what you do matters.

This assignment provides students with an opportunity to become conscious agents of evolution. This assignment also provides students with an opportunity to engage creatively with course material.

Phase 2, due Monday, 3/16

Step 4: Composition

Students are to write an interpretive, reflective essay describing their service, and its impact (perceived or hoped for) on the environment (remember that the environment includes other humans, so your service work does not have to be explicitly “environmental” in focus).  This essay should explicitly engage with course materials.  Citations are required.  Beyond that, I am interested to hear each student’s unique interpretation of this assignment.  Be bold and creative, try something new, take pride in your work, and please proofread.

On the due date, 3/16, students are to submit their completed, proofread essays on the discussion board.  Please do not email this or any other assignment.

The completed composition should contain three sections (no more than 1,000 words total, in essay form), as follows:

Part 1: Project description (this may be almost identical to the proposal you submitted on the discussion board); no more than 100 words.

· Your name,

· The name of the organization(s) with which you volunteered,

· The number of hours you worked (with dates),

· Your site supervisor’s name and contact information (telephone number and email address), and

· A description of the type of work you did in paragraph form.

· Feel free to put this in a table format:

Part 2: Reflection/Composition; no more than 800 words

· This is the reflection essay, the main body of your composition. The essay should be carefully thought-out and proofread.  Consider the points for reflection listed above, the role of individuals in the environment as agents of evolution. This assignment is deliberately open-ended to allow (or force) creativity on your part.  The reflection essay should be in paragraph form.

· Your research should be supported with a minimum of three sources*, one of which should be from assigned course material. In other words, you need to clearly explain and explore at least one connection between your service work and the issues we are exploring in this class, and you also need to incorporate perspectives beyond the scope of course material. Sources can be drawn from academic journals, TedTalks or other video resources, books, magazines, popular (non-academic) publications, and/or internet sites.

· *You can include your citation(s) in parentheses embedded within your essay (Author, page number). A Works Cited will be required for sources external to the course. You need to have at least one explicit connection to material from within the course (books, lectures, and/or labs), and two external sources, minimum.

Part 3: Self-Evaluation; no more than 100 words

· A brief self-evaluation, no more than 2-3 sentences. What challenges did you overcome during this assignment?  Where do you need to do more work?  (How) has your perspective on human evolution, interconnectedness, and/or the significance of the individual been affected by this project?

Step 5: Peer Review; due Wednesday, 3/18

After the essays have been posted, each student will read and thoughtfully comment on 2 essays written by their peers.  Comments should be about 150 words.

Students will be graded for quality of service work, degree of engagement with course material, creative and thoughtful reflection, depth of analysis, and clarity and quality of writing.

Connecting in the Community

A good place to begin when selecting an activity is to ask yourself a series of questions:

· What topics are important to me?

· How is my research question connected to my service project?

· How are my service and research projects significant within the subject areas covered in my class?

· What problems will this project address or potentially help solve?

· How should I get started? Is there an application process or background check, what is the turn-around time for responses, can I get this project done in the time available?

Here are some resources that will help you get started finding an appropriate Service Project for this assignment:

· The 

EDCC Center for Service Learning (Links to an external site.)

 sponsors a wide variety of service activities on and near campus.

· The 

Conversation Partner Program

 pairs proficient English speakers with English language learners, to practice speaking English through casual conversation.  This is an excellent opportunity for reciprocal service, and it gives student volunteers the chance to ask questions and learn more about the culture and history of their conversation partner.  There is a deadline each quarter to sign up for this program, so get your application in early!

 (Links to an external site.)

· The 

Diversity Student Center (Links to an external site.)

 hosts a variety of events each quarter, for which they need volunteers. If you would like to do your service hours with the DS Center, contact Diana Bustos as soon as possible.

  (Links to an external site.)

· I also encourage you to contact Bisma Shoaib, our Student Service Learning Coordinator. She does a great job matching students with activities. You can email her at: 

bisma.shoaib@email.edcc.edu

· Most community service opportunities through non-profit groups, such as churches, schools, and shelters, are also appropriate.

·

volunteermatch.org (Links to an external site.)

 is an excellent online resource that connects people with service opportunities based on individual skills, preferences, availability, and location.

· Students are encouraged to share and borrow ideas, and/or work in groups.

· If none of these options works out for you, I am happy to help you figure something out.

Keep in mind that:

· People of all kinds live, work, shop, and care for families in all sectors of communities, both local and global. You can reach them.

· What you do matters.

· This assignment provides students with an opportunity to become conscious agents of human cultural evolution, involved in issues that are important to a wide variety of people and communities.

· This assignment provides students with an opportunity to engage creatively with course material. Expand your limits, reflect on your impact. You may surprise yourself.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions!