EXAM SUM 3011 2004 Please ¡­

EXAM SUM 3011 2004

Please write an essay of about 8-10 pages answering ONE of following questions. Your answer should be delivered to the reception desk at SUM Wednesday October 20th before 12:00. Good luck.

1. In her article entitled ¡°Thick Resistance¡±, Sherry Ortner makes the statement that ¡°There is life beyond even the most totalizing discourse¡­¡± What does she mean to communicate with this statement? Explain the theory of ¡°totalizing discourse¡± she refers to. What theory does she weigh it against in developing her idea of ¡°thick resistance.¡± Give two examples of discourses which discipline social agency (from a review of literature or from your own experience). Give examples which show that ¡°there is life beyond even the most totalizing discourse.¡±

Ortner, Sherry. 1999. ¡¯Thick Resistance: Death and the Cultural Construction of Agency in Himalaya mountaineering¡¯, in S. B. Ortner (ed) The Fate of ¡¯Culture¡¯: Geertz and Beyond. Berkeley: University of California Press.

2. Compare and contrast TWO of the three following readings. Examine the argument, from the point of view of its empirical base and its analytical rigor. Discuss whether their methodology or approach may help you in designing your own research project.

Marc, Reisner: in M. Reisner: Cadillac Desert: the American West and its Disappearing Water, 1993. "Epilogue: a Civilisation if you can keep it". Penguin Books, pages 477-495.

Partha, Dasgupta: In P. Dasgupta: Human Well-being and the Natural Environment, 2001. Oxford University Press,2001. Chapter 7: "Economic Institutions and the Natural Environment".Pages 107-121.

Taylor, Charles: In Philosophy and the Human Sciences, Philosophical Papers 2, 1985. Cambridge University Press. "Interpretation and the Sciences of Man"pages 15-57.

3.Through the various readings you have had this semester, a number of different claims and approaches that in various ways address the problem of method have been discussed. Using two of the readings which you feel may be useful in helping to structure your own research project, discuss (1) what set of assumptions about how one can know the world, (2) the role of voice, (3) the appropriate aims and goals of research and (4) the issue of audience each of the authors makes. On the basis of this analysis, explain or illustrate why the readings would be of help to you and how you would use what the authors argue or suggest about their approach to research methods in the development of your project.