SA6: Monuments and Spaces Analysis
Due: 2:00 p.m. (to Canvas) on Thursday 4/12 Saturday 4/14 [changed by early request]
Purpose & Ultimate Goal
In our final unit of the course, we'll be examining testimonials, trauma narratives, and memorial spaces in order to ask and answer questions such as the following:
Purpose & Ultimate Goal
In our final unit of the course, we'll be examining testimonials, trauma narratives, and memorial spaces in order to ask and answer questions such as the following:
How does testimony “rehumanize” interpretive experiences, and how can this be important for other textual situations? What is the role of pain, struggle, violence, memory, re-memory, and/or trauma in the unique interpretation of these genres? How much of the experience of testimony or trauma narrative is “beyond language”? How do memorials complicate the role of public vs. private testimonies, perception vs. fact, belief (or believability) vs. trust, past vs. present, among other things? And finally, what is our imperative--as students and theorists of text and textuality--to do more than simply read?
Assignment
Scout out and select a space in Tallahassee (or elsewhere, if you have done some local traveling) you might not have noticed before. For this assignment, we're defining “space” as the location and context (or situatedness) of real, physical objects that have been deliberately and permanently placed somewhere for some historic purpose -- for example, a memorial, a historic landmark, a gravestone, a painted mural, or other objects that carry a history and have also been deliberately placed to create an environment. Please take the time to go off campus and outside of your usual comfort zone to find it.
Examine it, find out anything you can about its background, and conduct a two-part analysis:
(1) rhetorical -- discussing its context (surroundings, atmosphere, a brief description of the space), audience (or viewers, or people milling around, or even the people who are intended to view it but who might not be there), author (or artist/creator), medium (the type of object or art it is, whether it is comfortable or can be sat on, etc.), subject (its main idea or what it portrays, its “main point”), and style (formal, informal, high art, earthy, humorous, neat, sloppy, etc.). The point of a rhetorical analysis is to understand how all those things work together to support its purpose.
(2) theoretical -- once you have a synthesized observation about its history or purpose (from your rhetorical analysis), I'll ask you to articulate a theory based on the observation, just as we have been doing all semester. In other words, based on what we have been reading about monuments, spatial justice, testimony, and other topics, how does the placement of the object potentially change or shape the space it is in? What’s it all about? To formulate this part of your response, please draw meaningfully on at least 3 of our course texts:
Organization
Feel free to compose the analysis as two sections (rhetorical and theoretical), or as a single theoretical analysis that intersperses the rhetorical analysis throughout. Do what makes the most sense to you and for your monument/space.
If you compose the analysis in two parts, please find a way to make both sections cohere, either by writing an informative introduction that frames the analysis and orients an unfamiliar reader to the issue; or, by writing a transition between sections. In other words, both sections should read as if they are all parts of the same analysis.
Formatting & Citing
Have fun with this! But, of course, start early and send questions my way in advance!
Scout out and select a space in Tallahassee (or elsewhere, if you have done some local traveling) you might not have noticed before. For this assignment, we're defining “space” as the location and context (or situatedness) of real, physical objects that have been deliberately and permanently placed somewhere for some historic purpose -- for example, a memorial, a historic landmark, a gravestone, a painted mural, or other objects that carry a history and have also been deliberately placed to create an environment. Please take the time to go off campus and outside of your usual comfort zone to find it.
Examine it, find out anything you can about its background, and conduct a two-part analysis:
(1) rhetorical -- discussing its context (surroundings, atmosphere, a brief description of the space), audience (or viewers, or people milling around, or even the people who are intended to view it but who might not be there), author (or artist/creator), medium (the type of object or art it is, whether it is comfortable or can be sat on, etc.), subject (its main idea or what it portrays, its “main point”), and style (formal, informal, high art, earthy, humorous, neat, sloppy, etc.). The point of a rhetorical analysis is to understand how all those things work together to support its purpose.
(2) theoretical -- once you have a synthesized observation about its history or purpose (from your rhetorical analysis), I'll ask you to articulate a theory based on the observation, just as we have been doing all semester. In other words, based on what we have been reading about monuments, spatial justice, testimony, and other topics, how does the placement of the object potentially change or shape the space it is in? What’s it all about? To formulate this part of your response, please draw meaningfully on at least 3 of our course texts:
- at least 2 texts from this week (Soja, Vivian, Killingsworth)
- at least 1 text from earlier in the semester (this can include recommended readings).
Organization
Feel free to compose the analysis as two sections (rhetorical and theoretical), or as a single theoretical analysis that intersperses the rhetorical analysis throughout. Do what makes the most sense to you and for your monument/space.
If you compose the analysis in two parts, please find a way to make both sections cohere, either by writing an informative introduction that frames the analysis and orients an unfamiliar reader to the issue; or, by writing a transition between sections. In other words, both sections should read as if they are all parts of the same analysis.
Formatting & Citing
- Word-processed or typed, double-spaced (~3-4 pages, but can go longer if needed)
- Include a short “Works Cited” list at the end of your document with the full MLA citation for the essays you use.
- You can find the citation for our readings at the back of your syllabus.
- Please include an image of your monument/space (feel free to insert it directly into your document).