BA #3 - Portrait Preparation

This assignment should be posted to your own blog by 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, 2/17/11.

Purpose and Context

Fieldworking tells us that images and artifacts can represent a culture by pointing to a particular dissonance or tension, and they can be interpreted on many levels of significance. For example, in “Anthropologist on Mars,” the badges displayed on Temple Grandin’s cowhide represent how two diverging interests—humane treatment of animals and advancements in the beef industry—actually led to a patented invention. And in “A Surgeon’s War on Breast Cancer,” Dr. Love’s jewelry makes a statement of advocacy that explains why she treats patients the way she does. This third Blog Assignment asks you to work with an image or select a cultural artifact that could comprise the "visual" part of your Verbal/Visual Portrait.

Option One - Portrait of an Artifact

Write a clearly organized description of an artifact that carries special significance from the culture you are studying (cf. FW 143-155, 200-205). You are not only describing what it looks like, you are also writing about the rituals and customs associated with it. More simply, you are writing about how it represents your fieldsite or culture. This representation is a complex relationship, not a simple one, and it will provide the thesis statement that helps you to focus the portrait. Before you start writing, you will want to learn everything you can about the object, including physical traits, name, ownership, function, history, and background. Write about its most obvious and subtle features. It is important that you come to some understanding of the artifact's cultural significance. Be sure to provide a digital photograph of this artifact and add the photograph to your post (use the "add image" icon in the posting toolbar).

Option Two - Manipulation of an Image

Select an image that is relevant to the issue guiding your Portrait. This can be a digital photograph of your informant or fieldsite, or it can be an image procured from a completely different source. (Please use our image databases for free public-domain files, rather than searching Google Images for copyrighted files.) Once you have the image, launch Adobe Photoshop or a comparable picture editor (such as Macromedia Fireworks or Microsoft Paint) and "open" your image. These applications are installed on any STC lab computer on campus, as well as most computers in the dormitory labs. You can also access applications at no cost from IUWare. Be sure to save the image under another name so that you have an untouched version. Manipulate the image 5 different ways by using the filters, layering options, or artistic effects in the image-editing program that you work with. You may adjust the size, adjust the mode (from color to black and white, or grayscale to duotone), crop it, rotate it, emboss it, fade it, grain it, create a layer of color behind it, or any number of other possibilities. Experiment widely, but ultimately select the 5 manipulations that convey a similar mood or impression as your verbal portrait.

Then, write a clearly organized justification of all 5 manipulations, considering how each one conveys the issue or dominant impression in your Verbal Portrait. It is important that you come to some understanding of the image's cultural significance. Let this understanding be the thesis that helps you to focus your discussion. Be sure to include the manipulated images in your post (use the "add image" icon in the posting toolbar).

Evaluation Criteria

This assignment will be evaluated according to the “plus” system discussed on page 4 of our syllabus. The assignment is fairly flexible and I will accept a broad range of responses. Please be original, but please keep in mind the following criteria:

• Relevance - your image or artifact is relevant, and the image manipulations are rhetorically sound
• Depth - your discussion demonstrates an in-depth description of the image or artifact but does so in order to demonstrate its significance to your fieldsite or culture
• Focus and Coherence - your response is thesis-driven (even if that thesis is implicit) and your supporting claims are well organized
• Evidence and Justification - your response provides sufficient details and puts them into conversation with relevant passages from Fieldworking
• Clarity and Style - your paragraphs are well focused, your sentences are grammatically sound, and your writing has a sense of polish, as if you have thought carefully about what you want to say and how you need to say it
• Blogging Guidelines - your assignment follows these and uses them to your advantage